We love travelling over to Freshwater Bay.  It’s a part of the Island more suitable for walkers and cyclists, as there are a myriad of footpaths to hike or cycle along and also Tennyson Downs to walk over.  It’s always a little more windy over the West side too, and so you also get the surfers in the bay instead of sun-worshippers.

Last Sunday Sam and I took our bicycles to Freshwater, eager to try out a cycling route we had discovered last time.  Running along the side of the Yar Estuary towards Yarmouth is an old disused railway line that was built in the 1860s and closed down in 1953, and is now a relatively flat walk/cycle path that ends up near Yarmouth harbour. You can see what I mean below:

Cycle path

Disused railway line.JPG

It’s rather delightful cycling along with no cars trying to overtake.  However, I think there must have been some kind of cycling event on the Island that day, because there were literally hundreds of hunky men whizzing past us on what looked like very expensive bikes.  Sam and I were happy to pootle along for a couple of hours and enjoy the sunshine though!

At the end of the route was a café which we discovered used to be Yarmouth station.  The old Victorian building is still intact, with the old train seats inside the café.  Ducks waddle about outside, and it’s a pound to buy a bag of duck food.

What a lovely day we had.  We had a leisurely cycle back, sat by the estuary for a while, and then drove down to the café by the bay and had another green tea.  It’s great to discover something new on this beautiful Island we’ve been travelling to for so many years.