Places I could have lingered longer – The Isle of Wight

Felt quite at home catching the car ferry across (though our guys are a lot more efficient at loading). Sailed quite close to the American aircraft carrier ‘Theodore Roosevelt’ which was interesting.

Loved the Isle of Wight, which seems to be of an earlier time with its quaint villages and country lanes.

Rather sorry we didn’t stay a night here though we are a little early in the season for Osborne House (Queen Victoria’s residence) and the rather magnificent Carisbrooke Castle.

We visited the Ventnor Botanic Gardens, which are located on south facing slopes and grow a wide variety of plants up to subtropical. Very well laid out and an interesting walk around.

The beaches are quite lovely. Could easily see me having a holiday here. (Ed:not sure about these “beaches” Lindy saw – I must have been looking the other way for a split second!)

Had dinner in another pub. Ed is getting addicted to English pubs and diverts in to a pub every chance he gets to quaff another pint of English ale

Next day was back to the dockyards to inspect the Victorian armored warship the Warrior. She and her sister ship The Black Prince patrolled the Channel and were so formidable and far ahead of everything else the French and Spanish had to offer that they never fired a shot. They were the ultimate deterrent.

The Warrior was equally as interesting as The Victory and her restoration story almost as epic a story as The Mary Rose. It is brilliantly done and fascinating how they all lived on board for years at a time. It is a mixture of the ‘modern’ and the traditional in weapons as in accommodation. I particularly liked the fact that they had bathrooms and hand cranked washing machines but still used a hole in the deck for the loo.

On to River Cottage