Lane End put-in (Bembridge)
Lane End sits at Bembridge, the Isle of Wight's easternmost point, where the Solent's eastern approaches meet the English Channel beside Bembridge Ledge, a reef running out from Foreland that dries at half-tide. Isle of Wight Council's public beach ramp here shares the shore with Bembridge RNLI's lifeboat station and its long pier.
The lifeboat station and the ledge
The dominant structure at Lane End is Bembridge RNLI's concrete pier, built in 1922 and running almost 200 yards out to a piled boathouse and launching slipway that puts the station's Tamar-class all-weather lifeboat into deep water beyond Bembridge Ledge. The inshore D-class lifeboat launches over the same beach a paddler uses, towed on a tracked vehicle rather than down the pier. The original 1867 boathouse survives on the shore and is now the RNLI shop.
The shoreline from the Bembridge Harbour entrance around Foreland to Whitecliff Bay is designated the Whitecliff Bay and Bembridge Ledges Site of Special Scientific Interest, notified in 1955 for its intertidal rock, shingle and sand habitats, with ten species of lobster and crab recorded here. Bembridge Ledge, the reef running out from Foreland immediately beyond the pier, dries at half-tide and ends at Sharpus Rocks, marked by an east cardinal buoy about a third of a mile offshore.
Nearby
An outdoor seafood kiosk on Forelands Beach, around half a mile south along the coast.
A deli and cafe on Lane End Road, roughly 0.3 mile from the launch; not mapped in OpenStreetMap.
A seafood cafe on Embankment Road, inside Bembridge Harbour about a mile west of Lane End around the harbour mouth, not reached directly along the open shore.
WebsiteA holiday park just over a mile southwest of Lane End; most of its accommodation is static chalets and caravans, but it also takes public bookings on non-serviced grass touring and camping pitches from May to August.
WebsiteConditions to check
Bembridge Ledge extends roughly three-quarters of a mile off Foreland; a considerable part of it dries at half-tide and ends at the sharp point of Sharpus Rocks, about a third of a mile offshore.
SourceThe public ramp lands on upper-beach shingle only; the shore dries further to rock ledges as the tide falls, so the exit changes through the tide cycle.
SourceThe offshore approaches carry heavy commercial shipping; the dredged Nab Channel to the east-north-east is used by inbound deep-draught vessels bound for Portsmouth and Southampton.
SourceThe tide runs fast on both sides of the RNLI lifeboat pier immediately north of the launch, on either side of high water.
Further offshore the tidal stream sets east-south-east from around four hours after high water Portsmouth, reaching up to two knots at springs, and west-north-west from around ninety minutes before high water Portsmouth, reaching up to two and a half knots at springs.
SourceQuestions
No questions yet
Ask about parking, access or conditions. Anyone who knows this water can answer.
Comments
No comments yet.
Save your own spots
Keep the places you launch, check the wind and shelter before you go, and log every paddle. Add a spot to the directory too, and other paddlers will find it. Free to start.