Lovedean - Thursday and Friday (Isle of Wight)

Thursday 2 August 2018

As we had made the decision earlier not to take the narrow boat out, Wim came up with the idea to make a boat trip after all: a different one, on the car ferry to the Isle of Wight!  In order to spend reasonable time on the island he booked an airbnb for one night in Newport, more or less the centre of the island, but nothing over there is really far away....

The ferry left at 9 am and we landed in approx. half an hour after a smooth trip while enjoying a cup of coffee.

At the Gunwharf ferry terminal

View of the Spinnaker Tower

And again through the window of the ferry

the Isle of Wight in view

We visited the Needles, in the south west.  It is a beautiful area and if you want to dodge the tourists take a walk (instead of the shuttle bus) to the far end and enjoy the view in peace and quiet.  All the families with children seem to hang around near the cable chairs and the entertainment area.

The walk to the headland starts here

It was mostly up, and up, and up.....

...and sometimes a little bit down

The Needles

Seeing everything from great heights

Then it was on to Freshwater Bay (again with beautiful views), and from there we went eastwards in the hope to find a restaurant or pub with views over the water, but that wasn't to be.  No villages close enough to the water and the few that we passed were too small to have a reasonable restaurant.  

 

So we drove on to Godshill.  There we had a lovely lunch at The Griffin.  Wim tried another carrot and coriander soup, while the soup of my choice was broccoli and stilton, something that I am going to try out at home! (And probably the carrot and coriander one as well)  

As was to be expected, Godshill was also filled to the brim with tourists who arrive by the coach loads....  It was a quaint little village though and we enjoyed the walk through the various streets, up and down hill and past the thatched cottages.  

I had my mind set on visiting the Model Village and was not disappointed.  Godshill was recreated in small scale and we walked through the same streets again, which was cute.  Then there was also Shanklin on the river Chine which was created in two even smaller scales, so, a model, within a model, within a model....

The Griffin in miniature

When we finished in Godshill we drove to Shanklin on the east side (everything is only approx. 15 minutes away!) and walked along the foreshore and the beach with rows and rows of colourful beach cabins.  As I had never seen them before I had a 'sticky beak' here and there, curious as to what people store in them and how they use them.  My curiosity has now been satisfied! ;-)

After an ice cream and a rest on the lower walls we were ready for our B&B so we made tracks to Newport.  

our B&B (the house with the dormers)

my part of the airbnb room (in a 280 year old house)

Our hosts were very friendly and helpful and we were received with a cuppa and a chat.  We were shown our room, which was fine, and after that we went for a walk.  We were a tad bit disappointed in Newport, but found a great pub, The Wheatsheaf, where we were treated very kindly and my simple meal of, I thought just a pork sandwich, turned out to be a perfect brown sandwich with pieces of grilled, hot pork sausage and a great side salad.  What a meal.  So simple, yet so delicious.  It went well with the Guinness that I am now very partial to....

unfortunately not many of those picturesque lanes...

the lounge in the Wheatsheaf

Enjoying our beers while waiting for dinner to be served

After dinner we had some time to kill, so we went in search for a few geocaches on our walk home.  Unfortunately one of the places was closed after 6 pm, but a cache close to home was an easy find.

#1983 - Challenge Cup (cache)

I forgot to take a picture of the surroundings

Friday 3 August 2018

As we had seen most of the island on Thursday we needed to think of what to do the following day.  It was again a hot day and we didn't feel like driving much, so we chose Osborne House.  A great place with lots of history of the royal family, going back to the time of Queen Victoria. 

We planned to spend most of the time outside at first and look for a cooler place inside the building later in the day, but it didn't really cool off enough, even between the thick walls, so we were really worn out at the end of the day.

We walked through the walled gardens and the grounds to the beach, where we had lunch.  We saw Queen Victoria's alcove, where she used to paint, and her bathing machine. Then onwards, via the Rhododendron walk to the Swiss Cottage, which was built for the royal children.  They even had their own vegie garden.  Their father, Prince Albert, must have been a man with lots of sense, and a terrific educator.  We finally arrived back at the house, which took us the best part of the afternoon to view.  

A contraption for opening the glasshouse windows

Wim, trying to adjust something on his camera

 

Seats in preparation for Punch & Judy in the afternoon

Queen Victoria's bathing machine

Inside the Swiss Cottage

The terrace at the house

 

Inside Osborne House

I loved the lamps

The nursery!

At the end of our wanderings it was still too early for the ferry, but we were worn out, so we drove to Wootton Bridge, close to Fishbourne from where the ferry would leave, and found a nice pub with views over the water, where we sat down with a drink and had dinner later. 

The Sloop Inn

The ferry was delayed by half an hour, because of naval exercises on the Solent, but we made it home by 8 pm.