On the penultimate day of my holiday to the Isle of Wight I decided to go to Cowes. Needless to say the road to get there was closed, and there was a significant diversion. This time however it turned out to be an advantage. I followed the diversion and ended up arriving right at the very start of the sea frontage at the once separate village of Gurnard. This was exactly where I was planning to start from, the diversion just took me right there without me having to drive through the centre of Cowes! At the time of year I visited it was also free parking along this length of frontage – another bonus.
There is a new sign proudly declaring this is part of the new King Charles III coastal footpath right around the coast of England, now officially declared open by the king, despite not all of it being, well, open! It’s the first official sign I’ve seen for it.
This is known as Egypt Point which has absolutely nothing to do with Egypt whatsoever! Back in the 1500’s this land was home to a group of travellers, sometimes described as Roma, sometimes “nomadic folk” sometimes gypsies. The locals referred to them as the Egyptians and so the area became known as Egypt Point. The Esplanade opened in 1894. Three years later, as this is the most northerly point of the island, Trinity House built a lighthouse here. Don’t get excited – it’s more of a dustbin on a stick! Originally it had a parafin lamp, that was removed in 1969 and replaced with a light that flashed every 10 seconds, finally in 1989, it was decommissioned and given to the local council in 2007.
Just across the road from the right hand lion sculpture is Rosetta Cottage. Obviously the name relates to the area. It’s now a National Trust holiday cottage. Cowes has a famous regatta week, and during 1873 wealthy American financier Leonard Jerome rented the cottage for his family. It was here that his daughter Jennie Jerome met and later accepted a marriage proposal from Randolph Churchill, the follwing year they were married and had a child they called Winston.
Chatter: Canon EOS 30, 40mm STM, Kodak Tmax 100 developed in FX21.
S.H.O.U.T. 