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

Entry: Walking The Isle of Wight Coastal Path - Project Page - A77671920
Author: Bluebottle - U43530


University Project Page - A77671920

Entries:
A77672190 - Walking The Isle of Wight Coastal Path: Part 1 - Introduction
A77672217 - Walking The Isle of Wight Coastal Path: Part 2 - Cowes to Bembridge
A77672235 - Walking The Isle of Wight Coastal Path: Part 3 - Bembridge to Chale
A77672253 - Walking The Isle of Wight Coastal Path: Part 4 - Chale to The Needles
A77672262 - Walking The Isle of Wight Coastal Path: Part 5 - The Needles to Cowes

Field Researcher: Bluebottle U43530
Contributor: CunningPlan U3044583
Sub-editor: Tufty U566116

Alex

*cough*

I'll make some time to read this more thoroughly during the next day or so. A first skim through it looks ok.


BMT Scout

Well done <BB< wonderful it was just like being there perhaps a mention to look out for red squirrels in the woods to the south.

And perhaps more in the way of an epilogue it seems to end a little suddenly, these are just little points and in no way spoil the entry

Epilogue added

Excellent

Any room for red the squirrels

Good epilogue.

<BB<

Bob - there's plenty of room for the red squirrels, and this has been reflected by an additional mention at the end of the introduction.

Any volunteers to proof read this? I did a lot of fact-checking and tweaking as I sub-edited it, so it's likely I put in at least one rubbish sentence.

I'm not going to get a chance in the next two days but I do hope to cast my over at least one of them if not the whole lot over the weekend.

Please say if I wasn't clear at any point and I'll explain. Fingers crossed I was clear for at least most of it!



A77672190 - Walking The Isle of Wight Coastal Path: Part 1 - Introduction

A good intro and a very good preparations section.

Are there any guides to places to stay if one were to do this in one go? Is there an IoW Tourist Information website that can help, or any other website?

"Although you can follow the coastal path signs, due to coastal erosion it is quite likely that you will need to divert from the established path, and so it is recommended that you take an up-to-date Ordnance Survey map with you – ideally OS Outdoor Leisure Map 29, which is 1:25,000 scale, although OS Landranger Map 196 at 1:50,000 scale is also acceptable."
--> any chance of breaking this down in to two sentences?

No other comments.



A77672217 - Walking The Isle of Wight Coastal Path: Part 2 - Cowes to Bembridge

"From the floating bridge, Red Funnel Ferry (if you have disembarked at East Cowes), or the end of Clarence Road if you have taken the River Medina detour, head up hill up York Avenue, following the main road."
--> you have three locations mentioned. One has no additional information, one has some info in brackets, and one has it in the text. Although I understand the setence it took me a couple of reads. It may be that standardising this additional information would help with the sentence.

"Cross over the water via the main road. Once on the eastern, Fishbourne, shore take the fourth road on the left, Ashlake Copse Lane."
--> Is there a reason for this italics here?

"Ryde Pier was also Britain's third longest, with only the piers at Southport and Southend longer."
-->was? Does that mean it is no longer the third longest, or that the other two have been destroyed?


"Stones from the eroded remains of St Helens Church were also used to scrub the decks of naval ships, which gave rise to the word 'holystoning'."
-->I've never heard of the word before. Is the definition simply 'using stone to clean a ship deck'or does it have a different meaning?



A77672235 - Walking The Isle of Wight Coastal Path: Part 3 - Bembridge to Chale


"From the RNLI Lifeboat station at Bembridge the coastal route heads along Fishermans Walk, then right onto a footpath, then back onto the roads again."
--> road or roads?

"The next section's exact route is debatable, as many people who walk the Coastal Path probably follow the path next to the coast, the sea wall all the way to Shanklin, however, the official route is along the cliff-tops."
--> This is understandable but slightly unweidly. Any chance of a re-write?

Footnote 5 - is this needed, as you have already defined 'chine' in the introduction? The answer may well be yes as this is a seperate Entry, but I thought I'd ask anyway. Oh, and should is be 'V-Shaped' or 'V-shaped'?

"To ascend through Shanklin Chine, following the river up to the 45-foot waterfall, provides the shortest and most picturesque route; however a fare has been charged for this privilege since 1817."
--> this semi-colon doesn't quite fit as the second sentence isn't a complete sentence. Perhaps just replace the however with a but.

"..the centrepiece of which is the word 'VENTNOR' inscribed in large, friendly letters in the side of a slope."
--> Nothing wrong with this at all. I just wanted to say that the Hitchhiker's reference made me smile rather a lot.



A77672253 - Walking The Isle of Wight Coastal Path: Part 4 - Chale to The Needles

"Brighstone is a charming village off the cliff path which has a pub, The Three Bishops2, as well as thatched cottages, the National Trust Brighstone Shop and Museum and a thatched post office, as well as the village church, St Mary The Virgin, which dates from 1190."
--> A long sentence, with two instances of 'as well'. Could we break it up please?

"Head uphill passing Freshwater Redoubt, a fort built during the 1860s French Invasion scare, into the National Trust land, heading towards the distinctive Tennyson Memorial."
--> A tiny thing - should this be the National Trust land or just National Trust land?

You put the height of Tennyson Down as 146 metres (482 feet) above sea level. In a previous section you mention somewhere being 102m above sea level. Should we standardise how we present this information?



A77672262 - Walking The Isle of Wight Coastal Path: Part 5 - The Needles to Cowes

Multi-coloured sand... I seem to remember buying a small bottle full of different coloured sand on a school trip to the IoW in... gosh, 1995. Is this a standard IoW thing or is it likely that I bought it from here? I don't remember much else except playing around as pirates in Blackgang Chine and discovering I don't like hot chocolate.

"Follow the path out of the country park, across the road and along the coast on the outskirts of Norton before arriving at Bridge Road, and the Yar Bridge swing bridge across the River Yar3."
--> Perhaps I'm just getting tired after all this reading, but this sentence is just a little too long for me. Footnote 3 is great though.

"Follow the path on to West Close, turn left onto Sea View Road and, a short way later, take a right towards West Hamstead Farm. From here follow the path eastward to Hamstead Farm, rejoining the coastal path as it follows the top of Hamstead Cliff to Hamstead Ledge, round Hamstead Point to Lower Hamstead Farm near Hamstead Quay and through Lower Hamstead onto the Hamstead Trail."
-->ditto, although I can't see how to break it up much more. There's just too many places called Hamstead!

"...the Newtown Estuary made it an easily-accessible and busy port."
--> any need for the hyphen here?

"Follow the path round to the village of Gurnard, following the coast until you see the luck run out."
--> did you want to say Luck or was the lower case intentional?

"The Gurnard Luck is a river with a small harbour at its mouth, and Gurnard is named after a type of bird known as the Gurnet that was once common here."
--> Do you mean the river Luck at the village of Gurnard, or is it the river Gurnard Luck, which is also the name of a bird? This isn't quite clear.



Wow. There's so much research gone into this that it shines out of the page. Well done you both. If I can persuade Mr Vip I may well see how practical it is to hike around the Island some time.

Sorry - only have 2 minutes before have to run to the train

holystoning - cleaning decks of ships in general, not just using stones to do so.

As for the sand - the sand would have come from Alum Bay, but they do sell Alum Bay sand in other places, tourist information sites etc.

I think both the other piers still exist, as far as I know. Of course, being the first, Ryde pier was the longest until they built the other two.

The river is the Luck, not Gurnard Luck.

Hope this makes sense - I think all the other points can be done by the sub, but any questions, just ask.

<BB<

Ok, I think I've covered all of those

It's looking good. Any other suggestions or are we more or less done?

<BB<

I'm done. But as it's a University project I don't get to recommend it.

I couldn't remember how this works, so I looked at the University page:

"Once the project has been in Peer Review for seven days, the in-house team will look it over and bring it in for the final stage of editing before appearing on our Front Page and entering the Edited Guide (cue 'Trumpet Voluntary')."

As it's been more than 7 days, I might have just used the Recommend function to let them know it's ready.

And I might say

I look forward to it being moved out of Peer Review!

<BB<