Today we decided to explore the south of the island. I’d wanted to see the Niton Tunnels and walk along the Undercliff footpath. We started off at the famous Buddle Inn, a haven for smugglers hundreds of years ago…

From the Buddle Inn we walked down St. Catherine’s Road and turned right. A few yards up on the left were the Niton tunnels, which legend has it were made so that the rich people in the mansions did not have the unpleasant shock of seeing poor people going to work. In Niton many very expensive houses are still there.

From there we walked back to the main road and carried on walking along the Undercliff Road, hoping to see the Undercliff footpath. It was a pleasant, shady walk. We saw this interesting tomb on the side of the road from 1892..

We then saw a rather nasty footpath that rose almost vertically up the side of the cliff. I had to laugh at the name of the path…

We kept to the easier option along the Undercliff Road. We didn’t see the Undercliff footpath unfortunately (eroded? Does anyone know?), but near to the beach we saw that half the road had gone due to erosion, and a few houses had been condemned. One big Edwardian house on the good side of the road was for sale. Hmm…

We walked back to the Buddle Inn for tea and cake. We’d been walking for about an hour and a half and the tea was very welcome! We’re going to try another footpath nearer to home tomorrow.