Can I Survive 75 Miles Foraging Only Wild Food? | Going Round S2 EP1

Added: 2026-05-13

[00:00:00]Trudge, trudge. I can't even walk straight, man.

[00:00:04]>> Shouldn't have done so much on day one, I don't think.

[00:00:08]>> We're up here in the dark and the rain.

[00:00:11]>> This is the longest road imaginable.

[00:00:17]>> The ghost bushes are starting to look like people.

[00:00:24]>> Well, here we are again. Spring has sprung down here on the island, so it is time for me to start the challenge again. Over the course of the next 4 days, I'm going to be walking all 75 miles of the aisle of white coastal path, eating only wild food that I can find and forage along the way. So, so delicious. Last time I tried to do this, I tried to do it on the shortest day of the year, which is when there's the least amount of edible stuff growing.

[00:00:52]So, it didn't go so well. Oh, have a sense of humor lapse.

[00:00:58]This hurts.

[00:01:01]We are 3 months later and things are looking considerably more spring-like down here on the island. So, we should be in for a good time. I'll try not to jinx it. So, starting here on my favorite bench on the southern tip of the aisle of white, overlooking the English Channel, we are going to walk anticlockwise around all 75 miles of the coastline, seeing what I can find and forage and seeing what stories unfold along the way. Come on, let's get going. We got some miles to cover. So exciting. Right, goodbye bench. See you in a few days.

[00:01:36]Ah, all this blossom.

[00:01:40]Just a quick little disclaimer before we go any further. I am a foraging instructor down here on the island. So, this is sort of what I do. This is my profession. I teach people about edible plants um that they can forage for down here specifically. So, I am well equipped with all of the knowledge in order to keep myself safe to um to not poison myself. So, I do not recommend that anyone else tries what I'm about to do. This time around, I've taken into account some of your comments on the previous series. is I've made some amendments to my kit and uh I'm going to do it slower this time round as well. It is a glorious hazy spring day. The daffodils are out. The birds are singing in the trees. There is a light breeze in the air. It is a fabulous day for walking. So before I get carried away and get too many miles underneath my belt, I need to eat something. So our first port of call is to head down to the coastline and find something for breakfast. So, I headed east along the aisle of white coastal path to meet the low tide and see what adventures the day would bring. This is a really good time of year to be doing this challenge.

[00:02:44]There is a a definite change in the feeling of the the landscape as to last time I was doing this. Last time it felt more of an adventure. There was more adrenaline. There was more all of this sort of stuff that um is fueled on the uncertainty of whether I was going to find enough to feed me. This time round there's still a little bit of uncertainty, but and you can hear the birds singing in the background. It doesn't quite seem so life and death. So hopefully this is going to be a enjoyable walk in the English countryside in the spring and I'm going to show you all of the things that are good to eat right now. You can probably tell I'm unbelievably happy to be out doing this again. So, having read through all of the comments from the last series, I've taken on board a a few of your sort of tips and pointers.

[00:03:36]Again, this time round, I don't have any water with me. I now know where most of the water stops are, so hopefully I'll be able to sort of plan my hydration a little bit better as well. Fingers crossed.

[00:03:58]Look at this. So, growing all around us here is alium um or wild garlic or ramssons. And it is a springtime plant that is really beginner friendly and um is one that most people sort of pick first when they're learning how to forage. So, I've sort of taken a little bit of a diversion off the coastal path in order to pick some because if I carry this with me, it means that I'll be able to add a little bit of flavor into whatever it is I'm cooking along the way. And breakfast is probably going to need it. So, I'm going to grab a a bag full of this, one of these sort of vegetable bags from the supermarket, and we're going to take it with us.

[00:04:42]This is a really nice patch of it as well. grows on both sides of the track here. So, there we go. That is a delicious bag of wild garlic. And this is really going to help add flavor to anything that I'm cooking along the way.

[00:04:53]Um, if you want to learn how to identify this safely, then you can click on the video up in whichever corner it is. This lovely little patch of coastal woodland outside my village is lovely for so many reasons. It is also quite good foraging.

[00:05:07]You got lovely things like this wild garlic. However, it is on the move nearly constantly. So, that's where I've just come from. And I'm about I'm about to rejoin the King Charles III coastal path. Look, they've put this lovely new sign in there. Um, and that was there in order to divert around this, which was a bit of a rockfall from the other year.

[00:05:26]However, come with me. And I really hope this isn't a sign of things to come on this walk. We are less than 2 and 1/2 miles in. And this that was a path has completely split and cracked. That down there is like a fault line. All of this is fresh stuff up here. And that stone wall has sort of split in two and moved. I think that bit of land there might have originally been up here. And this whole section has just moved down, which is super dodgy. And what's even dodgier is that I'm going to have to get across there somehow. Oh man, this is way too early on in the walk for there to be any jeopardy like this. Right, wish me luck.

[00:06:10]I don't want to go down there because it looks a little bit like sinking sand.

[00:06:13]You can see someone's gone up the top there. I wonder if I can get along this branch. Let's go across here. This part of the landscape is prone to land slips because it sits on this thick clay that when it gets wet is quite easy to get stuck in. That tree is not secure. We're just going to have to try this.

[00:06:32]>> Since filming this, this part of the coastal path has got much worse and has been closed off completely. So, I don't recommend going down there. Solid solid clay. You can see how far down into this ditch I am. This is like a fault line that runs underneath this bit. And when it gets wet, it slips. So, I think if this gets much worse, then this bit will be impossible.

[00:06:54]Whoa.

[00:06:56]This is where that wall would have joined up to that there. You can see this has completely fallen away. And if we look down there, this is all a massive sort of 1 m deep crack that leads all the way down to the bottom.

[00:07:10]This bit of landscape's on the move.

[00:07:13]Maybe we should get going.

[00:07:20]That's a new pond. Where does the path go from here, man? The path seems to have run out again. People have gone down this way. Follow your nose. So, this was a pathway that had sort of been reinstated by natural England as a a way of getting down to the beach and also as part of the King Charles II coastal path. They sort of put, you know, bridges and stuff to cross over the wetter bits of the um the land down here. And this pipe went all the way along the edge of it. This is really bad. What seems to have happened is where the land has split is diverted the springs from here um down into like a channel. But this pipe was actually diverting an aquifer underneath some houses at the top there that they're trying to drain water away from. But if we look the pipe has split as well which has caused like a waterfall like a lake.

[00:08:09]So there's so much water sitting on the ground here and that is not good for land movement. Water sitting on clay ground. Don't fall over mister. Like even this. Where even am I? No. This is so odd. It's amazing what geology can do. Look, this is a complete spring down here. Washing through all of this. Ouch.

[00:08:32]Adventure.

[00:08:34]Oh, that tree's come down. Let's hope I can still get to the beach.

[00:08:46]Look at that.

[00:08:50]Beautiful.

[00:08:52]Ah, what a place for breakfast. And I am absolutely starving.

[00:08:58]So, first up on the menu is uh growing all over this rock and all of these rocks here are these little sort of dome-shaped fellas. These are limpits.

[00:09:08]They're a type of snail, a type of mollisk that likes rocky coastline like this. And they are absolutely delicious.

[00:09:15]Now, I say they're delicious, but usually I'd be adding some sort of like nice butter to this, you know, like a anchovi butter, compound butter made out of, you know, anything spicy and delicious. Um, but we don't have that luxury today. So, we're going to have to cook these relatively fast. Uh, and they could go a little bit rubbery. If you want to know how they cook them over in Portugal and on MadiRaa, then I've got a video on my channel that you can look at and I recommend doing that with the Olympics rather than what I'm about to do. If you are going to go out and forage for Olympics, remember they are relatively slow growing and rocks usually contain a family group. So each rock will have a a different family.

[00:09:56]They're really really cool animals. They make a little indentation into the rock that they can hunker down into when uh the weather gets a little bit stormy.

[00:10:04]cozy little mollusk. Remember, limpits are relatively slow growing, so don't go and just pick loads and loads of them.

[00:10:10]And maybe just try one first to see whether you like it, cuz some people absolutely hate them. Right, my stomach's starting to rumble. Let's grab a few. So, you see all of these guys growing here in this indentation.

[00:10:21]They're probably a singular family group. They are hiding from the waves that come in from that direction. But when the tide comes up, they will make their way all the way out across the rock here, and they will scrape seaweed and algae off of the rock with this little like scraper thing that they've got in their mouths. Pretty cool. So, the ways to do this is to um get a rock like this and just give it a quick tap.

[00:10:44]If it doesn't come off in one, then don't keep on hitting it because it will sucker down. You'll end up breaking the shell and um yeah, you'll be ruining the meat and also hurting the organism if you were to leave it there. So, if it doesn't come off with the first tap, then move on.

[00:11:15]And remember, after you've collected them, point them upwards so they don't sucker back down onto the rock. I speak from experience. So, this is our simple cooking setup for the next few days. It is just a a small gas stove and a crepe susette pan that I got from a car boot sale. I think by the end of this I'll probably be the only man to have ever uh carried a crepe susette pan all the way around the outside of the island. Do I get in the Guinness Book of World Records for that?

[00:11:51]>> So, I've cleaned all of this limpit flesh up. So, we've got a pile of limpits and we've got some wild garlic to chew through as well.

[00:12:07]Chewy, salty, garlicky. It's a little bit like escargo.

[00:12:13]I got wild garlic in my teeth. That was possibly one of the most intense breakfasts I've ever had. It was hot with wild garlic. I'm going to have garlic breath for the rest of the walk, I think. But I feel satisfied. You know, my stomach has stopped rumbling. So, that is a good first step. First meal of the trip crossed off. Breakfast done.

[00:12:32]So, let's pack up and get walking. So, I gathered a few more limpits to use later and set off.

[00:12:41]Hello, it's future Joseph here. Just a quick interruption to say that currently as this video is being released, there is a man out there attempting to do this very challenge in aid of dementia UK.

[00:12:52]Dementia UK are an incredible charity that support people suffering from dementia and support their families as well. I don't think there's anyone out there that hasn't been affected by dementia or will be affected by it in their lifetime. So, it's a really worthwhile cause. They do great work.

[00:13:07]So, if you want to show Paul some love and help the work that Dementia UK do, there will be a link up in the top corner or down below in the show notes.

[00:13:14]And Paul, if you're watching this, you're doing an incredible thing. Good luck, have fun, and tight lines. The pain is temporary, but the people that you're going to help with the money that you raise will last a lifetime. You're a legend. Right back to the adventure.

[00:13:32]This part of the coastline is my home.

[00:13:36]That way lies adventure.

[00:13:40]I am so excited as to what the next four days can hold. The possibilities are endless.

[00:13:48]That water, don't you just want to swim in it? So, between here and the next town of Ventner, we've had a few sort of cliffs in recent weeks. So, the coastal path is diverted in land up onto the road. So, I'm going to have to leave this beautiful stretch of crumbling coastline and head off in land. But hopefully I'll be able to find a place to fill my water bottle. Wish me luck.

[00:14:20]Oh, I'm locked in.

[00:14:25]Path closed. That's a new sign. Those screws haven't even seen any rain yet.

[00:14:32]There's enough climb over.

[00:14:38]What the chances of that? Never been locked in to a bit of the path before.

[00:14:44]Locked out many a time. So, we headed away from the cliff line up into the picturesque village of St. Lawrence and found some wild fennel. A cheeky little aneed hit that can make even limpits taste good. And I couldn't pass by without showing you one of my favorite little churches. So this is one of the churches in the village of St. Lawrence.

[00:15:03]And it's beautiful. And hidden away here at the side are these beautiful pre- raffleite stained glass windows. So this one is Raising Lazarus by William Morris. Uh this is Jesus Healing a Woman by Ford Maddox Brown. And then this one on the end is another William Morris which is raising Gyrus's daughter.

[00:15:29]They're absolutely beautiful.

[00:15:34]Just before she said, "I am as constant as a northern star." And I said, "Counel in the darkness. Where's that?

[00:15:48]You need me? I'll be at the bar in the back of a cartoon postcard with a blue TV screen like a draw map of Canada.

[00:16:04]Oh, Canada.

[00:16:11]Your face sketched on it twice.

[00:16:15]You're my blood. You're my holy wine.

[00:16:19]You taste so bitter and so sweet.

[00:16:25]I could drink a case of you, darling.

[00:16:34]And I would still be on my feet.

[00:16:38]Yes, I would still be on my feet.

[00:16:43]Oh, such a peaceful place. I love it. My limpits are leaking.

[00:16:54]The morning haze had started to clear and the day was beginning to heat up.

[00:16:58]And at this point, I hadn't drunk anything. So, I took the opportunity to fill up my bottle from this roadside spring.

[00:17:08]Beautiful.

[00:17:13]So, that is the first water fill up of the trip and I feel so much better. Uh, I can drink all of this straight away as well cuz there is another fillup spot just a little bit down the way, but it's from a beautiful little roadside spring that also lets out here as well. Look at that beautiful water there.

[00:17:33]M.

[00:17:36]One of the reasons this part of the island moves so much is because of the amount of springs and spring heads that we have here. And they used to be quite the tourist attraction for loads and loads of people, especially in Victorian times when lots of these big houses got here. They put up these beautiful ornate spring heads and because of the mineral content of the water down here, um it was said to have healing properties. So lots of these people would travel in order to drink from them and be healed by the the minerality of the water.

[00:18:12]So if we see there that says St. Lawrence well. So this would have been the sort of place where you come and you'd you'd get your little dippy cup and you'd drink from the healing water.

[00:18:23]I've got it a little bit further upstream. Um, and it tastes delicious. It is amazing.

[00:18:32]I used to drink from that spring quite a lot on the way back to my village from nights out in the nearest town. But yeah, breakfast and our first water stop of the day. The day is wearing on. I'm taking this first bit a little bit slowly just to get used to um these new shoes that I've got.

[00:18:51]So, one of the things that's different this time round is I'm not wearing an old beat up pair of shoes. Uh, last time I decided that it was going to be the final outing of a pair of beloved shoes that were on their way out and one of them had shrunk. So, it left my foot crippled. And the toenail of that is still black, by the way, like jet black.

[00:19:10]So, that might actually come off during the course of this walk. 3 months on, still hasn't healed. So, yeah. got a pair of these hideous things on my feet, but they are waterproof. They are really grippy and they were cheaper cuz I got them in a strange baby blue color. So, so you guys that were commenting last time well-meaningly, I'm sure. But, uh you don't have to worry now. You don't have to fixate on my footwear so much if you can focus on uh you know the adventure instead of being cheeky. So, just walking along this little bit of the road here leads me down past the beautiful Ventner Botanic Gardens and then I am going to sling round the side of Ventner Cricket Club and rejoin the coastal path at Steep Hill Cove. This is such a nice day.

[00:20:01]It is.

[00:20:03]Oh man, I am genuinely worried that this video is going to be really boring cuz you know, so far I've just had a lovely time. I'm sure it'll all come crashing down later.

[00:20:38]Wow, what a difference a few months makes. It's March, but it could be June.

[00:20:46]Now, if that isn't a lovely little fishing spot, I don't know what is.

[00:20:53]My lord. So, last time I made the decision to only forage for plants along the way in order to sustain me. And again, another thing that cropped up in the comments was that I should have been fishing. Now, if you remember rightly, I did meet some fishermanmen and they did offer for me to stay, but I had I don't know a strange mindset. I was fixated on getting around and I didn't take them up on it and I regret that. That is one of the things that could have potentially sustained me and um made it all in all an easier time. However, this time around I have bought a fishing kit with me. I am a terrible fisherman, so we'll see how that pans out. I would love to stop here and you know just spend a couple of hours fishing in this beautiful blue lagoon here next to Steep Hill Cove. However, I am less than 4 miles away from where I set off from and we are halfway through the day.

[00:21:52]So again, time has caught up with me.

[00:21:58]There is a day in springtime where everything unconsciously erupts into life. And I could really feel it walking past groups of giggling women and through the town of Ventner, possibly one of the best food destinations on the island, but sadly not for me.

[00:22:19]Someone recently made the beach here Tik Tok famous um by finding pirate glass, which is just sort of like beach glass but brown. Um, and now it's really funny because you can just sit and watch people uh, you know, shuffling along, looking out for bits and pieces of it.

[00:22:36]Funny.

[00:23:01]Thank you. Fountain, don't tempt me. Brill. Ha.

[00:23:08]>> Hello.

[00:23:10]>> Might make a t-shirt with that sign on.

[00:23:12]So, I'm walking along the prominard here and I'm going to pick a little bit of Oh, lizard. Lizard.

[00:23:20]Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Must be another one.

[00:23:24]Anyway, distraction. Um, we've got wool lizards down here on the south coast of the island. But right now, I'm going to be picking some of this, which is rock samur, and it grows all along the coastline down here. These ones are nice and high up, and I know that a dog has probably not weed on these. So, I am going to take these and put them in my foraging bag just in case I find something delicious that I can eat them with later.

[00:23:49]So, Broxan is a beautiful coastal plant, member of the carrot family that has a lovely citrusy flavor. If you want to know how to identify it, you can come on one of my coastal courses or you can uh watch a video that I'll link up in the top corner. Lots of these plants that we're going to meet meeting along the course of this adventure are ones that I have done identification videos on before, so you'll be able to learn along as you're watching the adventure, which is pretty cool. There's a fisherman up here. Wonder if he's caught anything.

[00:24:19]Should we ask him?

[00:24:22]>> Hello, mate.

[00:24:25]>> Have you caught anything?

[00:24:27]>> No.

[00:24:27]>> Is it just today you've been out? Have you been out recently?

[00:24:30]>> I literally have never done this before.

[00:24:32]>> Really, >> mate? Oh, no way.

[00:24:35]>> Yeah, my kids are like, you got to catch dinner today.

[00:24:39]>> I absolutely love that.

[00:24:42]So, that bloke, he looked the part. had uh you know nice kit, good soft plastic on the end of his lure rod. So I was like, "Have you caught anything?" He was like, "This is literally my first time doing this.

[00:24:56]He lives at the top of the hill and he stares out on the sea every day and he he works from home." So he said that in his lunch break, he started coming down here and doing a little hours fishing.

[00:25:10]It's why I love this island, man.

[00:25:13]There's people just out here doing stuff.

[00:25:24]Some sneaky propaganda put here by the crabs.

[00:25:32]Merch, anyone?

[00:25:35]It's really, really cool. Uh they've announced that they might be doing a a reintroduction program down here on the island for chuffs. Um which is a type of corvid that I've never seen before. I'm a bit of a well they call it a corvidophile. So I'm a bit of a crow geek. So knowing that a a relatively rare corvid could be reintroduced in my part of the island has got me quite excited. I don't really travel down to the west country much where chuffs are quite common place.

[00:26:08]So it would be really really cool if the first chuff that I ever see is here on the island and it's one of the ones that has been reintroduced. Or maybe I should just get myself down to Cornwall. After a couple of miles along the prominard, I was ready to head uphill and then something unexpected happened.

[00:26:28]Underneath this ancient church in Bon Church, there is a a stream that's a springfed stream and I drink from it often.

[00:26:41]Thank you. But something special just happened then. As I was filling my water bottle up, I looked to the top of the spring head and there was a man just sat there playing a dig.

[00:26:52]Beautiful. you know, when someone can really play and the reverberation of the the sound and the sound of the moving water as well.

[00:27:06]>> Oh, yeah. You're all right.

[00:27:07]>> Hello. Can you still access the past the old church there?

[00:27:12]>> Yeah. Down to the beach.

[00:27:13]>> Yeah.

[00:27:13]>> Thank you.

[00:27:14]>> If you look up from the stream, there's a man playing digy doo there as well.

[00:27:18]>> He's really quite good. Thank you.

[00:27:20]>> All right. Have a good day. The ex- residence of Agonon Swimburn. Beautiful dream house.

[00:27:30]We've made it to the village of Bob Church. And I always forget how in love I am with this place. I should really spend more time here. It is so peaceful.

[00:27:50]Making my way out of Bomb Church now and up Leon Road, which is that place where I was talking about that landslide last time. It's a really busy road that isn't good for filming. Here comes the bus.

[00:28:05]the the coastal path diverts in land because this used to be a T- rooms here and then if you can see the edge of that scaffolding there and then beyond that that was an entire section of land that dropped a few years ago and just dropped. So that's where the path used to go and it doesn't now. It diverts up here, but in a second, another bus. But in a second, we'll be dropping down into the village of Luckham, and it gets a lot more peaceful again. It's the thing with this challenge is it can lure you into a full sense of security, cuz hunger can happen quite fast if you're burning lots of calories, like walking up that big hill. And um my stomach is starting to feel it. Those limpits haven't really hit the spot, so I'm beginning to get a little bit hungry.

[00:28:56]Something big's going down.

[00:29:01]Take your [ __ ] away. Fantastic. Good advice.

[00:29:06]I'm well hydrated, though. I've had about 3 L of water already so far today, which is good. Good going for me. Um, and I'm remembering to keep on top of it as well, which is a fantastic thing.

[00:29:18]However, water will not keep me satisfied for very long. Just going to park myself on this picnic bench here.

[00:29:26]So, we're going to go through Luckham.

[00:29:28]Uh, it's a beautiful little picturesque village. And then we are going to drop down into Shanklin. Now, from then on, it gets a little bit more urban. Last time, this is where the cracks started to show, but I feel fit and healthy and good right now. So, hopefully we'll be able to make some good time going across the seafront there. But at some point, I'm going to need to get meal number two in me. And it is looking like it's probably just going to be stinging nettles on the go at the moment. I need to make up some time in order to get to the place where I want to fish and camp later on. And hopefully something interesting will happen along the way.

[00:30:01]Right, enough chitchat. Let's get going.

[00:30:05]Might radio Abby and see how she is.

[00:30:07]Joseph to Abby.

[00:30:09]I would be worried that I've woken our son up from a nap, but he doesn't nap.

[00:30:14]He's like me. constantly distracted by stuff. So, you know, no chance of that.

[00:30:27]Oh no, I'm carrying the limpits on my bag like this because they started to leak. That means if I put my camera on this side of me, it keeps on slapping into the limpits and then I get limpit juice everywhere. It's already down the back of my leg. I'm going to absolutely stink.

[00:30:44]by the end of this. And I'm glad I packed my toothbrush because I absolutely hum of wild garlic and now all of my clothes smell like limpit juice. I mean, I think people have come to expect it from me now. Tucked away in a hidden valley, Luckham is home to some beautiful Victorian architecture like monkey puzzle. So, with miles left to go, it was time for an unusual snack.

[00:31:08]Look at this specimen. So, all thistles in the UK are edible. They're also really really spiky. So, they are a good salad ingredient, but they need preparing in a very specific way. And I'm going to grab some here as a little >> Oh, there she is.

[00:31:25]Hello.

[00:31:28]>> Oh, hi Joseph.

[00:31:29]>> I'm in Luck. I'm not making very good progress so far.

[00:31:33]>> Oh, that's all right, though. Did you have breakfast this morning?

[00:31:36]>> Oh, yeah. Had some delicious limpits. I know you'll be jealous. Did they taste nice?

[00:31:42]>> Yeah. I mean, I had like wilted wild garlic with them and they were nice and salty and they've kept me full until now. I'm starting to feel a little bit hungry now, though. I'm going to do some foraging, make some lunch, and then carry on, I reckon.

[00:31:56]>> That's exciting. I'm about to have an asparagus tart that dad's making me.

[00:32:02]>> Oh, really? Did you know in Roman times they used to the end of season asparagus they used to harvest it and dehydrate it and then they would reconstitute it at other parts of the year in stock.

[00:32:14]Apparently it's delicious.

[00:32:16]>> I didn't know that. That's interesting.

[00:32:18]Right. Anyway, I'm going to go find that interesting. See you in a bit.

[00:32:23]>> Okay. Love you too. Bye.

[00:32:26]I think that's probably the thing being in a long-term relationship with a forager.

[00:32:33]All of the plant facts get hold eventually, right? Thistles. So, I'm going to harvest a little bit of this as a wayside snack and show you how to prepare it. If I can find my knife. So, the part of the thistle that we really want are these big juicy stems on the inside. Obviously, the ends of the leaves have little needles on, so you don't want to be eating those. But if we're really careful and get our knife in there and try and cut off a leaf. Oh my goodness. Like so. And then this mid rib down the middle is the bit that we want to eat. So if you get your knife and you run it down the stem like that and just start to peel away those spiky bits. Then you are basically left with this. Now thistle stems are nice and crunchy. There's a load of water on the inside of that plant there. So in the summer months when they've grown up a little bit bigger, it can be a little bit more sort of like fibrous, but on a hot day, you can sort of hydrate yourself a bit with them. Get rid of some of those hairs as well.

[00:33:34]M delicious moisture. These also cook quite nicely as a green vegetable. So you can sort of sauté them and then add butter of all things. And that is the thing that I'm probably craving the most. A beautiful little snack. I'd say they taste green, a lot like a leaf.

[00:33:51]They have the texture of cucumber and then this lovely sort of green flavor.

[00:33:56]So, I'm going to pick a few more of them, prep them, and then munch them walking over this field in this glorious afternoon sunshine.

[00:34:08]Damn, keep on getting spiked.

[00:34:15]Oh, you're so spiky.

[00:34:21]Could have made much easier work of this with a bigger knife. Dropped it right in the cowpat. They're not too bad at this time of year. Uh they can go a little bit fibrous and in that case you can sort of like peel the fibers off the outside of it.

[00:34:36]Delicious.

[00:34:41]The road goes ever on and on.

[00:34:48]It is the time that you've all been waiting for. It is stinging nettle a clock. Look at this. This patch of stinging nettles is really going some at the moment. So, stinging nettles are really high in iron. They're really high in calcium. They're really high in fiber. And they are incredibly high in protein for a vegetable. So, when I'm out doing this sort of walking, I like to sort of gorge myself when I find a nice patch like this. I could get them in town, but there'll probably be uh dog wee all over them. So, I'm going to grab lots of them now and eat them. They are perfectly safe to eat raw. You've just got to process them first. The little hairs on the sting and nettle that caused the sting are really, really brittle. So if you roll them and damage them, you can snap all of those stings and render this useless stingerwise. So if you get the top four to six leaves, put it in a bit of fabric like this, you can start to break them down, save your fingers, and most of them will be gone at this point. There will still be a few sort of hanging around if you munch them up in your fingers like this and then roll them in your hand like this and really roll out them nettles. And this becomes one of the most delicious salad ingredients in the world.

[00:35:58]Raw stinger nettle is miles away from cooked stinger nettle bland sort of stinger nettle soup. It is fresh. It is vibrant. It tastes like cucumber skins and it is my favorite thing in the world. So, I'm going to graze quite a lot of these to see me through the next couple of miles.

[00:36:16]And a heartfelt apology to all you guys out there that watch my videos regularly and uh have to listen to the same stuff about stingering nettles all the time.

[00:36:25]They are my favorite plant.

[00:36:29]This is that field if you watch the last one that I found that random hazelnut in. No such luck today. So that was a lovely lunchtime snack. I've got a stomach full of thistle stems and stinger nettles and it is time to head down into town.

[00:36:50]There is a special beauty to Luckham.

[00:36:53]Oh, no way. Beautiful. We got some magnolia flowers here.

[00:36:59]Pick one of these. So, you will see lots of magnolia flowers everywhere at the moment, including in like urban places and stuff. It is a a really common tree to plant in, you know, like the front garden of a bungalow. Um, but it is edible. I think there's like 16 different species of magnolia around the world that are eaten. So there are quite a few cultivars that are grown in the UK. They're one of these plants that we've imported because they do this and they are beautiful. So purely from an aesthetic point of view, but as a species, our history with them is so much more interesting.

[00:37:38]Oh my goodness, this one's a good one.

[00:37:40]Gee whiz. I can't go back and get more.

[00:37:43]That will be cheeky. Magnolia flowers actually taste like ginger. They're a little bit spicy. They've got some sort of funk going on. They're really good pickled. Uh you can do loads of stuff with magnolia flowers. And I don't want to jinx it. They're also a very good accompaniment with fish.

[00:37:59]My goodness, that's good. I'm not going to eat it now. I'm going to save it for a little bit later. Whoa. And down here as well. Look at this. More delicious edible flowers. These are stellaria.

[00:38:11]These are stitchwart. So, this is a common spring edible flower. Stitchwart doesn't really have that much of a flavor. It's in the same family as chickweed, so it is semi sweet, but what it is is absolutely beautiful. So, I'm going to take these with me and uh hopefully they'll be able to garnish a dish later. Very posh.

[00:38:34]Remember, if you want to know more about foraging, then book on a course or check out the description below. There's loads of resources in there.

[00:38:46]It's not really a post box anymore, is it? Just a post.

[00:38:54]So, we have made it to Shanklin. This here is Shanklin Chine.

[00:38:58]It's closed at the moment, but one of these days we got to go in. It's an incredibly dramatic gorge, really picturesque that was really quite famous in Victorian times. Loads of landscape painters that you probably would have heard of came here to sort of paint the chine. So, there's loads of really cool like prints and stuff that you can find.

[00:39:18]I'll see if I can chuck some up on the screen here now, but it's a gorgeous part of the scenery.

[00:39:30]Beautiful. And just like that, we are on the seafront for like four miles of flat walking with the sound of the waves next to me. The sea is brilliantly crystal clear. It's really tempting to hop in for a dip.

[00:39:51]It is nice to be walking on the flat, such a calm day, and seeing all the people out with their families and enjoying the seaside.

[00:40:01]You know, it might get cold later, but today everyone here is acting like it's summertime already. It's a beautiful thing.

[00:40:11]It's amazing how a little bit of sunlight can erase all of the the bleakness of the winter. Last time I was walking down here, it's pretty bleak.

[00:40:25]So, I think I might attempt to do a little bit of fishing. This uh this goes off into some relatively deep water here. So, I might just chuck a line in, see what happens. We're not going to stay here long, but you know, I'm curious. We can't stay here long because I want to get to where I'm camping just after sunset, but this is too good an opportunity to miss. The tide is going out, but there's a a bit of deepish water that I can cast into, and it means that I get to show you my fishing equipment that I've brought with me for this trip. This is hopefully going to be a lifesaver. Let me show you it. In this bag, we have everything we need hopefully to catch ourselves a fish.

[00:41:11]So, first things first, we have this, which is a sort of hobo hand reel that I made out of the handle of an old chisel.

[00:41:19]And then also in here, we have a box of all sorts of different things. So, this is sort of like a miniature tackle box that I bring with me. And it's got weights. It's got hooks. It's got a float setup if I wanted to do some float fishing. It's got a few things in which mean that I can fish slightly differently in different terrains, but it's nice and lightweight. We also have some of these sort of pre-tied fishing rigs, which will just help me if uh we're in situations like this where I'm doing it on the go. I did toy with the idea of bringing like a travel rod along with me, like a little travel lure fishing setup, but the thing is it would be too cumbersome. Even carrying all of the the cameras and the microphone equipment to make this sort of thing is a bit of a faf. So, I thought I'd keep it simple. This is the handle of a chisel and it has enough line on it not to cast out mega distance, but to be able to get me over there. So, what I'm going to do is I'm going to put some hooks on this. I'm going to bait it up with some of the limpits that we collected earlier. And we're just going to fish here for about 20 minutes and see if we can't temp something out.

[00:42:23]Let's give it a go. But the way to cast a hand line like this is to sort of swing the lead and then you let go of it and then you follow the lead down as it plops into the water and the line spools off the top here. Let's give it a go. If you want to see how I made this hobo handrail, there'll be a video coming up on the channel in the next few weeks.

[00:42:48]So, hit subscribe so you don't miss it.

[00:42:50]Further than I can cast with a rod, I reckon.

[00:42:53]So, let me be clear. I am the world's worst fisherman to the point where my longest dry spell was 6 years. Uh, not for the want of trying. And then I caught a fish. It was a little rockling.

[00:43:06]And all of you fishing heads are laughing at me out there now. So, six years rockling and now it's now. So, it goes six years caught a rockling, two years attempting to walk around the island, eating only wild food and fishing along the way. So, I hope you out there are screaming at your screen and trying to send me all the luck in the world cuz if I don't catch fish on the way round, I could be quite hungry. But if I have a line in the water, then there is every chance I could catch a fish. Maybe one's foolish enough to get on the end of my hook.

[00:43:44]Positivity.

[00:43:47]So fun, man. Limpit's still on there, guys. Don't worry.

[00:43:54]Unfortunately, no luck. And we need to get going. So, I shall pop that back in there and look forward to bringing it out again a little bit later this evening. I think I can see myself carrying this around with me quite a lot. So, I packed up and with the sun setting behind me, I still had 8 miles to go until I reached my camp spot.

[00:44:15]Another gorgeous, calm evening. The temperature is starting to drop slightly. I've just put my little wool cardigan on. So nice to have birds on back as well. So sadly, no fish, but the tide is on its way out. So it should be low tide by the time I go to bed. And as the old saying goes, when the tide is out, the table is set. Basically, there's lots of stuff you can eat at low tide. If you didn't if you didn't catch on, there was a beach up for sale back there, so I just asked the lady in the beach up next to it how much the people were asking for it. So £185,000.

[00:45:00]Lovely though. So far this feels remarkably similar to the last time round only I'm having more fun. It's warmer. I have enough water. I don't have a headache and I got to do a little bit of fishing. Just fills me with a slight bit of trepidation that something's going to go wrong very soon.

[00:45:23]I need to fill up my water bottle.

[00:45:34]These taps along the seafront are an absolute godsend.

[00:45:44]Beautiful.

[00:45:47]Leaving the town of Sandown behind, we're going to head up onto the cliffs, up and over, and then down into Benbridge where we should hit low tide.

[00:45:57]And I'm hoping to get out and uh do a little bit of torch light foraging. Say, Dad, >> he just wants to put the antenna in his mouth, but I'm sure you've heard a little bit of that.

[00:46:13]>> Yeah, it's very sweet.

[00:46:14]>> I will speak to you when Oh, he has gone to bed.

[00:46:19]>> So, that is the family all checked in with.

[00:46:22]Apparently, a cat's come in my house and weed everywhere. I do feel slightly guilty that I'm out here doing this and Aby's at home having to clean up cat urine and uh look after our son on her own. Um, but she's told me that I need to do this. So, here we are. I then started the slow climb up to one of the highest points on the island.

[00:46:51]This time around there'll be no sausage roll. There will be no doing mad miles in the middle of the night. Um I'm going to settle down and leave it all for tomorrow morning, you know, and uh take it a little bit gently. I think that that is the way that I can get the most out of this and actually being with a shot of completing it. You know, if I can make the finish line and make some memories along the way, then that'll be a good thing.

[00:47:21]These belted galloways, man, I'm absolutely in love with them. If I'd have caught a fish earlier, I would have been laughing now. It would have been so so easy. But no, there's work to be done. Um, I can definitely feel the bottom of my stomach. It's making me aware that I am hungry again.

[00:47:46]And would you look at that? Another day done. That was a big day with all the preparations and getting everything ready to leave. Today has been an interesting one. We've done a lot. We've seen a lot of things. We've foraged for a lot of stuff. So those last four miles along the seafront down there are pretty difficult when it comes to foraging. you are in an urban landscape there is quite a lot of you know dubious stuff around and just from a pollution perspective lots of the plants that we passed I wouldn't feel safe eating but I know that at some point I'm going to get down onto rocky coastline again and there will be stuff that I can eat. So I've basically not eaten throughout the entirety of Sandown Bay which has left me quite hungry and with nothing for dinner. save, you know, some wild garlic and magnolia petals. So, I have a full heart and an empty stomach. Today has been really, really good for the soul. I found a lot of stuff. I've talked to a lot of people along the way, and there is real sort of springtime joy in the air. And it really makes me look forward to the next 3 or so days. I promise you, I'm not going to have a sausage roll.

[00:49:00]I'm not going to push myself through the night and do crazy miles. I'm going to find somewhere to bed down. So then tomorrow morning I can show you some more of the most picturesque spots that the island has to offer. Stay tuned. Ow, my knee.

[00:49:27]What do you have to do in life to get one of them built for you?

[00:49:33]It's not for the likes of me to wonder, I don't think.

[00:49:38]This has got me incredibly excited. Look how low that tide is out on Benbridge ledge. We need to get down there and see what we can find. Joseph to Abby, >> how where have you got to? Have you had any dinner? What's the situation like over?

[00:49:51]>> Uh, I'm fine. I am on top of Kula. Just coming down from the obelisk. The tide is out at Benbridge. So, it means that I'll be able to do a little bit of head torch foraging and try and get some dinner.

[00:50:02]>> That sounds good. I'm really pleased with you. Um, and obviously you're doing really well. You've got really hard today and you should be really proud of yourself.

[00:50:14]>> Probably. I don't know. Just tired and a bit lonely.

[00:50:19]>> All right. Chat in a bit. Love you.

[00:50:22]>> Love you, too.

[00:50:25]Not today. Oh.

[00:50:29]Oh, this is such a low tide. We can get so far out. You can see the lights of some houses up the top, but we're going to walk all the way along the foreshore until we get to Benbridge Lifeboat. So hopefully along here somewhere I might be able to find something delicious.

[00:50:46]If worst comes to worse, that shore crab looks tasty.

[00:50:51]Shrimps.

[00:50:53]Can you see their eyes? Don't follow the lights.

[00:50:57]It's an amazing amount of gut weed here.

[00:51:00]plop crab crossing. Beep beep beep beep beep. So, I'm just walking along the edge of the ledge and trying to find anything that might have been caught out by this big tide that we've got at the moment in any of these smaller little rock pools. But so far, there's been quite a few small crabs and loads and loads of prawns. However, nothing that I'd worry myself with right now. Ask me in a few days time. It has got me thinking though, tomorrow it would probably be quite a good use of my energy to try and make a shrimp trap that I could set out overnight and then hopefully wake up to breakfast in the morning. So, we'll see if we can make that happen.

[00:51:37]But as the night wore on and with the tide on the turn, my energy levels hit an all-time low. All right, let's get out there and see if we can find some clams.

[00:51:53]It's extremely peaceful here. Going to collect some of this sea lettuce. It's an excellent nutritious edible seaweed on its own, but I'm going to be using as seasoning, I think, over the next few days. Ducks.

[00:52:07]Caugh you duck ducking around.

[00:52:10]I kept on pushing on, leaving behind small bits of food that I found in hope of finding something better, but it never came.

[00:52:19]Read a news article about an old fellow that used to fish some of the deeper holes on Benbridge ledge. Fish for lobsters out of them using his legs. I think almost like catfish fishing in the swamp where they put their fist or their legs inside the catfish hole. It bites on. Crazy.

[00:52:39]No lobsters tonight though. I can't have limpetss for breakfast and dinner. I think I'm going to have to call it a day. And I haven't found anything for dinner, but I'm starting to get a little bit sort of dodgery. So, right now, I'm going to find a place to sleep for a few hours and then see what tomorrow brings.

[00:52:55]See you in the morning.

[00:53:02]Coming up next time on Going Round, my energy levels are starting to dwindle.

[00:53:07]That could potentially be a mistake, but I'm going to leave that there. That is fantastic. We've got a chain ferry to catch. The rain's really starting to come in now. We can do a bit of paint.

[00:53:20]If they don't give me a job on country file now, then I've got nothing for you.

[00:53:25]I'm probably hungrier than you are. If you enjoyed that, give it a thumbs up.

[00:53:29]You can watch the previous series by hitting this playlist and hit subscribe so you don't miss the next one. Take care.