Blogs from Newport, Isle of Wight, England, United Kingdom, Europe

It had been a fairly uneventful and straightforward journey down to Southampton. I don't particularly relish a 300 mile drive these days, but the trip was as good as it gets. The blistering temperatures had seen the rush for the coast start early, so by the time we were skirting Winchester traffic was light. The M27 was a bit of a race track as usual. The Hamphire drivers like nothing better than to get their foot down. We took the city centre route through Southampton, which was largely closed with it being Easter Sunday and arrived at the Red Funnel terminal 2 hours ahead of schedule. Alas, the 1400 hours sailing had just slipped away from the berth. We swapped the ticket and were pretty much first in the queue for the 1500 hours crossing. The ... read more

We started off near a prison today, in Parkhurst Forest. From how people refer to it, I assume the prison is a major establishment. Certainly the “forest paths” are wide enough to take a vehicle if needed. There are narrow, untended paths angling off this maintained one. Betty Wood volunteered to be “back marker”, to keep track of stragglers. As I was videoing flowers, I asked her if she knew the names, and she did – every one. This made an interesting walk for me, although the others may not have enjoyed it too much because there was very little to see. We walked quite a way through a town – quite ordinary, except for the piglets that looked so cute. After this we tramped along various types of paths to the River Medina . Here ... read more