The Isle of Wight...oh how I miss you already

We're back home again. How time flies by when you are away enjoying yourself. No chores, someone else making your bed, cleaning up after you, cooking for you, doing the dishes for you.....it's those little things isn't it?

Now I am doing all those things again ;-((( I don't mind but every now and then it's nice not to.

ferry port in Portsmouth

The Isle of Wight was breathtakingly beautiful. If any of you readers live on the island or close enough to go visit regularly, will you be my BFF?

It's the perfect place for Dave and I to spend a few relaxing days.

Yarmouth

On the first day we went straight on a 13 mile walk after an early ferry crossing. This walk took us to Yarmouth one of the other ferry port towns (we crossed the Solent between Pourtsmouth and Fishbourne) on the island, along the coast to the needles to the Tennyson monument, fresh water bay and back to our car. We went to check out the Yarmouth castle as it is part of English Heritage. It's a very small castle with a bit of information on it's history. I think if you're not a member of EH, save yourself some cash and see something else instead.

Walking up to the viewing platform to see the needles is very worth it. It's a nice walk from wherever you are coming and the views along are breathtakingly beautiful. Fromm there you can walk up the hill over to the Tennyson monument. You get an amazing view of Freshwater bay, Yarmouth and the mainland coast.

that's Hurst castle on the other side and mainland England

the ever changing countryside along the coastline between Yarmouth and the Needles

cliffs and the Needles from afar

the Needles

the coloured sand cliffs near the Needles

Tennyson monument

We stayed at the Birkdale guesthouse in Shanklin on the east coast of the island. It's a nice little family run guesthouse with (I believe) 7 bedrooms (standard and superior) We treated ourselves to one of the superior rooms as we wanted the King sized bed. The prices are very reasonable so why not.

The en suite had a jacuzzi bath tub as well which was nice but never got used. Maybe next time.

The breakfast was yummy and cooked for every guest to order alongside a nice buffet of fresh fruit, cereals, breads and spreads of all sorts. I hope Dave didn't eat them out of business as he can put away a lot....

And a few more pictures from day one in case I haven't bored you enough yet ;-D

getting wet

monkeys in the trees

you can tell who the athletic one in the family is

and who's NOT!!!

Thanks for not falling asleep looking at other peoples holiday pictures. There is more but I will feed it to you in small dosages.

Have a lovely day!