h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Walking The Isle Of Wight Coastal Path - A76354347
Author: Bluebottle - U43530

Back in 2007 CunningPlan (U3044583) started work on an article about the Isle of Wight Coastal Path (A20421929 ). Three years later, having walked the Isle of Wight Coastal Path for charity, I decided to write about the Coastal Path. However I then discovered that CunningPlan's article had never been finished and that CunningPlan himself had apparently Elvised.

I left a message asking him in August if he'd mind if I finished writing what he started, waited over 2 months for him to get back to me, and as he didn't, I wrote this article, which I suppose counts as a scavenge.

I have co-credited CunningPlan, although in the end I made more changes to what he had written than I had originally intended - in pulling a thread of what he had written here and there, a lot of what he had written unravelled. Still he had put a lot of effort into writing what he did, so deserves recognition for that.

(I could, of course, ignore his article completely and write an entirely my own article about the Isle of Wight Coastal Path. This, though, seems to be a shame as the author then wouldn't get the credit he deserves. And there would be a degree of overlap in any case - there are only a limited number of ways to write 'walk from Sandown to Shanklin along the coast' after all. I would much rather he receives the credit he deserves.)

And I would walk 500 hundred miles and I would walk 500 more.

<BB<

Hi BB, you can add the original author in the 'Additional Research By' section rather than as a co-author/editor.
Insert the following between the Guide/Body tags at foot of the article, inserting the u-number and name where indicated.


researcher name


That way you still acknowledge his/her work.


BMT Scout

Woah, BB, this is huge and informative. Sorry so many of my comments are just spelling or punctuation, but it's a compliment as the content itself is very good.

I will try and do another comb through in a while as I am bound to have missed some (especially as I tend to read for content, not spelling).





"The West Wight is windy, exposed to the elements and has a large proportion of clay soil, including that named 'blue slipper',"
-->might be clearer written as 'including the type named' or 'including 'blue slipper' clay'

"... especially when traversing the chines."
--> could we have a definition of chine in a footnote?

"If you are fortunate enough to live on the Isle of Wight there is no reason not to start the walk anywhere, ... pick the route up virtually anywhere,..."
--> perhaps replace one of the 'anywhere's with 'at any point'?

"Newport to Cowes Cyclway (N207), N29"
-->cycleway

"head passed the yachts on the quayside"
-->past. There are several places where this occurs, shout if you would like me to highlight them.

"the road narrows and thins into a pleasant country lane. This will take you passed pleasant cottages built..."
--> any chance of replacing one of the uses of 'pleasant'?

"Once on the Eastern, Fishbourne, shore..."
-->Once on the eastern... I think compass directions are usually written as lowercase. Most of yours are correct, but there are one or two that have a stray capital.

"...Ryde Esplanade railway station and is at the dry end16 of . Ryde Pier.."
-->dry end of [something!]

"From the Hovercraft terminal, simply head East passing Ryde Harbour..."
--> head east

"painted white as a sea marker17."
-->although the footnote is full of interesting information, it doesn't contan a definition of sea marker. Is it a bit like a buoy, or more like a lighthouse?

"After passing the Isle of Wight Zoo, housed in Sandown Granite Fort, and the pterodactyl-shaped Dinosaur Isle Museum, the path joins the road along the esplanade into the large resort of Sandown, passing a bowling green, Sandham Grounds park21 and it is an easy stroll along by the sea, or on the beach if you prefer."
--> this just feel a bit long. I would put a break in at "...Grounds park. It is an..."

"When you get to Shanklin if you followed the sea wall you will be on the esplanade already..."
-->Esplanade

"is through Shanklin Chine, the first Chine23"
-->I've found the footnote explaining 'Chine'. Could you pop this on the first instance of the word instead?

"Blackgang Chine below.25."
--> just need to get rid of the extra full stop.

"The Three Bishops27 , as..."
-->just need to get rid of the extra space

"This is 482 feet above sea level."
--> This isn't a correction, but earlier you mentioned rising to some metres in height. Is it possible to have one scale, rather than two (I don't mind which, although metres is probably the correct one to use).

"very slippy sheer clay cliff30"
-->just need to finish with a full stop.

" wooded grounds of Fort Victoria Country Park.31"
-->just need to pop the full stop after the footnote.

"...across the River Yar32 and into the town of Yarmouth. with the brick battleship of Fort Albert nearby."
-->has an extra full stop after Yarmouth.

"Here walk to the end of Victoria Road and pick up the coastal path however this follows the outskirts of Bouldnor Copse, owned by the Forestry Commission and one of the best places on the Island to catch a glimpse of a red squirrel, rather than the coast which is down a cliff."
-->again, this one just feels a bit clumsy. Just putting a full stop after costat path and omitting the however would probably solve this.

"Gurnard Cliff, as t becomes Solent View Road."
-->it

Okay, I've done half, need to carry on tomorrow from 'painted white as a sea marker'.

Thanks for the thorough read-through!

<BB<

Okay, changes are now all made!

<BB<

Nice detailed description BB . I've only just started reading this fully but before I forget, I'll point out that in the 'Walking the Wight' paragraph, the first 3 sentences all start 'The Isle of Wight...'. Could you change a couple of them to avoid the repetition?

*continues reading*

Okay, made a little adjustment there.

<BB<

BB, I think the only major problem with this entry as it stands is the number of footnotes: 40. This is going to really wind-up the mobile browser community. I'm sure if you thought about it, you could include a good many of them into the text.

Other than my post re additional researcher credit I must confess I hadn't read this at the time.
As H5ringer says, 40 footnotes is way too many. They need drastically culling.

BMT Scout

Um... I'm not sure I agree. The piece is already very lengthy and incorporating the footnotes would add to the length without making it better. If it were a University project, with three or four Entries for the whole set, then it could take a little more length. As it stands I would be wary.

My .

I see one or two footnotes as a necessary evil but when you start getting into double figures I think they get too much and spoil the reading somewhat.
Having read this in full now I reckon if the length is an issue it has scope to be split into 2 articles.
You could have for example:-
Walking The Isle Of Wight Coastal Path Pt1
Walking The Isle Of Wight Coastal Path Pt2

BMT Scout

Splitting the entry into two parts is a good idea BMT That might go a long way toward solving the footnote issue, especially if a select few of them are also incorporated into the text.

btw I personally like footnotes, but moderation in all things, excepting of course the pesky erators

I had considered splitting into 2 or more articles but would prefer to keep it as 1. What is the consensus - is the article too long to successfully be one single article?

<BB<

Sorry to mean more work for you, but I think two would give a little more breathing room for it. Those footnotes could get into the text a little more and add even more colour, too.

Alternatively, if I were to split it, I'd prefer to divide it into 5:

Introduction
Cowes to Bembridge
Bembridge to Chale
Chale to The Needles
The Needles to Cowes

as that makes sense with each article covering a quarter of the Island, and keeping the introduction seperate means it wouldn't imbalance an article if it was divided into 2. Trouble is, I find finding a sub-editor willing to take on a Uni project is harder and takes longer than writing a project itself...

<BB<

It would make sense to split it that way. It's also a shame that it's tricky to find a Sub. I can offer to comb through the spellings etc. again but I'm not a Sub (official or not).

Until and if I find a sub willing to take on this as a project, I'll keep this in Peer Review and see whether other people feel it should be split and any other comments they may contribute.

<BB<

I have removed this from Peer Review as I have a sub volunteer for the Uni Project version of this article.

<BB<

Congratulations on finding a Sub. I look forward to seeing it post-revision.

I managed to lure an ex-Sub out of retirement.

I'm currently tying up 3 sub editors with my Uni projects... Good job I'm taking a break from writing over Christmas.

<BB<