Red Squirrel Trail - Hills to harbour Community Rail Partnership

Walk Description

This is a walk along part of the Red Squirrel Trail between Shanklin and Wroxall.

The route is named the Red Squirrel Trail in celebration of one of the Isle of Wight’s most iconic species. But squirrels aren’t all you can spot, the route is teaming with wildlife. In its entirety the Trail runs for 34 miles between East Cowes and Merstone. The section between Shanklin and Wroxall is known locally as the Sunshine Loop, so named because this area receives among the highest number of sunshine hours of any location in the country. Perhaps the sun will shine for us in April!

This is a mostly flat walk on a good surface. There are a few steps at the start, however a short detour could allow those with accessibility issues to join after 200m. We will stop half way for lunch/snacks before returning to Shanklin.

Walk Leader

This walk is led by Clive Bishop from the Living Well & Early Help Service. Clive is a community development worker for the South East of the Island, in particular The Bay area. He runs a range of different community groups in the area and works alongside many others, supporting them and their community members.

The Living Well & Early Help team receive enquiries from members of the community seeking advice, guidance, or support for specific concerns. They also work in the community delivering groups, activities, information points and more, building connections and linking people together. Their focus is on helping to enhance the community offer so that they can grow stronger, more resilient communities that look out for each other and support each other to thrive in their local environment. They also link in with a wide variety of charities and support agencies to ensure they offer the right kind of help to match the need. By coming together to provide these services they aim to develop an approach that sits equally well with the local community and the island wide communities encouraging them to review and evolve their community offer to ensure people get the support they need locally before they hit crisis.