Day 2, Off To The Isle Of Wight, Part 1,

it was a bit of a cold, damp morning,

as we made our way into town,

past the Spinnaker,

and a pose in the bus shelter,

as we made our way to the Hovercraft office,

Diana had never been on a Hovercraft before,

so off we went,

taking photographs on the way,

in 10 minutes we were on the Isle of Wight,

on to the bridge over the railway,

to go into town,

two of the working Hovercraft,

there was a third parked up, but it had a distinctly abandoned look about it, 

in the far distance the pier head,

if you take a ferry it docks here,

then you can walk or take the train to town,

the train has only one route from the Ryde pier head, terminating at Shanklin, 

a great play on words,

as it happens I also saw a van advertising a drain cleaning company, the Rodfather!

looking along the beach Road,

but we were going uphill into town,

I remember so many cheeky postcards like this one, the caption to this one is, "has anyone seen my Willie?" (in the UK Willie refers to a part of a mans dangly bits, and can also be a persons name),

this building cutting a corner,

we followed the road round,

half way looking up,

and down,

it seemed a lot steeper than it looks,

a couple of shops,

halfway up,

on the other side a shop I always like looking at, a fishing tackle shop,

the Royal Victoria Arcade,

although it was open,

most of the shops were not,

the interior ceiling nicely restored,

time for breakfast,

such a choice,

for myself a bacon sandwich,

for Diana,

a small English breakfast,

out and onward,

and upward past the church,

then looking back I spotted this, not the shop,

but what was in the window,

an old AJS motorcycle, in my motorcycling days a single like this one went secondhand for a few pounds today a few thousand! as it happens this one, a 1955 AJS 350, pre unit single, superb condition, excellent patina, V5, is ready to go, yours for £4,695,

to see the web site, click here,

looking down towards the sea,

we started walking parallel to the sea front,

in the distance Portsmouth,

this shop had a great Chinese New Year display,

this one needing no explanation,

a shop with a very limited range,

The Christmas Imaginarium, 

in the window,

as you might expect with a name like that,

all and everything to do with Christmas,

we then took a right and started downhill, passing this Art Deco building,

it was at one time a hotel, The Royal York, now abandoned,

this a really strange extension or perhaps it was a part of the original design caught my eye,

the pier head in the distance,

over the railway bridge,

towards the Hover port,

down the stairs,

to the promenade,

to start our walk, as one of the Hovercraft raced towards us,

so a photograph it was then,

just shortly after this as the Hovercraft turned around, we were covered in sea spray,

back to a few poses when the spray had finished,

just one more,

and naturally one of myself, I will stop here as there are a lot of photographs, if you want to see the second part of our day please look for Day 2 Part 2 by clicking the Older Posts button bottom right.