Off to the Isle of Wight

After a couple of lovely weddings (thank you Darlene & Paul and Kat & Kev) we are off again! First stop is the beautiful Isle of Wight. So close to Portsmouth yet we have never really explored it fully. We tried to cycle round it once but woefully over-estimated how fit we were and only made it about a quarter of the way round. But what we did see made us want to see more so we decided to take the van.

We got the 1.30am ferry to save money and pulled onto the vehicle ferry in the middle of the night.

We then had to pull in quietly (well we tried at least) to our selected campsite at Wootton Bridge where we got woken early by the campsite lady wanting her fees. Nick has been visiting this campsite since he was a teenager with his best friend Doug.

It was another beautiful sunny day. We headed off to Yarmouth on the west of the Island to grab some lunch. We then received a call from Nick's brother Tim who had come over on the ferry for the weekend. We had a wander around Yarmouth while we waited for Tim to drive over.

Yarmouth was a pretty well kept little town with loads of cool little pubs, shops and cafes, surrounded by the sea and the river Yar.

Always manage to stumble across a second hand book shop when I'm getting low on reading material.

Local crab sandwiches all round in the Bugle Inn.

After lunch we headed to Stoats Farm, our campsite for the next few days. Lovely panoramic views over Tennyson Downs from the campsite.

To work up an appetite for dinner we walked up to the Tennyson Monument on top of the downs where there were some amazing views across the Channel and the Solent.

And got some pictures with both of us in for a change!