ISLE OF WIGHT

Weather forecast: Temperatures ranging from 0-6 degrees with wintery showers. and winds of 50mph. Rug up as the wind will make it feel more like -5 degrees.

To translate - we headed to the Isle of Wight knowing that it was going to be a bumpy ferry crossing and it was probably going to snow but if not we would certainly see some sleet/slush showers.

As one of the locals put it - a storm only takes 5min to cross the entire island.

Storm front just before it hit

Rainbow a few minutes later

When we arrived at Portsmouth ready to catch the boat to Ryde we found out that the fastcat was cancelled due to the weather. Luckily a sturdier boat was found and we made the slow journey across. At Ryde we then found out that the train couldn't make it to the last stop because the water was too high and breaking over the lines. When we were walking along the lines, the water was about 10cm below the jetty.

No train today!

The island is covered with walking/cycling and bridle tracks but considering the forecast we didn't venture too far from our base of Shanklin unless on the bus. The coastline is quite amazing and in the space of a few miles goes from cliff face to bush to beach to suburbia. We did see one lady knocked over with the force of the wind and we even struggled to maintain a straight line at times.

Claire's attempt at creative photography...
Steve's attempt at creative photography...
The Needles. The windiest part of the island.

Make a wish...

I wonder what's behind this door?

Osbourne House. Home of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert

Field of Daffodils