Visiting the Island

Fortunately, the guard on last night’s train reminded us every time the train stopped, that the clocks were due to go forward last night. Had he not been so annoying, I’m not sure we’d have known. I didn’t hear anything about it on the radio or pick it up by osmosis. Anyway, because of the extremely talkative train guard, we set our watches and were in sync with the rest of Britain when we woke up this morning, Easter Sunday.

Easter Sunday is traditionally a time to spend with family so we decided to go and visit Sophie and Tom today. And, would you believe it? It was a stunningly beautiful morning…though the temperature managed to fall as low as -7 last night.

So we set off for Haslemere to catch the 10:12 train to Portsmouth. We ended up catching the 10:34 train to Portsmouth because of delays caused by late arriving Waterloo trains. However, and strangely, we still managed to be on the same ferry across to Ryde, where Sophie picked us up.

Waiting in the carpark

We then drove to Ventnor for a wonderful cliff top walk to a small, sleepy cove called Steep Hill. At least it would be sleepy if the weather was rotten. Because today was such a beautiful and family orientated day, there were thousands of people walking from Ventnor to Steep Hill cove.

Tom rolling down the hill

Though it didn’t matter one jot. Everything was gorgeous, although Mirinda wasn’t that keen on the hills and steps that were the only way in and out of Steep Hill cove. She did say that the clue was in the name and she should have known beforehand but then, after all was said and done, she realises it’s wonderful leverage for when she wants to take Sophie to Hankley.

Our view during coffee

We had coffee, tea and apple juice at the cafe at the end of the path before returning to the car at Ventnor. We then went back to Sophie’s for a lovely lunch and delicious, home made Victoria Sponge.

This delicious repast was followed by a lot of wrestling, light sabre fighting and nerf gun-fighting while pretending to watch Rio, which I enjoyed…well, the bits of it I saw, anyway. Naturally, this only involved me and Tom as Mirinda and Sophie remained in Sophie’s log cabin talking about real estate…as they do.

Possibly the highlight of the day was how quickly Tom responded when I offered to pay him £1 to clean up his bedroom rather than the usual going rate of 50p. He was out of the room and in amongst his toys before anyone could blink. He returned a while later, declaring it was finished. Mirinda then told him that an inspection would cost him 50p so he’d better make sure it was complete. He vanished again to finish the job properly.

And he did. I was quite amazed and paid him the £1, as promised.

It was then back into the car for the very pleasant trip to the ferry terminal at Ryde Pier Head and the almost as pleasant ferry then train trip back to Sidney, waiting patiently at Haslemere.

All in all, a lovely, lovely day on the Isle of Wight.

Tom looking very grown up