I don’t suppose any ancient maps of the Isle of Wight had the ‘here be monsters’ tag which is a shame. In fact in geological terms the Isle was linked to mainland Britain – from the Needles to Old Harry’s Rocks in Dorset – only yesterday. About 10,000 years ago sea levels started rising as the great ice sheets of the last Ice Age melted and as sea level rose higher, the Isle of Wight became separated from the mainland about 7,000 years ago. Sticking with the geological theme the Isle of Wight is made up of a wide variety of different rock types ranging from Early Cretaceous times (around 127 million years ago) to the middle of the Palaeogene (around 30 million years ago). The northern half of island is mainly made up of Tertiary clays, with the southern half formed of Cretaceous rocks (the chalk that forms the central east-west downs, as well as Upper and Lower Greensands and Wealden strata). Cretaceous rocks on the island, usually red, show that the climate was previously hot and dry.

All this adds up to a remarkably diverse landscape which often leads this diamond shaped island to be described as England in miniature. It’s one of the few places in England where the red squirrel is still flourishing and it’s certainly a wonderful place to go walking – particularly the 92 km of coastline. Well when I say 92 km you can’t actually walk all the way round the island on the coast and frankly this is both surprising and disappointing. David Howarth goes as far to say that: “Over half of our so-called coastal path doesn’t even follow the shore”. And he should know ‘cos he’s chair of the Isle of Wight Ramblers. They really seem to value their footpaths on the island – there’s plenty of ‘em, they’re well sign posted and we didn’t come across any obstructions. The main part of the coast that is restricted is around Osborne House.
Even more surprising and disappointing is that the Isle of Wight was excluded from the 2009 Marine and Coastal Access Act. I’m certainly in the Stuart Maconie camp of believing that: “The roots of the Ramblers are not in cream teas and stiles, but in dissent and protest”. (Just to make it clear I haven’t got anything against cream teas and stiles and am I the only one who thinks Stuart Maconie would make a great pantomime dame? – please insert your own ‘oh no he wouldn’t’ gag here.) So to add your voice of protest please join the Ramblers in their English Coastal Path campaign and contact Kate Conto (kate.conto@ramblers.org.uk) to find ways you can help.

Notwithstanding this we set out from Shanklin and walked west past Ventnor until we got to St Lawrence. Then we cut inland and headed for St Boniface Down, which is, of course, a Marilyn. A Marilyn is a mountain or hill in the UK, Republic of Ireland or Isle of man with a relative height of at least 150 metres , regardless of absolute height or other merit. The name was coined as a punning contrast to the designation Munro, used of a Scottish mountain with a height of more than 3,000 feet (914.4 m), which is homophonous with (Marilyn) Monroe. It also offers glorious sea views.
Later on in the week we popped along to the Shanklin Theatre to see Rick Wakeman. These days he seems to be famous for being a contestant on Just a Minute, a Grumpy Old Man and Countdown. But old prog-rockers know him as a member of Yes and I like him for his work as session musician where he played keyboards on tracks as various as Life on Mars, Morning has Broken and Grandad (well aboy’s gotta make a living). He also recorded an album entitled The Six Wives of Henry VIII and in a case of art imitating life I think he’s up to number four himself.

The island is also famous for Victorians. The eponymous queen lived at Osborne House after Albert’s death, Dickens holidayed at Bonchurch and Alfred, Lord Tennyson lived on the west tip near the Needles. I can highly recommend another great Isle of Wight walk starting on Tennyson Down. The wind was blowing hard and the rain was sleeting down as we trudged up the down and it all added to the atmosphere. I know these days the poet is probably famous for The Charge of the Light Brigade but I always remember him for the line from In Memoriam – ‘Nature, red in tooth and claw’. Then we walked to the Needles followed by a swift visit to Alum Chine – you know where all that coloured sand comes packaged in glass bells, cats and lighthouses. We took a slight diversion to nearby Warren Farm for some tea and cake and then pushed on for Headon Hill. A bit more coastal walking followed before we cut in country and back to Freshwater Bay. The evening was made complete with a few pints of local brewers Goddards Scrumdiggity.

It’s a shame about the coastal path but it’s hard not to warm to the Isle of Wight. There’s an understated solidity about the place. These days our monsters seem to be climatic and financial rather than kraken and Neptune but it’s not hard to imagine the Wighters facing these perils with a collective shrug of their shoulders, briefly stopping their DIY or temporarily ceasing to tend their gardens, stoically lacing up their boots, resignedly filling their rucksacks and staring them down armed with only a Mars bar. Not so much England in miniature but the spirit of England writ large if you ask me. Ah I can hear that Tennyson bloke again: ‘Was there a man (or woman) dismayed?’

Claim the Coast:

• Find out more about the campaign here
• Take action – add the Isle of Wight to the coastal route here 

Support the work of the Ramblers:

• Sponsor me here 
• Listen to
  Aloe Blacc – I Need A Dollar
  Jackson Browne – Running On Empty
  Plastic Operator – The Long Run

More information:
OS Map used – Outdoor Leisure 29 Isle of Wight. Pay less when you order this map here

Useful links:

• The Ramblers
• Isle of Wight Ramblers
• Isle of Wight
• Old Harry’s Rocks
• Osborne House
• Stuart Maconie
• Rick Wakeman
• Shanklin Theatre 
• Alfred, Lord Tennyson
• Chine 
• Goddards
• Grand Union Canal half-marathon

Listen to:

David Bowie – Life On Mars?
The Bees – Go Where You Wanna Go – Single Version
The Jesus And Mary Chain – Coast To Coast
Rick Wakeman – Morning Has Broken
Clive Dunn – Grandad

Take footpaths. While it doesn’t take a genius to work out that, by inclination, a Conservative-led government is not going to put matters of access ahead of matters of private property rights, there are issues here that should worry walkers. We saw what happened when the plans to sell off the nation’s forests were announced last year. This hugely misguided strategy united some of the most disparate sections of our society, from retired colonels in the Shires to eco-warriors.

Now, as the Ramblers’ chief executive Tom Franklin has pointed out, it seems from the recent Government white paper that the all-England Coast Path project may be being quietly shelved. If so, we should make our voices heard again. If one thing should exercise an island race even more than woodlands, it is the coast and the sea. It may not be putting it too strongly to call free access to the British coast a birthright.

Billy Bragg puts this primal and enduring link rather nicely. Billy lives dead alongside the South West Coast Path in Dorset. He’s often asked by those mindful of his roots in urban Barking how he feels now living in the countryside. He always replies that he doesn’t live in the countryside. He lives by the sea. There’s
a difference. He’s absolutely right. The British coast is a joy and a marvel. We are blessed in having it as our neighbour. From the austere and haunting flats of East Anglia to the pleasure palaces of Blackpool, from the rugged inlets and gull-haunted rock cathedrals of Zennor to the muddy, ribbed Humber Estuary beloved of Philip Larkin. The sea has shaped the land and us. We should not give it up without a fight.

There’ll be some who balk at the notion of walkers getting ‘too political’, feeling that we should stick to our genteel pursuits and let others make tough fiscal decisions and wield the axe. To which my reply would be unrepeatable. The roots of the Ramblers, let’s remember, are not in cream teas and stiles, but in dissent and protest. Every time I take out one of my beloved OS maps – in mountain mists, or lashed by rain on a soaking moor, or later by a crackling fireside with a warming Talisker – I think of Benny Rothman and his mates. Because these last few years, when I look at the battered map, I see great expanses of sandy yellow where previously there was antiseptic white space and ‘keep out’ signs.

The yellow shading stands for open access land; great tracts of our country once forbidden to me and you that is now open to us all. That ‘right to roam’ was won by the bravery and fortitude of many, and chief among them were the Kinder Scout Trespassers. In my new book, Hope And Glory, I make the point that the British love of nature and exploration transcends class and economic divisions. You only have to look at how climbing, for instance, made tight partners of men as socially disparate as Chris Bonington and Don Whillans to see this.

The point is that a nation is not built on GDP and fiscal prudence alone. Nationhood is forged in the character of the people and how they interact with the landscape and history of the land. I get a swell of pride when I see Japanese tourists taking pictures by the shores of Derwent Water or the slopes of Skiddaw; or when I chat to the German and Dutch tourists who throng the Cornish sections of the South West Coast Path, entranced by the savage beauty of it.

If a Big Society means anything, it is an open society: a society that welcomes those, British or not, who want to enjoy the nations’ natural joys and wonders to the full. If not, we are a small and crabbed society, one seeking to close doors and lock gates under cover of an economic darkness. We should not let this happen.

Stuart Maconie’s Hope And Glory is published by Ebury Press

Following a sustained campaign by the Ramblers and its members, the government last year passed the landmark Marine and Coastal Access Act (click here to read walk‘s feature on the announcement). This piece of legislation placed a duty on government to create an all-English coastal path, which would bring wonderful walking opportunities, recoup huge benefits for the rural economy and encourage marine conservation by promoting the nation’s coastline. However, the implementation of the path is at risk because of the current economic crisis – so the Ramblers is calling on members and walk readers to help protect your coastline by taking action. Visit the Claim the Coast website today for more on how you can get involved and make a difference!

Image submitted to the Claim The Coast group on Flickr: Looking south west to Dunvegan Head (far distance) with the Ardmore Peninsula in the foreground, Waternish, Isle of Skye, Scotland – by woolyboy

The Walking Manifesto (click here to download the PDF) encourages candidates to put their support for coastal access, and walking, on record by signing up to the document. The coastal access scheme will open up thousands of miles of inaccessible and out-of-bounds coastline permanently to the public for the first time by creating a continuous 4m (average) path around the shore. It contains provisions for ‘spreading room’, which will minimise conflict with landowners.

The manifesto states “We want to see delivery of the coastal route, which became law last November, as fast as possible” – in line with Natural England’s ten year timescale. Candidates signing up to the Walking Manifesto have been evenly spread across the main political parties. Justin Cooke, Ramblers Coastal Access Campaigner, comments: “That so many candidates have signed up to quickly deliver coastal access demonstrates the universal support that walking and access enjoys. We particularly welcome the cross-party support for access to our coastline.”

For more information on candidates who’ve signed up to coastal access delivery, and to walking, visit the Breaking Down the Barriers campaign at www.ramblers.org.uk and watch Ramblers CEO Tom Franklin’s video blog about the manifesto below.

Barely a month before the General Election in May 2005, the Labour Party pledged to make better coastal access an early priority for its third term. Yet this wasn’t the first time that the party had turned its attention to Britain’s love affair with the coast – way back in 1949, Clement Attlee’s National Parks & Access to the Countryside Act was passed on a tide of public reaction to wartime austerity.

Attlee’s legislation laid the foundations of our rights-of-way network and National Trails, as well as our nature reserves and National Parks. “But despite these successes,” says Ramblers senior policy officer, Justin Cooke, “the complex arrangements for coast and countryside access in the Act simply didn’t work. Even the National Parks gave up on them.”

At the dawn of the new millennium, Parliament revisited the problem of access to open country. “When they got round to the Countryside & Rights of Way Act, the Government lifted the definition of open country straight out of the 1949 Act,” says Justin Cooke. “It turned out to be easier to open up inland areas than the coastline, but the CRoW Act left the door open to include coastal land later on.”

The Ramblers knocked on that door straight after the General Election, working closely with the Government’s advisers and fellow members of Wildlife & Countryside Link (an umbrella body of environmental organisations) on all aspects of the draft Marine & Coastal Access Bill. This massive new bill covered all aspects of marine development, biodiversity and environmental protection, as well as enhanced recreational access to the English coastline.

A new National Trail

“Early in 2007, just before the draft Bill was published, Natural England invited us to a confidential briefing with landowners, farmers and other countryside users,” says Justin. “After two years of consultation and research, they’d concluded that simply extending open access to coastal land wouldn’t be the best way forward – and that was a big surprise to most people. But, after a couple of days of discussion, we began to understand why.” Natural England argued that it would be impractical to show a thin strip of coastal access land on Ordnance Survey’s Explorer maps, as was done for more extensive inland areas of mountain, moor and downland. Instead, they suggested a tailor-made solution for the 21st century.

“Natural England proposed going right back to the 1949 Act to create a new National Trail around the English coast, together with additional CRoW Act access land or ‘spreading room’ between the trail and the sea,” says Justin Cooke. “We could see the benefits of that approach – opening up the countryside after the CRoW Act mainly benefited serious walkers, especially in areas such as the Yorkshire Dales, where access increased dramatically.

“But the coastline is different. It attracts millions of holidaymakers every year, most of them not regular walkers. A new coastal trail will benefit many more people. They’ll have the certainty of knowing where they can walk – and the Trail will get them involved in walking after their holiday.”

Groundbreaking legal powers

Natural England worked closely with Defra to design the new bill and ensure the legislation will be workable. “We expect the National Trail to be continuous around the open coast, and 95% of users will be on that trail,” says policy manager Paul Johnson. “It should be obvious on the ground, giving users the confidence and certainty to follow it, even without a map. If it isn’t, we’ll have failed! ”

The agency will have radical new powers to accommodate coastal erosion in areas such as North Yorkshire, where the Cleveland Way has been one victim of a very mobile coastline. In these places, the new National Trail will move inland on a safe, rolling alignment as the coastline recedes. “This is groundbreaking stuff – in every sense,” says Paul.

Learning lessons from its work on the CRoW Act, Natural England has completed an office-based audit of existing access, including data from all 53 coastal local authorities. “There’s already secure and satisfactory access to about two-thirds of England’s coastline,” says Paul, “although the public may also find more limited opportunities in other areas.”

On the Cumbrian coast, Andrew Best is one of Natural England’s access advisors working with the county council, farmers, wildlife trusts and the Ramblers. One of several pilot projects around the coast, his team is testing techniques to open up access along a ‘typical’ coastline, away from nature reserves or National Trust land.

“Cumbria County Council and the local access forum have been really enthusiastic,” says Andrew. “Everyone we’ve met has been so co-operative – even our critics have been really constructive.” His team has already collected a mass of data about existing footpaths, designated landscapes, planning and wildlife issues, and is now ‘walking the course’ and listening to the views of farmers and landowners.

The path ahead

Now the Marine & Coastal Access Act has come into force, similar projects will work towards a consensus on access right around the coast. The 1949 Act requires an official National Trail route map, and Ordnance Survey will probably show it on their Explorer maps, too. By default, the spreading room will include all the cliffs and beaches seaward of the Trail, so they’re unlikely to need mapping.

In places, the spreading room may run inland to a nearby wall or road. There will also be some sensible exclusions such as ports, power stations and military training areas, with diversions around them providing essential continuity. Natural England’s proposals include exclusions or restrictions, similar to those already used on some CRoW access land, to allow for the needs of farmers and wildlife.

Justin Cooke is delighted with the progress so far, but he’s still concerned about access to a handful of large parks and private estates such as Beaulieu, in the New Forest. In these cases, Natural England has the power to negotiate an agreed and permanent way through, and Government may take further measures when it reviews progress in five years’ time.

Local businesses might welcome that. The South West Coast Path already injects more than £300 million into the regional economy every year and research by the Ramblers suggests the English coastal path will generate life-changing sums to revitalise struggling coastal towns, retain vital services and boost local job markets.

It could happen very soon. The Government has already announced that the first stretch of new coastal path will open at Weymouth – home of the Olympic sailing events – in time for 2012. “As legislation goes, things have moved quickly,” says Justin. “With the CRoW Act experience behind us, we’ve avoided the previous scare stories about gates left open and a countryside covered in litter. None of that happened with access land – and it won’t happen on the coast, either.”

It has, he says, been a more gentle discussion, “debating with Natural England and Defra, talking to Ministers and MPs, keeping up the momentum. Natural England had taken two years to do their research. We didn’t want all that work to just sit on a shelf – we wanted to push it forward.

“It’s been a really positive campaign. Members and volunteers pitched in, studying draft legislation, highlighting improvements, writing to their MPs and joining in fun activities with kites or sticks of rock. And they’ve topped it all off by sending 20,000 postcards to the Secretary of State, thanking him for including coastal access in the Marine Bill.”

Click here for more detailed FAQs about the Marine & Coastal Access Act and the latest news on the coastal path’s progress.

The historic legislation, which received Royal Assent on 12 November, will create a continuous coastal path around England, allowing the public the right to walk the country’s entire coastline. Currently, almost half of England’s shores have no public right of way. It follows decades of campaigning by the Ramblers, whose Chief Executive Tom Franklin hailed the Act as “a victory for everyone who walks in this island nation”.

“The Marine and Coastal Access Act will enshrine a very simple principle on the statute books — that everyone, no matter who they are, where they come from or how much money they have, has the right to visit all parts of the coast which is so much a part of our heritage, ” he said. “The Government deserves congratulations for having introduced the bill, based on Natural England’s research. What is needed now is a continued commitment to deliver access on the ground so people have a chance to enjoy the coast.”

The Ramblers’ coastal-access campaign will now focus on making the secondary legislation needed to turn the act into reality, working with its strong national workforce of volunteers to help Natural England create a National Trail that will be the envy of the world.

Read more about the plans for a new coastal path in our extended feature in the winter 2009 issue of walk, or an excerpt here.

MPs are set to get even more stick this week, this time from Britain’s biggest walking charity. The Ramblers has sent a stick of rock emblazoned with the message ‘Coast for most’ to nearly 200 MPs, urging them to back plans for an English coastal path in the Marine and Coastal Access Bill ahead of its second reading in Parliament next week.

All those contacted have expressed their support or interest in a public right of access to the English coast, and the Ramblers is now campaigning to ensure there’s a proper consultation over the route of the proposed coastal trail.

To find out more about the Ramblers’ coastal access campaign, visit www.ramblers.org.uk/freedom

Coast for Most (Sunday 3 May 2009)

Did you know that, contrary to popular belief, there is no general right to walk along the coast and on beaches in England and Wales? I can feel your outrage seeping through the ether right now.

Well here at the Ramblers we’ve been working for years to change this and currently the Marine and Coastal Access Bill is passing through parliament. It takes some time this democratic process but once passed this bill will go a long way to rectifying the present unsatisfactory situation and begin the process of establishing a ‘coastal corridor’ all around England and Wales.

The coastal access campaign took me down to Weymouth for a spot of kite flying on the May Bank Holiday weekend. (It’s a tough job but somebody’s got to do it.) Now I can see how the link between kite flying and walking might seem tenuous but people see walking as one of the many activities they want to do when they’re ‘beside the seaside’. So this presented a great opportunity to spread our message amongst the seaside holidaying public. (Statistic alert – in a recent ICM poll more than 94% of the public wanted the legal right of access to our beautiful coast.) We also had some special ‘Coast for Most’ kites we wanted to fly.

Weymouth, of course, is on the South West Coast Path and here many visitors and locals are aghast that the rest of the country doesn’t have the same right of access as enjoyed in the south west. We really shouldn’t be this complacent though because many of our national trails and regional routes rely on permissive access and 10% of the 1014 km (630 miles) South West Coast Path is not legally secure.

There’s been a kite festival, excuse me, an international kite festival going on in Weymouth for 19 years. Altogether now (Dick van Dyke ‘cockernee’ accent optional):

‘Let’s go fly a kite,
Up to the highest height’

 With our little pitch on the prom we were able to chat to hundreds of passing visitors. The postcards explaining the campaign were nearly as popular as the free sticks of rock (no really they were) and we were once again overwhelmed with the near universal support this campaign has with the general public. This bank holiday Sunday the whole country seemed to have embraced Billy Bragg’s sentiment: 

‘So turn around and come on down
 The beach is free’

Well it may be free Bill, but here in Blighty you don’t necessarily have a legal right to get to it.

The audience participation bit (or what you can do to help)…

(i) Tell the Ramblers why you love the coast and why access to it is so important – the Ramblers can then use this feedback to demonstrate public support to government. Take part by following this link: http://tinyurl.com/al3f83

(ii) You can also ask your MP to support the Marine and Coastal Access Bill, which will create a legal route around the coast – click on this link: http://tinyurl.com/chcxfh

Useful links:
o The Ramblers     http://www.ramblers.org.uk/
o Claim the Coast   http://www.ramblers.org.uk/campaigns/Claim+the+Coast.htm
o Weymouth Kite Festival  http://www.thekitesociety.org.uk/Weymouth.htm

Listen to:
http://www.last.fm/music/Billy+Bragg/_/The+Beach+Is+Free

Watch this:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7910721.stm

Owen Plunkett, chairman of Hampshire Ramblers which hosted the event, says: “Walking along the coast is a fun activity that should be available to all. Unfortunately, in many parts of the country it just isn’t possible. The coastal trail that the Marine and Coastal Access Bill will create will give everyone the chance to get out and walk along our beautiful coastline.”
For more about the Ramblers’ kite-flying campaign, or to organise your own event, please contact Richard Granville at richard.granville@ramblers.org.uk.