The day we were due to leave started off a bit ominously. Mark, our friend we were travelling with, had arranged the caravan and ferry for the weekend. After Denise had gone off to pick up Mark I suddenly remembered I had forgotten to double check with the travel agent if we needed separate tickets for the ferry (all we had was confirmation in a letter). With some trepidation I phoned the agent who, to my horror, confirmed we did need tickets and they were sitting in her office in the Elephant and Castle (a journey of about an hour in the opposite direction)! Thinking quickly I put on a mock-angry tone and said this was all their fault and they better sort it out quick. I got a phone call back a few minutes later saying they had checked with the ferry and it was fine if we just turn up with the letter! When Denise returned with Mark I said to them "I have some good ncews and some bad news", Denise wanted to know the bad news first, so I told them that the ferry tickets were at the travel agents, Denise went slightly potty and said I was supposed to have checked this weeks ago! Even after 16 years of marriage she still falls for it every time!

Yachts - Off the coast at Portsmouth

During the night I had left the sunroof on the car open by mistake and, of course, it rained, so both front seats were soaking wet! Also the window on the driver's door was jammed closed so we got strange looks from the ticket collector at the ferry with us sitting on top of towels and black bin liners and me not being able to open the window to hand him the ticket!

When we eventually set off for the Isle of Wight, with sunroof firmly closed, it was lashing down with rain, and it didn't stop the whole way. Mark reckoned the Isle of Wight was in the tropics and assured us it would be lovely and sunny when we got there, and sure enough as soon as we boarded the ferry the clouds parted and out came the sun!

Multi-coloured rocks - Near The Needles

On arrival on the island we headed to the Rosemary Vineyard so we could stock up for the weekend. Having acquired some dodgy wine (actually it wasn't too bad) at double the nomal price we headed off to our caravan. Once unloaded we went looking for somewhere to have dinner. We drove along the front at Shanklin and saw a couple of nice looking pubs, one was completely empty and the other one was completely full, so we plumped for the full one (The Steamer Inn) on the basis that they must have good food. Not only did they have great food but we were treated to some live jazz music.

On the Saturday came the climax of our weekend, at least for Mark! A visit to Amazonworld was further proof that the Isle of Wight is in the Tropics! Meerkats, ocelots, eagle owls and bearded dragons all featured in the 'Meet the Animals' session.

Meerkat - At Amazonworld

Two pretty birds

Lunch was consumed rather smugly in a fair trade cafe in Ventnor, followed by a hotly contested round of crazy golf, can't remember who won (it wasn't me). Sunday lunch was a much grander affair as Mark had booked us in to what he said was a 2 star Michelin restaurant (don't know where he got that idea from!). The Essex in Godshill did produce a good meal all round. Godshill is a pretty little village well worth visiting, especially if you're looking for Isle of Wight souvenirs or Scottish shortbread (strikes me that Scottish shortbread and for that matter Scotch Whisky, is found all over the world as is Coca Cola, Toblerone, and Imperial Leather soap).

Cable car at The Needles

After lunch we visited the Needles, some jagged rocks at the head of a bay. We got some great views from the cable car which takes you down to the beach.

Yarmouth Harbour

While Denise took a nap lying on the pebbles, Mark and I hitched a lift with a boat to take us round to Yarmouth, where later Denise would meet us with the car.

On the Monday we cleaned the caravan and washed up all our dishes (why do women always insist on this?) jeopardising the livelihoods of some hard working cleaners. It was the end of a nice weekend, not luxurious, not thrilling but definetly nice.

This traveloguewas originally postedhere