Isle of wight is an island south of mainland Great Britain, it is divided by The Solvant. If we were staying in southern part of UK, then it is a must visit place in my view.
Since I stayed in Southampton, there was a frequent ferry service to this island. The ferry service are operated by many companies. I booked in Red Funnel company; they operate ferry service every one hour and they have spacious lounge, restaurant, kids play area etc. They even carry the 4 wheeler, so people can use to drive in the island. Most of the transportation in UK is animal friendly, so they can carry their pet animals with them; so even in the ferry we can see people boarding the ship with dogs.
Southampton has so many docks and the famous RMS Titanic, Mayflower, RMS Queenmary cruise started their journey from one of these docks.
Below link takes to the ferry service time table, this ferry takes us to East Cowes dock in Isle of Wight island.
http://www.redfunnel.co.uk/ferry-travel/passenger-vehicle-ferry-service/timetable/
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| Red Funnel Ferry Ship |
As we leaves the dock, we could see the wide view of the city port and docks; there will not be much tide as these docks are in river Test which has its origin from Ashe, 60 kms away from Southampton. Also row of yachts could been seen clearly.
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| View Ocean Cruise from our ferry |
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| Yachts in the dock |
The Ferry we went has 3 deck, C deck is for complete 4 wheeler and goods, deck B has refreshing lounge, deck A has coffee bar with children pay area and sun deck. All these deck are pet friendly area.
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| In Deck B |
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| Deck C carrying vehicles |
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| Refreshment shop in Deck A |
Travel time to Isle of Wight island was nearly an hour, till then we can enjoy the AV service provided in TV. Also they will update the vessel position now and then in TV. They have free literature section with choices of books to read, we could take free maps, pamphlets and some information & reference brochure which are there in the ship.
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| Approaching East Cowes in Isle of Wight island |
After getting down from ship, we went to the nearest bus pickup point. It would be always good to talk with the bus driver for knowing the best deal of bus ticket; they even have a family full-day ticket which saves more bucks than individual full-day ticket.
There are no taxi service in this island but all the parts are well connected by public transport. It would be very difficult to cover the whole island in a day, most people stay here for couple of nights to visit all the places. Our plan is only for a day and we shortlisted 'The Needles' which is in western region of the island.
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| Bus service in Island |
Have a look into below website to know more about their services
http://www.islandbuses.info/
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| Uniform house structures in island |
This island became very popular after queen Victoria built her summer home here. This Osborne house (the summer home) is now open to public to visit. Not only this, the island has so many interesting historical facts which was kept secret for long years (keep reading to know ;)) & lots of entertainment, sport activities which attracts tourists all over the year.
The Needles
1. The Chalk Cliff
The needles is a white chalk rock that rise out of the sea. And to reach there we should take the bus that goes to Alum Bay. It got the name needles from the pinnacle of chalk which was 120ft high, in 1764 it fall with such a great force that people in mainland Britain could hear it. In-front of the rock is the lighthouse which was built in 1859. This unusual vertical rock claims to be the most photographed group of rocks in the world.
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| Chalk cliff |
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| Same Cliff from other side |
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| Standing in the view point of chalk rock |
2. Old and New battery
First, battery means cluster of cannons, guns or missiles grouped together for better battlefield communication and commanding. There are two battery in The Needles; these are constructed during Victorian time. These are used during both world wars to protect against the enemies. Both the batteries are now decommissioned after the war.
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| Old battery entrance |
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| Couple of battery kept for visitors |
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| New Battery |
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| New Battery in action |
3. Secrete rocket program
British rockets were initially tested in parts here before using them for launching it from Australia. Since the old battery was deactivated, they used this space for rocket testing. This was a very secrete program carried out by British that even the family members of the people who worked here do not know about it.
Today they have a small museum there and cardboard model of workstations.
4. Alum Bay multi colored sand cliff
This we could see when we are coming down from The Needles peek. This multi color rock is because of the geological changes some million years age.
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| Multi color rock |
5. Marconi Monument
Guglielmo Marconi, the inventor of radio did his first investigation and experiments with wireless radio communication in The Needles.
This place could be told as birth place of all modern communications. There is no museum or exhibit kind of sort; they kept a monument in remembrance of this historic event and we could breath and imagine how it might be during late 19th century.
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| Monument in Alum Bay |
6. Amusement & Attractions
Always something will be there for everyone. The attractions ranges from 4D film, chairlift travel, pleasure boat, glass manufacturing demonstration, sweet manufacturing demonstration, pebble beach, restaurants, shopping and much more
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| The Needles Park |
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| Pebble beach |
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| In the far, we could see chairlift bringing people down to beach |
One of the experience that we should not miss was this open bus travel in The Needles; it was a 30 mins journey and our normal day pass was accepted. It takes us via hairpin bend turnings in cliffs and most important is they have recorded audio which says about the importance of each place we across.
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| Sitting in the top |
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| Open double deck bus |
The bus drops us at The Needles peak, and we can spend some time there with sight seeing, photo shoot, enjoying the breeze, playing
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| Trying different poses in photo shoot |
We could see the mainland Britain from The Needles peak. Recently they found dinosaurs fossils in this island which proofs that this island was once part of mainland.
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| View of Mainland from The Needles (it is farther, may not be seen clearly in this photo) |
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