This was my first
visit to the Isle of Wight which given I grew up just across the water in
Hayling Island was a bit of a surprise to everyone. In fact this visit was primarily work based
but with a couple of days off at the end of the week for leisure.
Delighted to be
on a ferry crossing on a warm, sunny day, I wasn’t expecting the rather bumpy
ride across but fortunately with a 20 minute crossing from Portsmouth to Ryde,
this was bearable.
My first few days
were to be spent in Newport so having dumped my bags at the hotel, I set off to
explore with my first planned stop being at Tourist Information. Arriving after 4pm though was not good as the
Tourist Info closes its doors at 3.30pm.
After a quick look around the town centre it was time to refresh with a
cup of tea and snack. Oh dear, foiled
again, most tea shops close at 4.30pm.
It was now 4.45! Fortunately the
very arty Arts Café on the Quay agreed to serve me a cup of tea which I enjoyed
sitting by the quay watching the swans swim up and down.
Next day, rising
early to get to Tourist Information before my work day commenced, I was
dismayed to see it didn’t open until 10.30.
This also is the time that the cafes I went into start, yes start
serving breakfast! Hence the title of
this blog as “Sleepy IOW!!”
After my work was
finished, I decided that I should visit the key attraction in Newport: Carisbrooke
Castle. I was informed that “It is just
10 mins walk with a very small incline at the end”. 30 mins later and after climbing what I
consider a steep hill, I arrived at Carisbrooke. Fortunately Carisbrooke Castle is
impressive. English Heritage describes it
as “An Elizabethan artillery
fortress, a king's prison and a royal summer residence, here you'll find
loveable donkeys, a fascinating museum and an Edwardian garden”. I particularly enjoyed the
beautiful chapel, the great hall and watching a donkey turn a water wheel. Braving myself for the long walk back, I was
impressed that my walk logger app said I had walked over 8 miles today!
Starting with West Cowes, we enjoyed wandering around the
little cobbled streets and browsing the independent stores. It was good to finally see the sea and the
boats moored there.
Moving on we headed towards Yarmouth and then on to Alum Bay where we were looking forward to seeing the Needles. However, the hefty car park charge with no obvious off the road parking nearby, had us turning round and heading onwards towards Freshwater Bay. This little bay was peaceful and we enjoyed walking along the bay viewing the mounds of rock at sea, somewhat reminiscent of the 12 apostles on the Ocean Road.
Next stop was a viewpoint stop at Chale Bay that overlooked Blackgang.
Now nearly lunch time, we were determined to make it to
Ventnor for lunch to the highly recommended Spyglass Inn or Boatyard – same place
but with 2 names. It was great to be
sitting outside eating freshly cooked fish in October. We were not disappointed with this
recommendation.
With no time to spare we headed off to Shanklin which clearly is one of the quaint thatched cottage locations that feature on so many picture postcards of the IOW. Following this trend we ventured inland to Godshill equally picture postcardish but sadly mainly closed as it was now after 4pm – clearly time for IOW to go to sleep again!
Un-deterred we moved onto Sandown but found this a little rundown – at least the high street, the beach lived up to its name by being sandy.
Our next location of Bembridge took rather longer to get to
than we thought as we did stop at a couple of bays en route. The long pier was very impressive
particularly with the sun getting much lower at this stage. We were disappointed that the café on the beach
was long shut but we found a delightful little bar/café in town called the Shed
which served some amazingly welcome coffees.
Continuing our journey around the Island, I was intrigued by an advert for the World Famous Waltzing Waters, just outside Ryde. We decided to give it a go. Arriving 10 mins before curtain up we were a little concerned that we were the only people in the audience but just before the performance started there was a mad rush of about another 8 people in the auditorium. The performance itself although a little cheesy was actually enjoyable and for a fan of fireworks as I am, this was like watching a water version of fireworks exploding on the stage to coloured lights and music. Very enjoyable.
Then on to Ryde for my plan to get a nice evening meal somewhere on the Esplanade. Unsurprisingly, most places on the Esplanade were shut by then so after walking up and down Union Street several times in search of somewhere appealing to eat we settled on the Caribbean restaurant. This was a good choice as although the wait for my fish was 45 mins, it was perfectly cooked and the friendliness and customer care of the staff made the wait worthwhile.
The following day, all we had time to do was to drive to
the other side of Cowes: East Cowes, where we wanted to experience Cowes
floating bridge which is a vehicular chain ferry. This involved driving the car onto a tiny
little ferry boat which crossed to the other side of the water in 3 minutes for
a less than bargain price of £2.20 so allegedly one of the most expensive ferry
crossings in the country. It was fun
though.
The return crossing from Ryde to Portsmouth was less bumpy. We had been incredibly lucky to have some lovely weather whilst here, we have eaten some delicious food, the people have all been friendly and we have discovered the delights of the Isle of Wight.
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