Friday Day 3,

We Decided To Cross To The Island By Ferry,

it was wet and windy,

not a good start to the day,

the clouds looking heavy with rain,

wrap up warm,

until we were inside the ferry,

we nearly had the whole boat to ourselves,

just as we were getting warm, it was time to go outside again,

to take the train from the pierhead to to the bus terminal and town,

we already had a cunning plan, take a bus to Newport, the town is in the center of the island and all buses terminate there, then a bus to The Needles, returning to Newport for a bus through Ventnor to Shanklin, then take the train back to Ryde for our evening meal, what could be simpler?

on to the bus,

and out of town,

and here is a bit of good news, my free travel card that works in London works on the buses down here!

so only Diana had to pay to travel on the buses, we change buses in Newport,

as we travelled out of town the weather really started to improve,

we were soon passing green fields,

and hardly any traffic, 

yes look out for red squirrels, thankfully the grey tree rats with good PR grey squirrels, have not made it to the island so the reds still live here,

I should mention the roads here are so narrow, there are many choke points like this on the route, remember we are in a full size double decker bus and that gap is just not there, I am just glad I am not driving!

as well as squirrels look out for ducks!

we were soon entering Fishbourne,

it has a large marina and ferries dock here from Portsmouth,

there was a long stop here, I guess to meet up with the ferries for foot passengers,

so camera out,

on the road again,

we were passing huge salt flats,

a bird watchers paradise I would guess,

hardly a car in sight,

which was just as well as we found the first fault with out cunning plan, there were 53 bus stops between Ryde and Newport, the same between Newport and The Needles! which meat the journey we thought would take about 45 minuets would take twice that,

the good news at most stops nobody wanted to get on or off, so the bus just sailed past the stops, in the summer I hate to think how long the journey would take with all of the tourists here,

and there it was, the first sign post for The Needles,

the bus terminates here,

just goes around the roundabout and returns to Newport,

it was just about now,

we found the second fault with our cunning plan, we were the only people here!

so no tourist getting in the way of the attractions,

like this Jurassic Park ride,

"Do not touch the eggs!",

the viewing platform to look at The Needles and the lighthouse,

there they are,

one of the few times I wish I had a telephoto lens,

Diana was happy with the talking telescope,

did I mention it was windy?

and worse still blisteringly cold,

a last look as we went in search of two hot coffees, but before that a few photographs,

as it happens whilst we were they 3 or 4 cars arrived,

the good news was that there was no rain,

just lots of bright sun,

well,

I just had too!

we found one shop open, which did not sell any hot drinks, just souvenirs of The Needles, we were told the coffee shop and restaurant as well as the cable car and rides only open in the summer, so that was that, but we did see something else that was open,

we made our way past a model of The Needles,

and up the hill,

to this building,

the Alum Bay Glass Works,

there was in fact a party inside as a part of a group tour,

one glassblower was giving a demonstration of his craft,

after taking some molten glass from the glory hole he touched it in various oxides before rolling it into shape,

then sitting in the gaffers chair,

he starts to mould and shape the glass,

whilst he was doing that I noticed these small ducks I think they are,

but this looked more like a small elephant,

he used a blowtorch to tidy up where the animal had been cut from his blowpipe, the finished item is then put in a cooling oven, if left out the glass would cool too quickly, so it stays in the cooling oven normally overnight,

and then start again,

this time using a piece of wood, 

to hold the animal on whilst it is given its finishing touches,

back outside,

we looked back to the glassworks,

the souvenir center,

and cafes,

any second now,

and sure enough we were on our way,

heading towards Fishbourne,

where again we waited for one of the ferries to dock,

the ferry also takes vehicles,

on the road again, that reminds me of a song by Canned Heat,

as we passed trough villages, 

I took a few photographs of a couple of thatched cottages on the way,

arriving in Newport it was the coffee we had been promising ourselves since setting out first thing this morning,

just up the road from Costa there is this elaborate memorial by Percy Stone, 

it is in front of the County Club in Newport, close to the corner with High Street, 

Queen Victoria died in 1901 and the memorial was unveiled two years later,

it has a triangular base, with concave sides, stands on a stepped plinth, with three bronze lions crouching at the corners,

one of the three,

on to the Newport to Shanklin bus,

all of this new to us as we did not arrive by this route,

thatched cottages,

and cider makers on the way,

as well as hotels,

we have already seen look out for the red squirrels and ducks, also look out for the horses,

we now started on our way down to Ventnor, 

I have got to say full marks to the bus driver,

some of the roads here are so narrow and twisty,

I really would not like to drive here,

great views though,

this building pretty in pink,

and this one flying the flag,

nearly at Shanklin,

and yet another flaw in our fiendishly devised cunning plan, it was now so late we could not look around Shanklin or we would miss the last train to Ryde and be late for our evening meal with George in Portsmouth,

so it was straight to the station,

tickets bought Shanklin to the pierhead for the ferry which we had already booked,

a little bit of railway history,

any minute now,

and there it was,

I forget how many stops it was but when it did stop it was at the wrong end of the pier! just our luck, why does this sort of thing always happen to us? the pierhead disappearing into the far distance, but there it was, we had to walk, so off we went,

passing the original now abandoned tracks, it was bitingly cold in the wind, after trudging to the end of the pier we were greeted with the news that the ferry we had booked, had been cancelled due to engine failure, the next one in about 2 hours, so it was a telephone call to George to say we might be a bit late, as it happens we had allowed some time from arriving in Portsmouth to meeting up with him so we could freshen up in our hotel,

the ferry arrived and we were on our way,

a quick selfie, before we made our way to meet George near the Bar + Block Steakhouse,

George like myself has worked and indeed at 84 years old he still does work in the aquatic trade, owning Lynwood Aquatics in Tolworth, Surrey,

"Cheers!',

Diana had one of these, a strawberry mojito,

and started with salt + pepper squid,

George and myself both went with jumbo prawns,

it was fillet steak all round for our main course with sides of onion rings and mushrooms, we chatted the night away, after saying farewell to George it was back to the hotel for a nightcap and bed.