Isle of Wight Walking Festival 5-20 May 2012

Walk on Wight at the UK’s leading walking festival

May 2012 will see the return of the Isle of Wight’s annual Walking Festival. Now in its 14th year, the festival is the largest of its kind in the UK and offers over 300 walks covering miles of unspoilt Island countryside, coastal paths, nature-filled woodlands and fossil-rich beaches. In 2010, over 22,000 people took part in the fortnight-long walking event and this year’s festival promises to continue drawing the crowds from far and wide.

Taking place 5th – 20th May, the festival will see leisure walkers and die-hard ramblers take on a variety of walks along some of the Island’s 500-miles of footpaths. Featuring a wide range of walks suitable for walkers of all ages and abilities, the festival includes Nordic walking, a non-stop round the Island race (a 72-mile stamina-testing coastal trek), a wild woods and scavenger hunt as well as fossil-hunting guide tours.

This year’s festival will also see the return of the famous speed dating walk on Sunday 6 May. Recently featured on an episode of the BBC’s Countryfile, the walk dates back to 2006 and has in its six-year history produced four weddings and a baby! Also on the agenda: charity walks such as the annual Firewalk and the new-for-2012, Glasswalk. The latter will see brave participants navigate the festival’s shortest, yet most nerve-racking walk, a 20-metre path over razor-sharp glass to help raise money for Island charity, Beaulieu House.

Sponsored by Wightlink, the Festival kicks off on 5 May with a 'Firewalk' and a 'Glasswalk'...

Join in on the festival fun and get walking!

Walkers can take advantage of one of our special offers... foot passengers can pay from as little as £9.50 per person while those travelling on four wheels can snap up a short stay return ticket for a car and up to five passengers from £52.50.

To book a crossing please call the Call Centre on 0871 376 1000 (calls cost 7p per minute, plus network extras) or use the 'BOOK NOW' link below.  For vehicle travel please quote 'MPWAL1' and for travel by foot please quote 'MPWAL2'.

Vehicle travel

Car, driver and up to 5 passengers from £52.50 (prices vary depending on vehicle length)

book

Foot passenger travel

Foot passengers can travel from £9.50 per person

book

These fares are valid for travel between 3-22 May and excludes travel between 0545-0925 hours Monday to Friday.

Walking on Fire is Cool!!

Once again, we will be organising a "Firewalk" as part of the Isle of Wight Walking Festival.  This intriguing walk will also be the shortest in the programme - a whole "20 feet" long!! There will be an opportunity to do a "Glasswalk"

All participants must go through the privalte motivational psychology Fear Buster seminars: "Learn or Burn" for the Firewalk or "Autogenic Relaxation" for the Glasswalk. These are designed to equip participants with the resources to walk unharmed across 20 foot of wood embers burning at 1236 degrees Fahrenheit or 20 foot of razor sharp shards from two thousand broken wine bottles.  The training is based around proven motivational and psychological methods.

The course will:- Increase confidence and self-esteem, release fears and doubts, break through limiting beliefs and conditioning, transform your fear into positive action amd contain lots of fun and laughter!

Firewalk: Registration 7.00 pm, Training 7.30 pm, Walk 9.30 pm

Glasswalk: Registration 5.15 pm, Training 5.30 pm, Glasswalk 6.30 pm

Please note - training for the above walks does not involve any element of hypnosis, spirtual training, chanting, "brainwashing!", voodoo or any similar methodologies.  It is tremendous fun.

Both the Firewalk and Glasswalk are in aid of charity, and the supported charity is Beaulieu House in Newport on the Isle of Wight, (a respite centre for children). The minimum amount of sponsorship required is £100 (of which £50 will fund the walk).

Walk the Wight

Walk the Wight is a sponsored walk on Sunday 13 May for the Earl Mountbatten Hospice in Newport. You’ll be walking across the Island, through some of our most spectacular scenery.
There’s a choice of distances: Bembridge to Carisbrooke – 12.5 miles, Carisbrooke to Needles Park – 14 miles, Bembridge to Needles Park (via Carisbrooke) – 26.5 miles, Sandown to Newport – 8.5 miles (flat walk which is suitable for rugged wheelchairs/buggies).
Please note that advance registration for Walk the Wight is compulsory. Visit Earl Mountbatten Hospice website to register and for more information.

Walk around the coastal path

Do you have the stamina to walk non-stop round the 72-mile coastal path in 24 hours? Admire the Island’s spectacular coastal scenery on this strenuous walk led by our experts Martin, Chris and Alan. Alternatively you could tackle the coastal path either over two or three days.

24 Hour Round the Island Walk

Take part in the epic 24 Hour Round the Island Walk or the Twenty Mile Leg Stretcher starting from Wightlink’s Yarmouth ferry terminal, or opt for the slightly less strenuous Woodland & Bluebell Walk through wildflower woodlands or Seaside Story Walk searching for crabs, limpets and other creatures. Quirky Ghost Walks, a Troll Trail Family Quest and Tai Chi Walk are also in the programme, along with walks around Alverstone Nature Reserve and Blackgang – The Disappearing Village.

Speed Dating

This walk is great fun, very informal and a good way to meet like-minded people. The Isle of Wight Walking Festival now boasts three weddings – and we hope there’s more to come! Meet your ideal partner on a relaxed and informal walk along the coast of Sandown Bay.