Back to the blog... And back on the mainland.

Well, I'm back from the Isle of Wight. Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed myself, but some of the roads were..... Scary I think is the best term! Again, this post will have few external links, and the opinions are mine and mine alone, so if you don't agree with me - tough.

The trip across to the island wasn't as bad as I'd thought - mind you, I was dosed up to the eyeballs on prescription drugs to stop me throwing up - I hate boats full stop! So, we got to the island, no problem.

The fun occurred when I realised that the roads were more like a hill climb track - i.e. steep gradient / nasty bends. But, I soon overcame that problem, and started to enjoy driving.

The St. Maur hotel was lovely - really peaceful and very good food, and had plenty of information on what there was to do on the island. I get the impression that it would be a real walkers paradise, but as Mum isn't fit enough to do that sort of thing, we opted for the other attractions - those that were open that is!

What makes me say that? Simple. The mere fact that most places don't open until April, and those that were open were rather few, or of little / no interest to Mum and myself. But one place that was open, was the Isle of Wight glass studio (see http://www.isleofwightstudioglass.co.uk/) I did get Mum a piece as her birthday is coming up, and if there wasn't anything that she liked, I'd have scampered off over to Stratford to my usual shop to get a piece of glass.

We also found the Garlic Farm. And yes - I did get some garlic bulbs. And boy - didn't I know I'd done so! The reason? Simple. The car stank of garlic everytime I opened the boot! Or at least it did, until I bought a couple of air fresheners to mask the smell!

On the subject of smell, we also found Isle of Wight Lavender (see http://www.lavender.co.uk/) and they make some lovely bath salts. I managed to get some of my favorite Lavender & Rosemary scent, as well as Lavender & Lemongrass. A couple of them I found somewhat overpowering, but it all boils down to personal preference.

But there was one place that I will admit to being somewhat reluctant to go to, but went simply because Mum wanted to go. This was Osborne House, which was Queen Victoria's holiday home on the island. (See http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/ - places to visit for more details / history, etc.) Having said that though, I'm very glad that I did go, as the interior was fabulous, and the tour guide was wonderfully informative...

We also went to the county town of Newport. To be honest, the shops there were rather limted, and if you didn't want to buy your clothes from Marks & Spencers or Matalan, I think you would be hard pushed to find anywhere else on the island!

Other than that, there seemed to be little to do, and some places weren't worth the petrol to get there, but I guess that's one of the perils / part of the fun of travelling to a new location.

We were lucky on the way back though, Mum and I got the earlier ferry back and were able to go to the National Motor Museum at Beulieu in the New Forest. (See http://www.beaulieu.co.uk/ ) To be perfectly honest, I was very disappointed with the motor museum - I thought that there would be loads of exhibts, all with loads of information about the cars, etc.

Well, to be honest there weren't. And, in my opinion, the Motor Heritage centre at Gaydon (http://www.heritage-motor-centre.co.uk/) and the Museum of Road Transport in Coventry (http://www.transport-museum.com/home.htm) have a far better collection, and more to the point, the Coventry museum has the two most important vehicles in the land speed record attempt - Thrust 2 and the current land speed record holding vehicle - Thrust SSC.

Ah well, suppose I'd better go and make peace with the furry fiends - they've been giving me the cold paw treatment since I got home....

Back later - if I haven't been clawed to bits!

Karen.

Don't let the b'stards get you down