There is a walk along the south coast of the island with a beautiful coastline which can be an easy stroll or a more adventurous walk.

I have walked from Gansey to Port St Mary many times which is a lovely short walk which nicely fills an hour or two.

But, recently, I decided to extend it and head over to Perwick Bay.

Parking at the Port St Mary end of Gansey, I walked down the track which follows the coast to Chapel Beach. This, in itself, is a pleasant little walk.

Once you reach Port St Mary, I usually head onto the Chapel Beach and walk across. I spent many a day here as a kid. It was packed and the ice cream van used to head down onto the beach.

Now, it tends to be rather quiet much of the time, perhaps due to the smell of seaweed which seems to be engrained in the sand. It is a shame because it is a beautiful bay.

However, on this occasion the tide was fully in so I walked along the promenade.

At the end, there is a great walkway which takes you round the rocky coast and over the water with lots of nooks and crannies which you could explore at low tide.

The walkway reveals the stunning Port St Mary harbour with all the boats moored up.

At this point, you can extend the walk by walking the lengths of both the inner and outer pier which is worth doing for the different perspectives on the village you can enjoy.

If not, head along Lime Street and on to Clifton Road. You will find another delightful stone-flagged path hugging the coastline.

Again, you can take various little detours and explore the rocky coastline which includes a quirky little shelter.

Here is oddly named Towl Foggy Cave which reportedly was once the site of King Orry’s Castle and was more latterly the site of a boating lake.

It lies in the shadow of the empty Strathallan Castle, formerly the Clifton Hotel. There is a derelict little wooden bridge connected to a rocky outcrop which was once a private boat launch.

The path, lined with colourful daffodils at this time of year, takes you to a pebble beach which you can admire before heading back onto Clifton Road which ends in a path which takes you alongside the golf course.

You will then come to a rather steep zigzag path which takes you down to the atmospheric Perwick Bay.

It is certainly no sandy beach but it offers amazing views of the south coast and also boasts fascinating rock formations. Sadly, with the tide being well in, I couldn’t enjoy them.

There is another path at the far end which snakes its way up to Fistard Road. If you turn right you can follow it all the way back to the village centre and retrace your steps back to Gansey.