Isle of Wight bonus

On the way back from the Isle of Wight we docked at Southampton at the same time that the new cruise ship the Queen Elizabeth was setting sail. We got a good view of quite an impressive ship through the windows of our boat.

Isle of Wight 2 - Compton Bay, the Needles and Yarmouth

On our second day in the Isle of Wight we went to a number of places on the west of the island including Compton Bay.


We climbed down a long flight of wooden stairs that wound down a cliff side. Compton bay is one of the most desolate places on the island and has few facilities giving it a rugged charm.

The view from both the top and bottom was pretty spectacular. Compton Bay is another good place for finding fossils though again we couldn't find any. Still it was a really good place for a picnic despite being rather chilly.

In the car park at the other end of the beach was a really good example of the erosion problem on the Isle of Wight as the picture above shows.

Next we went to see the Needles, probably the most famous tourist spot on the island. The tourist trap surrounding it was quite tacky but the Needles themselves were beautiful in the setting sun.

There was also a very good view of the mainland. I could even see as far as Bournemouth.

The other attraction by the Needles are the coloured cliffs of Alum Bay. There didn't seem to be that many different colours to me though. And I resented the fact that it cost £4 to ride a chair lift down to the beach to look up at the cliffs.

Finally we finished off at Yarmouth for dinner where we stood on the pier and watched the last of the sun go down. Seemed well worth the suggested 30p pier toll.

Isle of Wight - Yaverland, Sandown and Shanklin

A few weeks ago I went to the Isle of Wight with some old friends. I've lived near the Isle of Wight for over a year but this was the first time I'd actually been. We stayed in a B&B called Sandown Manor near Yaverland. The beach nearby is a good place for finding fossils although I didn't have much luck.


The B&B had a lot of animals in the garden including a shetland pony.

A donkey

and some ducks which chased us all over the place as you can see in this video.


On the first night we walked from Yaverland, through Sandown and on to Shanklin on a promenade that ran by the beach. The moon rising over the Yaverland cliffs was very beautiful.


The place we were trying to go to was the Fishermans Cottage pub at the edge of the cliffs in Shanklin. Unfortunately they stopped serving food just before we got there but we went back during the day and were impressed by its dramatic location.

Dorset

Since I had some holiday to use up before the end of October I decided to visit my friend in Dorset.


She lives in the little rural town of Sturminster Newton. It is quite isolated and the only public transport is a few buses a day.


It has some very nice buildings though including this church and two old mills. Not much more to say about the place really.

Final pumpkin update.

Well in the end my pumpkins were killed off by a fungal infection before they were fully grown. Seems like it was a fairly bad year for pumpkins judging from the quality of the pumpkins in the shops.

This is the last photo I took of the best pumpkin before it started going funny.


Next year I plan to grow more plants and use fungicides if need be. Hopefully I should end up with a fully grown fruit next time.