Isle of Wight

Or Peter's story...

Well after over a week of being stuck in the house due to the bad weather we decided it was time to do something. Back in October last year Peter and his brother Huw went by Hovercraft over to the Isle of Wight so Peter thought we should do the same.

The Hovercraft left from Portsmouth a large town to the east of Southampton. We had about a twenty-five minute walk to the train station and as we were getting close we saw the train pull in. With the next one not being for another hour we had no choice but to run to get there. It almost killed Jules but we made it onto the train!

Once in Portsmouth we walked into the city so Peter could buy a walk book for Isle of Wight (just in case we decided to go for a walk) and then we headed down to the historic dockyards for a pub lunch and to catch the Hovercraft. Incidentally the Hovercraft was apparently the first one ever to go into regular commercial operation back in the sixties and I must say it was pretty cool.

We docked at Ryde on the Isle of Wight which was a pretty grim looking place. After walking up the high street, stopping at a dire place for a cup of tea we realised that there was no real point in sticking around. Apparently there are far nicer places on the Isle of Wight to go so next time we will have to aim for one of those.

After getting the Hovercraft back (which involved another run) we stuck around to take a few pictures and video of it taking off again, but it broke down! So we were pretty lucky to get back.

We then walked along the beach (or what the Brits call a beach) for a while over to a pier. It was bloody freezing and Jules and I did a fair bit of complaining along the way. Although he denies it I think the only reason Peter made us do it was so he could tell a story about how he and Huw did the same walk and wanted to buy a drink at the end but the machine ate their money!!

Anyway from the pier we caught a bus back to Gunwharf Quays which is a big shopping centre (and also a train station). After looking around the shops for a bit (and convincing Peter that he did not need to see a movie) we jumped on the train and headed back to Southampton.



The first fleet was launched from Portsmouth, this commemorates the event!



A spire they are building at Gunwharf Quays



A topless church!



Ryde High Street



Ryde High Street from another angle



Sunset back at Portsmouth



Nice way to keep warm!



I think I can see Australia from here!