First of all, I am Lin, not Stokey! This walk is Stokey's brainchild, but he is too busy sailing and teaching to spend his time blogging about it! So I will be keeping everyone up to date with how Ventnor's latest attraction came to be and how it shapes up in the future. Stokey's sailing and training services can be found here https: International Ocean Services. In October 2014, an evening in Perks Wine Bar somehow ended in an invitation to attend one of Stokey's 'Wonders of the Universe' courses the following day. Like many people, I had always looked up at the stars and planets and asked myself questions like 'how many stars are there?', 'how far away is the Sun?' and 'what is beyond the Milky Way', so I thought, why not?
Stokey's presentation was accompanied by fabulous visuals, models and practical demonstrations that answered these questions and more and included the original walk. The talk was fascinating, as Stokey shared his enthusiasm for the mysteries of the solar system and a lifetime of knowledge, presented so that we laymen could grasp the concepts. Stokey led the group down to Horseshoe Bay at Bonchurch, held up a large orange balloon and pronounced it to be the Sun. He then walked us along to Wheelers Bay, pacing out the distance between the planets to scale. At each stop, we learned some interesting facts and figures about the planet. Thankfully it was a clear night and we finished the course with a stargazing experience as Stokey pointed out the features of the night sky. As we walked along it occurred to me that it would be great to see this walk marked out so locals and visitors could discover the Solar System as they enjoyed a stroll, and so the Solar System Walk was born!
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