Paddleboarding-St Helen’s, Isle of Wight

The Fort Beyond The Graves: St Helen’s, Isle of Wight

Paddle out of St Helen’s and the first ghost is already waiting on the shoreline: the solitary 13th-century tower of a medieval church gradually dismantled and claimed by the sea until almost nothing remained. Around it lay the old burial ground, where local smuggler Dickie Dawes hid brandy, silk and tobacco beneath the tombstones, while nearby the sinisterly named Gaggen Path recalls the press gangs who came ashore to seize men for ships anchored in St Helens Roads – “get ’em, gag ’em”, according to local tradition. Paddle beyond the graves and the great Victorian St Helens Fort rises alone from the Solent, built to repel a French invasion that never came; whether or not you believe the ghost stories that have gathered around these waters, with a drowned church behind you, smugglers beneath the gravestones and kidnapped sailors carried out to sea, St Helens hardly needs inventing a haunting.

Distance 2.5km return

Access restrictions No licence required.

OS map OS Explorer OL29 – Isle of Wight.

Start point St Helen’s Beach

Parking St Helen’s Dulver Car Park (charges), St Helens, Ryde PO33 1XZ. Grid ref. SZ637 892; What3Words half.unfilled.cubes

Special points Best on a rising tide, 2hrs before HW as it can be a long walk across the beach at low tide, Depending on the state of the tide, there is a causeway (that dries out during spring LW) which can be followed leading the paddler to the fort. Remember to take a snorkel and mask as the paddleboard makes a great platform to view all seaweeds and kelp below you.

Offshore wind SW

Paddleboarding St Helens Fort

Paddleboarding South West