Post Marathon R&R On The Wight Isle.

The day after the Pathfinder Marathon Ruth and I packed up our tent and headed off to the Isle of Wight for a few days R&R.  We pitched our tent on a lovely campsite on the East side of the island and then headed off for a little walk along Sandown Esplanade and along the coast, just to blow away the cobwebs following the long drive.

The next day the weather looked like it was going to be overcast, so we decided to have a relaxing day by just taking in a few sights, rather than going for a long walk.  So we headed off to Osbourne House, the former summer home of Queen Victoria, and then on to Carisbrooke Castle. 

We both felt slightly out of place at both attractions.  At Osborne House we were way below the average age, as most visitors seemed to be OAPs on coach tours. 

At Carisbrooke we seemed to be just about the only couple amongst large groups of families with young kids.  I was also slightly saddened by the sight of obese parents with young children.  I know everyone has the right to live their lives as they choose, but it became apparent that a child that is brought up by two obese parents has their childhood restricted.  I witnessed a few children who were eager to go off and explore the grounds of the castle, and to climb the steep stairs up to the ramparts, but who were always called back by their overweight parents because they didn't have the energy or couldn't be bothered to go with them.  The worse thing was hearing their excuses and lies, "don't go down there, Johnny, there's nothing to see down there", or "you don't want to go up those stairs, they don't go anywhere".

The following day we woke to glorious sunny weather.  My legs were finally feeling over their marathon fatigue, as expected, so we headed off to do a days walk.  We drove pretty much to the opposite side of the island and parked at Yarmouth.  We then walked alongside the River Yar to Freshwater, where we stopped for a morning tea and cake.  From Freshwater we headed up to Tennyson Down walking due West towards the needles.  Last June I ran in the inaugural Isle of Wight ultra marathon, running 70 miles of coastal path over two days, and the Tennyson Down section is what I remembered as being the most scenic.  It was just as picturesque as I'd remembered, except this time I was ambling along at a leisurely pace and had more time to take in the views.

Once we'd reached the Needles we followed the north coastline around to Alum Bay, which has a hideous theme park going on, and is overrun with tourists.  We passed through quickly to get to the short steep climb up to the top of Headon Warren, which was covered in heather and wild flowers, and which has great views of the coast, if you can ignore the sight of the car park at Alum Bay.

Ruth overlooking Alum Bay, before reaching the hideous car park

Chairlift down to Alum Bay infront of The Needles

Ruth on Headon Warren

We then headed down to sea level and mostly followed the coast all the way back to Yarmouth.  Yarmouth itself is a lovely little fishing port crammed with interesting looking pubs and restaurants.  We felt we really should stay for our dinner, so we found a nice seafood restaurant were we shared a massive platter of crab, mussels, prawns, crayfish tails, scallops and mackerel.  It was all lip smackingly delicious.

The next day we headed off for another walk along the south coast of the island.  When I did the ultra marathon there was one section where I went hideously wrong and ended up running an extra 3 miles on top of what should have been a 38 mile day.  I'm considering running the event again in 2012, and I mentioned to Ruth that I'd quite like to go for a reconnaissance walk along the section of coast where I'd gone wrong.  Ruth wasn't against the idea, so off we went.  It was another great walk, but not as long as the previous day's.  We ended up in Ventnor and spent some time walking along the seafront and exploring the town. 

As we walked through town we spotted an interesting looking Spanish Tapas bar called El Toro Contento.  We popped in and instantly loved the feel and smell of the place.  It really felt as if we had walked into an authentic tapas bar.  We booked ourselves a table for that evening then got a bus back to where we'd left the car, killed some time and then returned to Ventnor.  The tapas bar was a great find.  It's run by an English woman and her Spanish husband, with their two teenage children helping out.  It has to be the best tapas bar outside of Spain.

Sadly, that was the end of our brief holiday.  The next morning we packed up the tent and got the car ferry back to the mainland and drove back to Cambridge.  Last Sunday was then spent doing chores to get ready to start back at work, mainly a mountain of emailing.  In the afternoon I got out for a 10 mile run, my first run following the marathon six days before.  Since then I've only been out for a run on Tuesday and Wednesday.  However, my next marathon is this coming Sunday.

Since running the Pathfinder marathon I have decided to up the challenge for the rest of the year.  So far I've completed eight marathons in eight months.  My aim now is to run another eight marathons over the next four months.  In September I plan to run Robin Hood Marathon this Sunday, followed by the New Forest Marathon two weeks later.  This will then be followed the week later by the Loch Ness Marathon on the first Sunday of October and the Lincoln Spires and Steeples Marathon two weeks after that.  My plans for November and December have not yet been set, but there are enough marathons out there for me to step up to my new challenge.

Why have I decided to increase the challenge?  Partly out of curiosity.  I seemed to have adapted to running one marathon a month and I would like to see if I can now adapt to running two a month.  It's also because I would like to continue to raise money for SOS Children's Villages.  As the year has progressed the fund raising has tapered off, which was to be expected.  However, I know there are many people out there who keep saying they will sponsor me but haven't done so yet.  Hopefully, this will shock them into action.  Basically, I want your money!