The midweek break in the Isle of Wight with younger brother and his wife Jan, youngest sister Stephanie, and mrs maytrees and I, proved a great success.
Travelling there for some of us was by train from Clapham Junction to Southampton thence by red passenger ferry to Cowes West whereas the return Journey was from Ryde, then thanks to younger brother who had brought his car, by the large car ferry to Portsmouth Harbour after which the drive up the A3 and home, was simple enough.
The two days on The Isle of Wight were all too brief. Mrs maytrees and I stayed at small boutique hotel in central Cowe and the others opted for a nearby B&B. Cowes had a day or two earlier, been hit by flooding during the spring high tides and a few shops were still closed for drying out.
The first morning was cool and misty but the air was clean and still, below left:
We decided to visit Osborne House pictured right, which had been the royal hideaway for Queen Victoria and her husband Albert, of whom she was beloved. The couple obviously enjoyed staying there. The royal couple's Osborne estate was bought in 1845 as an occasional escape from Windsor and public life and they considerably enlarged it.
Given that the couple were so young, it is perhaps unsurprising that some of their paintings which are displayed in several rooms are slightly risque:
The longish walk to the sea via the Swiss Cottage built for the couple's 9 children was a delight as as was the queen's bathing hut on the strand.
The journey back to West Cowes was uneventful.
The following day Steph had booked a wonderful supper for us all at the Cowes smoking lobster restaurant, so to work up an appetite for that we decided on a trip to Carisbrooke Castle, which like Osborne House, is managed and run by English Heritage.
Carisbrooke Castle was well worth the visit and some of the views of the estate from the narrow walk around the very high battlements, are excellent, for example, see right:
During our stay, on the Isle of Wight, we also visited a glass making factory, being fortunate enough to enter when there were no other visitors present. The furnaces for melting and shaping the glass were blazing and some men were working in the heat melting and shaping glass into attractive vases, pots and figures. One of the workers had a microphone and explained to us what he was doing as he proceeded around the site:
An interesting visit especially as some of us had not before seen glass being made and molded.
Our two days break was all too brief and we decided to look around Ryde town before taking the ferry home.
Interestingly there is a very long pier from the town to the railway station at the end of the pier, with trains taking passengers from the FastCat ferry to Ryde town centre. We walked the length of the pier to the train terminus station at its end. A mile long I would guess.
Then the ferry home and all too quickly our break came to an end
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