The Wight album

So we're back and I finally have found some time to write about our trip overseas (well the Solent)

Firstly, as the top photo shows, Southampton is actually a really cool port and to pass the Queen Mary 2 and have an enormous cruise liner in the background was an amazing start. I've lived in the Southampton area most of my life and it took an odd perspective on the port, I've seen change over the years, to remind me just how lucky I am.

The second photo shows "The Needles" one of the Islands most

photographed landscapes. This picture is taken from the top of a down over which we walked on Bank Holiday Monday. The heather was beautiful and yes that is the top of a chair lift you can see to the bottom left of the photo!

In the past any one who arrived on the Island via Cowes was greeted by a large pair of marine sheds with the doors painted in a

distinctive red, white and blue "union jack". This was the home of the British Hovercraft Corporation who built the hovercraft who were the quicker alternative to the ferry. (This was in days before wave-piercers and even hydrofoils) While most have disappeared , the Island still has a regular service between Ryde (ticket to?) and Portsmouth. As the photo shows, as it arrives at Ryde, it makes a pretty impressive sight!

The last photo shows the Isle of Wight steam railway. As a boy my trips to the Island involved numerous trips around courtesy of the steam trains that travelled over the miles of track. In 1967 that all changed when the steam was replaced by old London underground trains and most of the track was pulled up leaving one route down the east coast of the Island and , in due course, the Isle of Wight Steam railway. No visit to the Island is complete without a visit to that.

If I have roots, they are on this Island, the family name is regularly seen on businesses and signs. It is always does me good to visit and "step back in time"