Anne and I are sitting by the pool, enjoying the warm temperature and abundant sun. We're in Ventnor on the Isle of Wight with 67 miles of coastline between the Solent and English Channel. This area has a microclimate unlike most of the Isle. Watermelon plants still have flowers, and little melons are growing. We've just walked through the Botanical Garden and saw many unusual flowers.
On Friday we flew to Gatwick, then took the train to South Sea Harbour. We missed our exit for the Hovercraft and had to go to Ryde by catamaran. We were told at the ticket office that the Hovercraft wasn't running because of the weather. We had a decent ride until we reached the dock . The waves were banging the boat against the dock while people tried to cross the gangway. We did finally get off that boat.
On Monday we took the bus into Newport, the county town, to meet Tony and Janet for a superb lunch at Thompson's. Tony is the son of Mike, a friend we made in Marseillan a couple years ago. We enjoyed meeting and talking with them.
Yesterday we went for a ride with Richard of Vectis Taxis. We drove along the south coast, seeing white cliffs of Compton Bay in the distance. Most fields have been harvested, but we still see fields of gorgeous cabbage. Farmers generally have only one growing season. We arrive at The Needles, and we take an open cable car down to the beach. We hop on a small boat and see the landscape from the water. The cliffs are chalk, we're told. The wind and water have crafted ridges along the coast. They remind us of parks in New Zealand and our southwest. We continue our travels to Osborne House, designed by Prince Albert for his and Queen Victoria's family. They thought it was cozy, but it's 3 stories tall with plenty of rooms. The old gal climbed those stairs until about her last ten years when a small elevator was installed. We saw much art work and knick knacks. But the most spectacular was the Durbar Room. Victoria loved her faithful southeastern Asian Indians, and she wanted a bit of India with her at her house. Google it if you have a chance. My photographer only took one picture of it, she tells me. We did some strolling on the grounds, but those stairs did us in. Richard took us home. Tomorrow we leave for the mainland, hopefully on the Hovercraft.
Back on the 18th, we arrived on the Isle of Man, estimated to be 400 million years old, in the middle of the Irish Sea. It is a crown dependency, but it's not a part of the UK or EU. It became independent from England in 1960. The people are called Manx after the old Celtic sea god Mannana who founded the island. The Irish monks were here around the 5th century; the Vikings around 900 A.D. Our first night we heard Russian spoken on the street. Turns out this is a good place for Russians and others to register their jets and big ticket items to avoid the 20% VAT tax. We changed any Faroese, Danish and Guernsey money we still had into English pounds, which we'll use until we reach Ireland and use the Euro. Our hotel is in Douglas.
We toured the the island on a sunny day with Alan of Open Car Tours. We rode in a convertible with the windows up; I still took a beating in the backseat. It was a great way to really see the scenery. We saw an old cemetery with Celtic crosses from pre-400 A.D. We saw several sites of the TT (tourist trophy) motorcycle races, where bikes travel around 200 mph. We visited a site where 17 Viking tribes met in 974 A.D. We saw unusual 4-horned Loaghtan sheep. We saw Peel Castle, used in 500 B.C. as a defensive building for troops, then used by Celts from Ireland, then Vikings. It became a cathedral around 1200 A.D.
During WWII there was an internment camp on the island for enemy aliens. Even German nationals who had been living in England for years were sent here. One of those German internees developed exercises for detainees in their cramped areas. That man was Joseph Pilates.
We drive to see the Calf of Man, a little island not too distant. The last farmer family to live there left in 1950. There's extreme wind and water action here in the "sound". The national flag of 3 legs has been used for 600 years. "Wherever you throw me, I will stand" is the motto. The last witch was burned here in 1770.
The following day we took the horse train (a trolley car on rails pulled by a horse) to the Electric Train station in Douglas. Then we take a narrow 30" gauge train to Laxey; then another mountain train (with a center rail for more braking on the mountain path with the Fell braking system) on a 36" gauge train. We go to the 2036' summit at Snaefel, enjoying really lovely scenery climbing up that hill. It definitely gets colder and windier. We later talked with a woman whose husband was in the hospital following winds that knocked them both down. That was the day we were touring in the convertible. Alan did tell us we were probably his most determined tourists for riding topless that day. You know what I mean...
We'll leave tomorrow, spend one afternoon and night in Portsmouth, then we'll head to London to join our Brenden tour group to visit England, Wales, Scotland, North Ireland and Ireland.
Photos from Isle of Man and Isle of Wight are in the next two posts.
Madalyn and Anne
