A Trip to the Island

Us Hampshire Yokels always refer to the Isle of Wight as simply "The Island". We are not too polite when referring to the natives on the island, sometimes calling them "Caulkheads", a term that is said to refer to caulking being a major trade of Islanders. Caulk was the substance that was forced between ship's timbers to ensure that they remained water tight. The basic material was stripped old rope and apparently mixed with something called "chalico", the primary ingredient of this being animal manure. There are other words that are used to describe people that you might meet on the Island:

GROCKLES - GROCKLES are tourists, usually on holiday for a week or two, but especially day trippers. It is commonly used in the area around southern Hampshire, Dorset and the Island. We love tourist's money, but we get a bit frustrated when we find that we cannot move due to congestion between Friday lunch time and Sunday evening.

EMMITS - EMMITS are people who have moved onto the Island from the mainland and who have no family connection. It probably takes 3 or 4 generations to shake off the Emmit tag.

Despite living within a few miles of the ferry terminals to the Island and having been across for many day trips, sometimes for pleasure and frequently when working, I'd never spent a holiday there. Probably because it is so close. The other consideration is, of course, the reputation of the ferry crossing as being pro-rata on a mileage basis the most expensive car ferry in the world. It is a reputation that is well founded, but a bit of advance booking and a willingness to give up any flexibility in crossings can result in a fare that is just expensive. And if you are taking a caravan, as we did, the return fare starts at £500 if booked directly at short notice with maximum flexibility and can be reduced to around £150 as part of a package.

Travelling in the first half of October, we were equipped for poor weather. Just as well as it was to prove to be a little wet. Our stay for the week was at the Southlands Caravan & Motorhome Club. I'm sure that this is a lovely location in the summer; during a soaking wet October, it is not at its best - but we managed.

Waiting to board the 12 noon ferry "St Clare" at Portsmouth. Navigating a relatively large car and caravan around the Island is a challenge in places - a full size articulated lorry like the one we are parked next to must be frightening!

We had very little idea of what we would do for the week. Ann has always wanted to visit Osborne House and there is a steam railway, so that had to be on the agenda. Other than that, it was just a case of fitting in with the rain. But to start with, there is the obligatory trip to the Needles. In the past, the Isle of Wight suffered from absolutely appalling road surfaces, but the local council have been engaged in a programme of improvements that has resulted in smooth roads with few pot holes. The down side is that the work is done mostly outside of the peak holiday periods, specifically the week we visited! We did eventually find our way around Newport and heading towards Alum Bay, following the brown tourist signs that took us along the "Old Road". For "road", read "very narrow village lane". Eventually, the 3 large coaches that seemingly had not seen the large NO COACHES signs managed to squeeze through. 

The Needles is now an "Attraction" and is owned by the same group who own the "attractions" at Land's End and John O'Groats. So have your wallet / purse handy! Although, it isn't quite as bad as expected with parking being a reasonable £5 for the day (with free returns on certain days of the week) and the various "attractions" are paid for as you wish to visit with a discount being available by purchasing a carnet of tickets. Brought back memories of travelling on the Metro in Paris.

We took the chair lift down to the beach, timing it completely wrong on a stormy day at high tide, so there was little beach and the sea was too rough for boat trips to the rocks.

The famous chairlift descending the cliffs at Alum Bay

So the cliff trip was a descent, a quick walk around getting splashed by the large waves, a few pics of the Needles and a quick ascent.

Looking at the Needles rock stack from the base of Alum Cliff. The lighthouse is no longer manned and the helicopter platform makes a nice nesting site for the local wildlife

Back at the top, the glass works are worth a visit and we contemplated a walk to the Old and New Batteries. Not Batteries in the sense of Duracell, but bases to station guns as part of the defences for Portsmouth Harbour. We decided to defer that to later in the week.

OSBORNE HOUSE

We've seen Osborne House from the water many times, but this was our first opportunity to visit. It's an English Heritage property and we are lucky to have a complimentary membership so get in for free. There is, of course, a cafe doing lunches and teas; I think on balance the National Trust does this better, but it is perfectly acceptable. The house is about what you would expect a country retreat owned by the Queen to be like. It is full of presents that Victoria and Albert bought for each other  paintings, statues, etc, all a little dark both in presentation and subject and very Victorian in nature. But what would you expect? The grounds are peaceful and in summer, I would imagine that you could easily spend several hours just walking the gardens. There is a set route around the house with stewards in each room. Again, I find that this is something that the National Trust does better - I thought the stewards were more like "guards" ensuring that we didn't help ourselves to the exhibits or touch anything! The highlight has to be the last room on the tour - a massive dining room decorated in colonial Indian style with many artefacts displayed reminding us that Victoria was the first Empress of India. not something that he inhabitants of India had a vote on,of course...

The large dining room at Osborne House. Just look at the plaster work in the ceiling

Now outside, dodging the rain, we could easily be looking at an Italian villa

Walking down the terraces a little, there are numerous statues. Looking at the statues at Osborne House, the vast majority of which are nude studies of human anatomy, it is hard to see how the Victorians gained their reputation for being prudes.

BRADING ROMAN VILLA - AND RECHARGING THE BATTERIES

Close to the village of Brading on the main road between Ryde and Sandown, sits a Roman Villa. In fact, it is less of a villa and more of a farmstead built by the Romans during their occupation of Britain. It looks as though there had been friendly relations between the Island residents and tribes from continental Europe for thousands of years and when the Romans came, the local Iron age residents happily embraced the Roman way of life. Given the choice between a drafty mud hut and a centrally heated Roman villa, who wouldn't? The visitor site is compact with very good explanatory panels and helpful guides. It's about a half day trip to visit.

We also went back to the Needles to visit the Batteries. Built during Victorian times by Lord Palmerston to keep out the French, they formed part of the defensive shield around Portsmouth, then as now, the premier Naval base. They are about a mile's walk uphill from the car park at the Needles and being exposed, you can expect it to be a bit windy. We set off in somewhat inclement weather and arrived in time for a spot of lunch at the tearoom inside a 1940s building that looks like an airfield control tower. It is a little incongruous inside a Victorian gun battery, but the site found further use during the Second World War as a searchlight base. In fact, it was not a great success as a gun battery because as the size of guns increased during Victorian times, the recoil seriously damaged the earthworks resulting in a new battery being built close by. 

I was looking forward to walking through a tunnel that would reveal perhaps the best view of the rocks at the Needles. Afterwards, we planned to visit the New Battery that found further use in the 1950s as a rocket testing base for the Ministry of Defence in connection with the UK's space and guided missile programme. But, it wasn't to be. During lunch, an alarm went off which turned out to be an indication of a total power failure. There was no choice other than to close the entire site and abandon our visit. At which point, it began to rain. I said the site was a little exposed - a 40 minute walk over an exposed headland in torrential rain was not exactly enjoyable. It took 3 days for our clothes to dry out!  

BEER BUSES AND TRAINS

Although we didn't plan it, our visit coincided with the annual Beer and Buses Festival. This has grown from the original Isle of Wight Bus Museum Running Day. My regular reader will know that I have more than a passing interest in historic buses and so, as we were there, it would have been rude not to have visited, wouldn't it? When the running day turned into a beer festival, I have to admit I had my doubts. My suspicion was that rather than bus enthusiasts, the event would now attract visitors for the beer for whom the travel experience on a historic bus would be entirely secondary. I think I was right. Although the numbers were hugely increased on previous years, the behaviour of some that we saw was quite appalling. Carrying full glasses of beer onto a vehicle that may have taken 20 years and cost £50,000 to restore is not good, neither was some of the behaviour exhibited to the owners and volunteers. And there is really no excuse to be falling down drunk and needing to be held up by others at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. Let's just hope that the money made from programme and timetable sales made up for it.

The final iteration of the traditional Southdown bus. I don't recall ever seeing one of this type on the Havant & Emsworth school bus; they were mostly reserved for the long distance service between Brighton and Southsea.

London buses show up everywhere. Despite what is commonly thought, not all London buses were Routemasters - this is an RT and although it was originally red, it now represents a country area vehicle

I was also able to fulfil an ambition to visit the Isle of Wight Steam Railway -something that has eluded me for many years.The Isle of Wight once had an extensive and self contained railway system developed by independent companies and brought under the control of the Southern Railway in 1924 before nationalisation in 1948. Little changed - it remained in essence a Victorian backwater with no modernisation before 1967 when electric trains replaced steam on the one remaining line from Ryde to Shanklin. Even then, the "new" electric trains were former London Underground trains dating from the 1920s and these remained until more recently replaced with newer 1938 Underground trains of the type used on the Northern Line. These are now long past their best before date and will shortly be replaced with newer hand me downs. but at least the service remains.

Meanwhile, a section of the Ryde to Newport line was preserved and now forms a heritage steam railway. It boasts a number of genuine locomotives and carriages that ran in service on the Island, including an Adams Class 02 and a couple of A!X "Terriers". Those of a certain age will remember the A1X locos running on the Hayling Billy line. On our visit, we experienced much more modern motive power in the form of a 1950s LMS designed tank engine. The justification for using these locos is that there had been a plan to introduce them to the Island to replace the life expired Victorian locos - but in the end the decision was made to electrify.

1950s built tank loco hauls Victorian coaching stock away from Havenstreet Station. It was the one day during our stay that we saw sunshine (above & below)

Ann, as we know, has been thoroughly - and quite rightly - spoilt over the years and only travels first class! We have exclusive use of an exquisitely restored First Class carriage.

Our return trip was on board the newest Wightlink ferry "Victoria of Wight" that is advertised as being a hybrid and therefore green vessel. It departed on time and arrived on schedule, so we couldn't ask better than that. We were home indoors within 20 minutes of arriving. 

So, that's about it for this entry. Various health issues have jumped up and hit us of late, so I'm not entirely sure when the next trip will be, or where it will take us. So I might just write something a little different next time.