Island 2000 Trust Blog

When they arrived at Wroxall Cemetery on Saturday for the Chance Encounters Walk, the twenty or so participants had little idea what lay ahead. Unusually, this was also true for the walk leaders. In an attempt to escape the modern obsession with controlling our lives and the world around us, those taking part agreed to allow chance to be their guide and to follow a course dictated by the roll of a gigantic foam-rubber dice (that’s a die for any purists).

After a shaky start when the whole expedition nearly foundered in a huge lake of mud, fate smiled on the participants and guided them on a course over St Martin’s Down taking in shaded paths through the woods, spectacular displays of flowers, open downland and as a final surprise, breath-taking views over the Channel.

Direction was not the only thing to be left to chance. Topics for discussion, styles of walking and mutual personal revelations were all prompted by the bouncing cube.

At the end, everyone seemed to have enjoyed the liberation of letting go of the reins for a few hours and parted by thumbing their noses at each other and stalking off - just as the final throw determined they should.

Here is a fabulous Black Poplar, reckoned to be our rarest native tree. It wasn’t so very long ago that there were real fears for its long-term future, fears that it might even become extinct. And yet it was once such a characteristic feature of the English countryside that it appears, identifiably, in John Constable’s archetypal rural idyll, ‘The Hay Wain’. This one is in Roud, in the upper reaches of the East Yar valley and was photographed by Rowan Adams on her Rambling Rivers walk for the 2007 Walking Festival . Rowan is gallantly guiding the fit and adventurous along successive sections of our Source to Sea long-distance trail (you can see it marked as the ‘ Yar River Trail’ on the OL29 Ordnance Survey Explorer Map for the Island) throughout the Festival and on into the IWC Countryside Summer Walks programme. There are just a handful of Black Poplars left on the Island (maybe 3, maybe 5); all male and so trapped in hopeless chastity. Fortunately, thanks to the generosity of the Environment Agency and the great horticultural skills of the Isle of Wight College we are now able to collect cuttings from these trees and propagate them. In this way we will build up a stock of new saplings (all clones of the originals of course) ready for planting out and so ensure that this beautiful tree will grace the Island’s river valleys and wetlands for many years to come. But, if there any female Black Poplars out there looking to relocate, please do send your age and measurements to: desperatetrees@island2000.org.uk

A crowd of over 30 walkers were lucky enough to benefit from the marvellously knowledgeable and self-confessed “Regency Man” Professor Boffin last Sunday when he led one of the walking festival walks.

Fresh from the signing tour of his latest book, “Pipes, sewers and drainage of the late 18th Century” the Professor made a rare departure from his regency specialism to provide an entertaining and informative tour; “The Queen’s Bloomers”, loosely based on Island 2000’s “Boat Trail”.

The walk highlighted the Victorian heritage of Cowes and East Cowes, particularly all the connections with Queen Victoria and her residence at Osborne House.

Following the walk, the Professor commented, “A splendid occasion. Wonderful people, the Islanders - got some very good friends in Seaview myself. My wife put me up for this - she’s very keen on ’causes’ - does a lot of work for charity and all that kind of caper. Anyway, must dash, I’m due up at Osborne House to investigate some of Victoria’s pipework. Cheerio!”