Isle of Wight

Today was our day trip to the Isle of Wight via the Wightlink car ferry leaving from Portsmouth.
An early start (alarm awoke us at 5.20am) so as to be ready to board the ferry at the allotted time. The morning was cool and overcast and some overnight showers had cleared.
Getting the car onto the ferry was quick and efficient and we sat up in the passenger compartment of the ferry with a visitor’s guide to plan our day.
We arrived on the island at about 8am, but as is the case everywhere here, nothing much opens until 10am. Our main destination was right on the other side of the island at Allum Bay, where ‘The Needles’ are situated, which is the island’s landmark attraction. Isle of Wight advertising constantly repeats the mantra that ‘these are one of the most photographed group of rocks in the world’.

We worked our way around through various seaside villages, enjoying their unique English flavour, but remarking on our newfound appreciation of just why the Brits are so enraptured with our beaches in Oz when they visit.

When we arrived at the Needles, we could just see the top of a chairlift bringing people back up from the beach area but not much more.
We couldn’t see down, but we assumed that seeing there was a chairlift plying the route it must be quite a descent / ascent so we purchased a one way ticket to bring us back up as we thought we were fit enough to down-climb via the stairs we were told could be used also.
We arrived at the top of the staircase bracing ourselves for a long descent, to find that the climb (and chairlift ride) was minuscule😏.

Within a minute or two we had descended to beach level and snapped a few photos while we waited for the small boat to pick us up and take us out for a closer look at The Needles.
Although there was a bit of a breeze and it was quite cold on the open deck, the weather had cleared for the sun to light up the white chalk cliffs. It was actually an impressive sight.
After the boat deposited us back on the rocky beach, we walked to the base of the cliffs and handled some of the chunks of rock that had broken away. It was so soft, you could crumble it in your hands quite easily. The deckhand on the boat had told us all that the cliffs retreat by about 1m per year which seems quite extraordinary.

It was now time to take our chairlift ride back up the hill but we were seriously thinking about walking back up and forfeiting the cost of the tickets as the condition of the chairlift looked pretty poor. Rusty fittings, rollers and attachments and ‘concrete cancer’ in the platform did not inspire confidence.
The deckhand must have seen our looks of hesitation. ‘Don’t worry, it’s got a good safety record, and they’re just about to replace the main cable for its 50th anniversary’.
We comforted ourselves with the statistical unlikelihood of it all tumbling into the sea at the very moment we would be riding it- and we arrived safely at the top after the very short ride.

We figured that we should have just enough time to visit ‘Osborne House’ which was Queen Victoria’s favourite residence - she didn’t like Buckingham Palace as she found it too ‘stuffy’. It was here at Osborne that she loved to enjoy the outdoors and bathe in the sea, and her husband Albert invented and designed her ‘bathing machine’ so she could enter the water without exposing herself to the public gaze.
Our plans were a little thwarted as there was traffic congestion in Cowes which held us up considerably and by the time we arrived at Osborne House we would have only had about 20 minutes to inspect the house and ‘bathing machine’ which is located down by the waterfront a little way away from the house.
The ticket seller advised that we really needed about an hour, and with the combined entry price for two being about $80, we satisfied ourselves with looking around in the visitor area, reading some of the display information and examining the photos.
It was now time to return to the ferry terminal which was about 15 minutes away. The weather remained fine and conditions on The Solent were calm.
We did a little more exploring of the foreshore areas then walked to the hovercraft terminal to await the next arrival.
Off for some more groceries then back to the motel at just before 7pm. Another well filled day.Read more