At the beginning of the month we had a week on the Isle of Wight. With hindsight and considering what it has been like since, the weather was very good. Indeed we had two near perfect days. On one of these we had a lovely walk round Yarmouth, one of my favourite places on the Island.

We headed off past the old station that has recently been reimagined as a cafe

through Rofford Marsh

and down to the sea where we saw a couple of cormorants fishing together, and a man walking his dogs along the shore at what was one of the lowest tides of the year (usually no beach visible here)

Back through the town, the cottage gardens were looking pretty,

then on to the pier, reputedly the longest wooden pier int he UK.

From the pier we spotted children taking advantage of the low tide and glorious evening to go crabbing

All this in a gentle stroll lasting around an hour - we are blessed!

“The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever”

— Jacques Yves Cousteau

I think I feel more acutely aware of the light when I am by the sea. It sparkles, it reflects, it picks up colour from the sky, the sun, the clouds, it's constantly changing.

Driving along the esplanade at Cowes on Friday evening on our way out to supper I was struck by how the light was catching the sails of the large racing yachts that were milling about. Of course we had to stop!

The sails just shimmered in the brightness of the evening sun.

Look towards the west however and you get a totally different impression of the light. The sun is beginning to sink, the light is a hazy gold rather than bright, it's hard to imagine you are in the same time and space. This picture is natural colour but it almost looks as if I have put a sepia filter on it.

It's Saturday mid-afternoon and we are walking round the Rofford Marshes at Yarmouth. The tide is out and the waders are feeding, the sun gleams on the mud, the weed looks almost a florescent green

The light is such that we are unable to identify the birds from our reference book,

the colours blend and merge together, the bird seeming to take on the colour of its surroundings.

Looking across the estuary where the glare and gleam of the light is strong, the colour is washed out, so that the difference between a colour and monochrome picture seems almost insignificant.

As we continued our walk we came upon something very unexpected. Our route took us down the old Newport - Freshwater railway track. Closed in 1953 even before Beeching wielded his axe, I have no memory of it other than as a bridleway. Some of the stations have been turned into private houses, others have been demolished and Yarmouth station was a Community Centre. Over the past few months we had noticed building work and renovation going on but couldn't work out what the final result would be. At last we were to discover!

To our great surprise the station had been recreated, painted in the Southern Railways' colours familiar from my childhood, and turned into a tearoom and restaurant. I was not able to take any pictures of the interior on this occasion but it was reminiscent of a 1950 railway carriage.

They have even built a faux signal box which doubles as a bird hide with a wonderful view over the marshes. We can't wait to go there for supper on our next visit to the Island!

A Walk Round Yarmouth

Into the Light + a Surprise