Blogs from Isle of Wight, England, United Kingdom, Europe - page 2

The bus crawled down Union Street towards the sea. The scooters from the weekend festivities had mainly left town and the place was returning to normal business. The odd Lambretta was left and I snapped a nice example down by the pier a few minutes later. A clothes shop had removed the real 1960s Lambretta window dressing and the drinkers were going about their early morning business in the Spoons. I alighted at the Bus Station. A healthy crowd was waiting to board the Island or Downs Breezer open top summer special buses. I crossed the railway line that feeds passengers straight out on to the Pier to link up with the cat to Portsmouth. Three hovercraft laid dormant next to their terminal. There was no sign of an imminent departure across the water. Portsmouth and ... read more

Winchester Cathedral is a Church of England cathedral in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It is one of the largest cathedrals in Europe, with the longest nave and greatest overall length of any Gothic cathedral in Europe. Exbury Gardens is a famous 200 acre garden in Hampshire, England, which belongs to a branch of the Rothschild family. The Rothschild's house at Exbury is a neoclassical mansion which was built around an earlier structure in the 1920s. We had to have hit the gardens at its peak, as everything was gorgeous. It worked out great, as we arrived just in time to catch a ferry to Isle of Wight with minimal waiting. We got situated at the Totland YHA, got a recommendation for our Pub dinner, and get a long hike in along coastline cliffs before dark. Tennyson Down ... read more

Mon 8thSeptember Motored from Poole to Yarmouth on Isle Of Wight (IOW) . 0615 departure in order to catch the tide up at the needles as the current rushes out through the channel. Not enough wind to sail fast enough so had to motor all the way – in the end we just made in on the turn of the tide...sometimes we were only going 2.5kts, but that was only for a short time, mostly averaging 3kts for the last 30mins. On arrival we were allocated a berth on a ‘non-walk ashore’ pontoon. This costs the same amount as a mooring buoy outside the harbour. We were very fortunate in our timing as we got the last free space for the day. Boats continued to come in and some left as the tide changed and current ... read more

Last July I realised that I had little idea of what I wanted to do with my life, so in my 17 year old 'seems like a good idea' mind I came to the conclusion that the best thing to do was to decline all my University offers, book a flight, and (probably) realise that I still don’t know what to do with my life 11,000 miles away instead. I’m still not sure where my thought processes came from. Nevertheless, here I am, procrastinating as I prepare for my travels. I’ve been packing/cooking/watching Top Gear for all of 3 hours now, and managed to get halfway through my day bag to take on the plane as hand luggage, and despite how excited I am, I’m still not keen on packing, so I’ve decided to come and ... read more

Newport is the Isle's market town and the hub of their excellent bus service.... read more