Saturday on the Isle of Wight

Posted on 2012/08/06 23:03:40 (August 2012).

[Saturday 4th August 2012]
We were now down to a month away from the due date for the baby, and thought this might be our last opportunity to do something spontaneous at the weekend, before we really ought to start staying a bit closer to home. Somehow or other we came up with the idea of going to the Isle of Wight - not exactly wildly spontaneous or reckless, but at least a bit of a break from the norm.

I was impressed with the way we could buy a single train ticket all the way through from Waterloo to Shanklin on the island - the ferry and the little train in the island all included. It was also rather lovely that on arrival in Waterloo the train company were giving out free ice lollies - for no apparent reason - a little thing but it made for a lovely, and ever so slightly surreal atmosphere in the station - everyone seemed delighted with their strawberry splits.

The ferry over to the island is short - about 20 minutes - but still somehow getting on a boat, even to a destination as tame as the Isle of Wight, adds a bit of a sense of adventure to a trip. At the other end we got on the cute little old tube train they use on the island, for the service from Ryde Pier Head to Shanklin.

Once in Shanklin we headed from the station to the sea, for a stroll along the seafront. Frankly it's a bit on the tacky side, but at the end of the seafront we found the entrance to Shanklin Chine, which by contrast was very pleasant. We stopped at the bottom of the chine for afternoon tea, having mostly missed lunch, and had a very good scone and a piece of carrot cake. Suddenly it felt like we were on holiday.

From there we walked up the chine, which is short but quite pretty, which at the top opened out into Shanklin Old Village, which is much nicer looking than the seafront.

The train line on the island used to go all the way to Ventnor on the South coast, but nowadays the remainder of the journey from Shanklin to Ventnor has to be made by bus. As always I'm surprised by how expensive buses are in rural areas - I guess we're just spoiled with low flat fares in London.

On arrival in Ventnor we headed to the Royal Hotel, which after a bit of research I'd established was one of the two or three most upmarket hotels on the island. We checked in here and were given a small but pleasant enough room, with a nice view over the gardens and out to sea. We then headed out to explore Ventnor a bit.

There actually isn't a whole lot to the town itself, but I rather liked the way at the Western edge the town just abruptly stops, and gives way to clifftop meadows, which made for a lovely late afternoon stroll. The earlier clouds had disappeared (maybe just because we were further South), and so we had a rather idyllic walk up along the cliffs amidst vivid greens and blues.

By the time we returned to the town it was just passing six o' clock - perfect time to start turning our thoughts to food and drink! I had already researched this part somewhat, and was keen to try the Spyglass Inn, which seemed very much to be "the" pub in Ventnor. Some initial trepidation about a not-particularly attractive exterior (when approached from behind) were dispelled by a jaunty pirate theme, and an interior which was delightfully cluttered with nautical paraphernalia. Moreover it's looking out to sea, and so again I really felt like we were on holiday.

We ate here too, and the food was surprisingly good - they did a thoroughly decent mushroom lasagne, and Chie really enjoyed some fresh seafood. A definite hit.

We wandered around the town a bit after dinner, including a brief visit to an amusement arcade, although as previously noted there isn't really a whole lot to Ventnor so we fairly soon decided to just retire to the hotel. We had another drink - and dessert (!) in the bar there which was a pleasant way to round off the day.

hontou ni suteki!!
chie chan sikkari aruite
iruyoude yokatta.
takusan no subarasii
shasin arigatou!!

Posted by yoko at 2012/08/08 12:48:17.

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