Camping on the Isle of Wight - Part 3

On that same Thursday, after visiting the Alpacas we decided to go for a walk along the coast in the opposite direction to what we went last year.  It was definitely interesting. We passed lots of derelict buildings, or what was left of them, along the path, most of the rubble was down the cliff. We then came across an old looking holiday park that had lots of chalets and we didn't think we could go any further because the cliff path seemed to stop as it had eroded into the sea but then we spotted a sign that said we could walk through the holiday park and continue on the cliff path.

The holiday park had a few people milling around, clearly staying in some of the chalets that were further inland and in good condition but many of the chalets were in a state of disrepair with dirty and broken windows, old mattresses and furniture inside and right up on the cliff edge.  It was really sad because you could see what it would have been like in its hey-day but now it had come to the end of its life.  I didn't take any photos because I felt like it was wrong and would be prying.

Some photos of the coast and the sea from the last few days, its been pretty rough.

A bit further along the coastal path it came to an end and there were steps down to the beach so that is where we went as the tide was out and was not due back in for a while.  We are so glad we did because it was so beautiful and interesting.  Dark brown sand, which I have never seen in my life, sea foam, caves, all colours of rocks and we made our way back to the camp site along the beach. 

The last photo on the left hand side is looking directly down at the sand.  Strange but very interesting!

The first three photos in this next set are close ups of the rock and the amazing colours.

I found a couple of interesting rocks and a shell on our walk.

Camping in the Isle of Wight - Part 2

So, the first half of the week has been pretty horrendous in terms of the weather.  One poor family had to salvage what they could from their tent and pack it into their car and then drive across the Island to find a camping and outdoor retailer and buy a new tent as the tent they had was completely wrecked by the wind and rain.  They, like us, are booked on a particular ferry to go home, the ferries are really busy at this time of year so it will very difficult to change the booking and they are determined to make the most of their holiday for their kids. Thankfully, whilst it was very noisy in our tent, as everything was rattling and flapping in the wind, we are still in one piece and its looking like the weather is changing for the better.

Thursday, and we were off to West Wight Alpacas & Llamas for a visit.  They don't just have Alpacas and Llamas though and we didn't book and pay to walk the Alpacas but we had a great day.  There were a few baby goats wondering around, they're too small to be kept in by the fences, they just squeeze themselves through the gaps to play with everyone.

Chickens and fowl of all kinds.  I am fascinated by the colouration and patterns of the feathers, such as the middle row far right, that golden brown with a light stripe down the centre and dark brown edging is just absolutely beautiful and the colours and striking contrast on the cockerel in the top two photos is amazing. Nature is a wonderful designer.

The sheep, different kinds but I have a soft spot for the Wensleydale, that's the long wool breed in the two photos on the left and the bottom centre.

Alpacas and a close up of the face.  There is something fascinating about their huge eyes and their expressions that I just can't stop looking at their faces.

Alpacas and Llamas.  Can you tell the difference.  Obvious when you see them side by side as Llamas are bigger, their coats are different and they have huge curvey banana ears.  That's a baby Llama on the middle row, left hand side and his mother is in the centre.  The photo in the middle on the bottom row has a sad ending.  That is an alpaca giving birth and we went to get help.  Turns out she had been in labour for several hours but still not given birth.  Before we left we found out that they had to intervene and sadly the baby was already dead.

This last set of photos shows a horse/pony and donkeys.

We had a lovely time and didn't want to leave, we could have walked around again but we couldn't stay there all day, we had other things we wanted to do whilst the weather was nice and we didn't have much time left of our holiday.

Camping in the Isle of Wight, again! Part 1.

We just got back from camping in the Isle of Wight.  After much searching for somewhere on the other side of the Island that looked nice and could take a tent the size of ours and a dog we gave up and went to the same site as last year but this year we are earlier than last year.  Ermmmm, yeah, what can I say.  Weather: shite.  Mood: shite.  Had a good time: a few highlights but not really.  Coming back here next year: NO!

The camp site is basically on the top of the cliff right next to the coast on the western side of the Island so any wind is blowing in from the direction of the North Atlantic Ocean, across the Celtic Sea and along the English Channel.  Putting the tent up, ha ha ha, yeah, that was fun, not , in gale force winds but we had to do it when we arrived as the forecast was for it get a little worse and not improve until at least the next day.  We struggled and fought in the wind and we did manage to get the tent up but not as we'd have liked.  It wasn't sat properly on the footprint and it wasn't up quite right, nothing was aligning, it was securely tethered to the ground but was slightly askew and with the wind we managed to rip the skirting at the back, luckily not the main tent so we were very lucky there.

First night was really fun.  Not only was the wind and rain keeping me awake but I was uncomfortable and then suddenly aware that my air bed was completely devoid of air and I was lying on the hard lumpy ground of the field and I could feel this through the footprint, the inbuilt groundsheet of the tent, the deflated air bed and my sleeping bag.  Hubby very kindly gave me his air bed and he went and slept on one of our blow up arm chairs in the main tent area. Despite the weather, we did manage to get out and about a bit when it blow over for a bit and the first port of call was to see the animals on the farm we were staying on. 

The cocks were all strutting their stuff, there are quite a few of them but it was the guy in the bottom two photos that made me laugh.  There he was puffing himself up on the top of a fence post and as I took the first photo he looked at me and squawked at me and being the daft cow that I am I spoke to him and said "What's the matter, didn't I get your best side?" So he turned to face the opposite way and posed for me.

On Tuesday we went to Ryde to have a walk round and whilst there a hovercraft came in, that was interesting, wet and sandy!  Needless to say that my Canon camera did not come out all day and I relied on my phone for the pictures.

We went to Shanklin and Godshill but it wasn't as nice as last year, it was too wet and miserable to enjoy it properly and by Wednesday evening I was so miserable I had had enough and wanted to come home.  Thankfully we didn't do that because the day after we had some decent weather and was able to get out and about properly.  See Part 2.

Camping on the Isle of Wight

Our first holiday in two years, very excited to be going away.  We were up at the crack of dawn and the car was packed up with all the camping gear and we were on the road for 6am on Monday morning.  Our holiday was Monday to Friday with the touristy kind of things being done on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.  It was a nice drive down to Lymington, where we caught a ferry to Yarmouth, which is on the North side of the Island but towards the West.

We had a hard time pitching the tent because the ground was so hard and dry as we've not had rain for weeks, its been very hot and the ground and grass is parched.  We broke or bent a lot of tent pegs trying to get the tent up and luckily the onsite shop sells good quality tent pegs, better than the ones we had.  After a lot of "naughty words" being said by hubby and after using water to wet the ground where we needed to hammer the pegs in we finally got the tent up and settled in.  Not a bad view at all.  The campsite is Grange Farm, Brighstone Bay, and if you click to their website you will see a picture down the right hand side, an aerial shot of the campsite.  Note the white static holiday homes that look closest to the water, we were just above them.

The photos above show the view from the tent looking towards the sea.  I went up the bench at the end and took these others photos later on, during sunset.  The top one is looking down to the sea slightly to the right, then looking down slightly to the coastline to the left and towards the South of the Island and see how the static holiday homes are below us and finally, looking along the coastline to the right towards the north of the Island.

During our holiday we visited:

Shanklin Coastal Path: a nice walk along the quiet Coastal Path which sits above the sheer drop to the sea on the left and the houses on the right.  Some of the houses are beautiful but I dread to think how much they would cost because of their size, location and views.  We would need to win the Lottery!

Shanklin Chine: this is basically a deep narrow ravine with water running down to the sea which has been turned into a garden-tourist attraction.  You can read all about Shanklin Chine here.

Alum Bay: this is famous for its natural multi-coloured sands and you have to be careful in case of rock fall.  The sand is collected and sold from the natural rock falls, it is not mined, and so not all colours are available at all times.  They also make their world renowned Alum Bay Glass.

The Needles and the Old Battery:  The Needles are the distinctive rocks and the Old Battery is the old Military Defence Base protecting mainland England from attacks along the south coast.  We didn't have the time nor the energy to also visit the New Battery.   You can find out more about these two sites here.

Godshill Model Village:  This is a model village of Godshill and surrounding area, including Shanklin Chine. The hubby and the kids loved this.  Within the model village there is a model of the model village complete with tourists and within that a model of the model village and within that a model of the model village and so on.  This is the photo top right.  Here is the link to the website.

Godshill Village: This is itself a tourist attraction but my family wouldn't stop and pose for photos so I apologise for the backs of their heads.

The journey home on the Friday was pretty horrendous, lots and lots of traffic and it was hot, very hot and it took us at least 2 hours more to get home than it did to get to our holiday.  Still lots of things on the Island that we didn't do, lots of things to see and do on the North East part of the Island so I think we will be going back to the Isle of Wight next year but finding a campsite up on the North East side as Grange Farm is lovely, very nice and quiet with their 10pm-7am quiet rule (no music/noise/shouting allowed during those times) but it is quite remote so if you fancy getting a take away, like fish and chips, it is literally about 9 miles to the nearest place.

I took lots of photos and a lot of photos of rocks, plants, bugs etc but I don't want to bore you to tears with those.