An early morning at Sandhard Beach in Yarmouth (Without Trousers)

Sandhard Beach was not exactly busy at 6am

​I’m running out of beaches which I haven’t photographed for my interactive map. I’m up to 47, which isn’t bad for an Island which is 23 miles by 13 miles.

Sandhard Beach has been on my list ever since it featured on The Beast Must Die, which was a Britbox TV Series. I proudly offered Mrs Guru a running commentary of where different parts were filmed until it came to a scene on an unfamiliar beach.

My mother will tell me that we went to Sandhard Beach weekly when I was in Primary School but I couldn’t remember it.

This footpath off the main road leads to Sandhard Beach

I decided to visit without the children at 6am. Adventures are safer at this time, as I don’t have to contend with complaints if it turns out that the beach is a lagoon or the parking is miles away.

My adventure didn’t start well as I realised that I didn’t have any trousers or shorts available. This may sound ridiculous, but my clothes were not accessible without waking up the rest of the house, which I wasn’t willing to do.

As I closed the front door, I convinced myself that my boxer shorts looked a bit like shorts (they didn't) and that no-one would be around to challenge me. It was a hot day, so perhaps passers by would assume I was just heading off for a swim.

Parking at Sandhard Beach isn’t easy. The closest I could find was the small pay and display car park next to Yarmouth Harbour. It’s then about 10 minutes on foot over the bridge and through to the entrance. 

In hindsight, it might have been better to park at Fort Victoria (currently free parking) and follow the coastal path towards Yarmouth. It looks to be a similar distance.

When I reached my parking spot, I felt a little more self conscious that I was stood in Yarmouth in my pants and searched the car boot for some swimming shorts. Alas, they weren’t available.

However, I did find my wetsuit and concluded that walking around in a wetsuit would look less strange than walking around in tatty boxer shorts. I squeezed into my wetsuit (just the lower half) and set off.

The walk to the beach was very enjoyable, even without any trousers

Eventually, I saw one other person on Sandhard Beach

The beach is really lovely. It’s not got golden sands but there are patches of shingly sand which some previous visitors had turned into sandcastles. A pair of flip flops had been abandoned nearby.

Sandhard Beach is a good choice if you like to see activity from the beach and it also seems to be dog friendly. The Harbour is usually busy, with the Wightlink ferry coming and going, as well as yachties arriving to compare red trousers.

There’s also a nicely laid out section with stands and seating for barbecues. I believe this was the work of Yarmouth Harbour, for which I offer my commendation.

I returned to the car and made a mental note to pack trousers on my next early morning outing.

You might like to park at Fort Victoria and walk along the coastal path