Straight outta Compton Bay and onto Brook Chine

​As I've explained before, I had a long phase of only visiting one of the Isle of Wight's beaches. 

We thought of nothing but Compton Bay and called it 'The Beach' as if there were no other beach on the Island (with apologies to Jane Austen for that plagiarism).

My parents were a bit more ambitious, taking us to any of the beaches that didn't get especially busy, such as Whale Chine or Binnels Bay. But after a while we got in a bit of rut to the extent that we even sat in the same spot on Compton Bay like a churchgoer with a reserved pew. Sometimes I could still see my bottom imprint in the sand from the previous visit.

The adjacent Brook Chine only became a favourite more recently and so we set off for a walk on one of the final evenings of decent sunshine before the nights started getting darker. 

There are a couple of things which tend to keep us away from Brook Chine. They'll sound like whinges but they really aren't.

Firstly, it's a designated kitesurfers' beach so swimming does carry the risk of getting your head taken off like a slice of cheddar with one of those fancy cheese cutters. I'm not complaining about that, kitesurfing looks like great fun and I'm all for enthusiasts being given a space to show off/fall off. I'd just rather leave the beach with all my bodyparts attached.

Secondly, Brook is a dog-friendly beach all year round. That's great news for dog owners who have to put up with lots of summertime restrictions elsewhere, but as a non-dog owner I tend to pick the beaches where my picnic won't be licked by an intruder.

Anyway, Brook Chine was looking beautiful on this particular evening with a low tide showing off its rocky bed. Most daytime visitors had gone home and the sun was dropping. I'm not much of a photographer, but even a monkey with a camera could have come up with something decent.

At one point my brother sent me a banal message asking what paint we had used in the hallway, or something similar. I swiftly sent him a photo back of the view and told him to stop interrupting my 'wow moment'. He was rightfully apologetic.