How a lost phone added 2 miles to our walk

It was a gorgeous day so we decided to go for a walk on Thorney island. Maybe visit the lovely little church which is situated on the MOD area and goes way back. We had lunch packed so off we went.

To walk around the island takes awhile as it is approx 7 miles, so we broke it down in stages. First to the marina and then the bridge, rebuilt recently which takes you onto the island. Then through the security gate and into the MOD area although you can visit if you stick to the footpath.

After an hour we had reached the church and sat in the sunshine having our lunch. It is interesting as it has some of the WW2 graves from both German and British pilots who crashed nearby as well as graves way back to the 1500’s of the villagers who once lived there.

After a short rest I suggested we go on further to see if we can reach the nature reserve at the tip. And when we got there it was worth it as you can see from the photos. We had done it 3.5 miles and the weather perfect. The beach was clean and sea tempting The Isle of Wight was as clear as anything and it looked like you could walk across to West Wittering as the sea was so flat.

On our return we retraced our steps to the church and sat and watched lazy hornets gather around the church tower. Stuart was taking photos on his phone as reference for his paintings and I watched some energetic wind surfers try and keep themselves upright despite the lack of wind.

Onward then towards the security gate which was our next marker. It was then Stuart realised he hadn’t got his phone - and the things he has with it like his cards and driving license! He knew where it was back at the church! So while I sat with our stuff, he walked back to get it. It was nearly a two mile round trip. Amazingly just as he was getting to the spot my phone rang. A nice young man who was walking the island had found the phone and using the business card in the phone contacted me to say he had found it. I was able to describe Stuart to him and they met up. Fantastic luck. Now all he had to do was walk back to me and we could finish our walk.

We went in stages with lots of stops and back to our car. I was ready for a cuppa after that but we broke the distance down into bite size bits and we did it. Seven miles for me and nine for Stuart. We do the same when walk the dogs. Break it up into smaller sections and at each stop we do something with them.

So at one point they may have to sit and stay whilst I handle them and check teeth and ears etc and another we do a spot of searching and another a bit of heel work. In between they can go off and sniff and “read the doggy newspaper “. This means they check in with us regularly and we enjoy the time spent with them.

If you would like to find out more about what we do to enrich our dogs walks then join us at our lifestyle classes on Wednesday morning or Sunday morning. Check it out here https://www.thewalkaboutway.co.uk/dog-training