New Forest

About 16 months ago during our last trip in Japan we attempted an epic public transportation challenge, well today we undertook a similar journey across to the Isle of Wight. Now I had been hoping for a little bit of inside information as a colleague of mine had recently been to the UK and planned to go, however she decided that the sites of Leeds were more alluring so no insights were to be had....

We left the hotel at about 8.45 and typically having just missed one, took the 9.45 train from Southampton to Portsmouth which stops at every lamppost between Southampton and Portsmouth and then caught the bus down to Southsea. From there the day’s transportation highlight - a hovercraft. Yes, the last remaining hover passenger service in the world runs from Southsea to Ryde, it’s an epic ten (!!!) minute journey across the mighty (you’ll have to take my word for that) Solent channel.

By the time we arrived it was after midday and time for lunch, so after a walk up (and I mean up, it’s a steep little township) the Ryde Main Street for a look around, we went back to the waterfront to the Royal Esplanade pub for lunch. That was nice enough, but there was no time to linger as we had legs four, five and six to complete.

That involved a bus trip to Newport in the middle of the island on a double decker and we managed to score the front seats on the top deck for a rapid trip through the pretty Isle of Wight countryside. From there it’s a connecting bus and an equally foot to the floor ride down to Cowes. Honestly you’d have thought we were on the Isle of Mann the way those drivers wrestled those buses rapidly through the narrow roads, and getting into the Cowes bus stop involved some of the tightest and best manoeuvring of a large bus I’ve ever seen. These guys must have been failed F1 drivers at some point...

Cowes is famous for the yachting regatta that takes place each year and as the starting point for the Fastnet classic, a famous open water yacht race that back in the late 70’s resulted in some really tragic loss of life as a big storm blew in. The Fastnet started today and happily there were no weather dramas to report. After a walk through Cowes township we decided a trip to another pub was in order so repaired to the Fountain Hotel next to the large yacht harbour.

After a quick pint of an underwhelming lager (and a half of berry cider for Christine) we caught the Redjet fast ferry for the 25 minute journey back to Southampton to complete the round trip and arrived back to our hotel (by foot) at about 4.30pm.

We’ve sussed out a nice restaurant down by the waterfront for dinner and we have the morning in the city before boarding the Nautica in the early afternoon. Ship’s wifi permitting, I’ll report in after that...

Photos attached show.... Our hovercraft!!; Our Hovercraft from another angle!!; me on the hovercraft!!; a rare slow point of view from the bus; the Main Street of Ryde: the Royal Esplanade pub (pubs may become a recurring theme so be warned); the Redjet fast ferry (with it’s slow cousin the background); the dining room of the Royal Esplanade pub (featuring me at the bar!).Read more