It's a lovely place, and like everywhere some parts are nicer than others. They call it 'Little England' based on the 'diversity and character of its resorts, towns and villages' (isleofwight.co.uk).
We're lucky enough to travel there for work every so often, and always try to stay for an extra day as a treat to ourselves. :D
Such great scenery. I'm not much of a traveler (in fact, I hate traveling), but I would still love to visit a lot of places over in the U.K. We started watching "Doc Martin" and fell in love with the scenery and backdrop. Meanwhile, I can live vicariously through your great posts :)
I haven't watched the more recent series so I'm a bit behind, but Doc Martin is such fun! Cornwall is such a stunning place, as a squillion tourists will testify - when we went there on holiday I was naively disappointed at how jam-packed with people it was. I read in the paper a couple of weeks ago that the house used as the exterior for Doc Martin's house-cum-surgery is up for sale. Imagine!
We don't travel far or often, but having said that, since we bought the van - by sheer coincidence just three days before the first Covid lockdown - we have travelled in the UK quite a lot for work. It's been brilliant.
We're really looking forward to the next season, even though it's bittersweet in that it is going to be the last season. I can just imagine how packed it would be and I did hear that the "surgery" (which we still find odd as here in the U.S. a surgery is a procedure and not a place) was up for sale. I wonder if anyone bought it?
Sounds like a lot of fun. I don't mind going for day trips, but after a lifetime of growing up with a military dad and moving every two years, I'm over traveling. Again, living vicariously through posts like yours :) Thanks for the great one!
LOL - yes, 'surgery' is an unusual term, given that it also means what we would call 'an operation'! I think it's a 'doctor's office' across the pond, isn't it? What I'd call an office is a room full of computers and stressy executives. Of course a doctor might HAVE an office where he does his paperwork... but it would be next door to his surgery!
Goodness me this language stuff is confusing!
I don't envy your having to move every two years. My dad is a retired longhaul pilot, and because of that we would only ever go away in the UK! Stepping onto a plane to go on holiday was never on his radar.
Haha, yes, we just call it a 'doctor's office' or an 'office visit' if it doesn't involve going to the hospital. It's funny the nuances of language, for sure.
I can see it now. The hot rays of the sun beating down on the souls on the beach. Sweat rolls off their bodies as if it were raining. Kids frolic and create sand castles that will get swept up by the incoming tide.
Another summer roadtrip. This is fun. I won't be traveling to your neck of the woods so I enjoy seeing all the great photos and the story.
I don't travel much but I wish I could. I think it would be cool to rent an RV, go places, and write about it. In my current predicament, that's not going to happen. Maybe someday.
Thanks so much for your comment! Gosh, yes, there were lots of very overheated people and plenty of sandcastles around!
I had no desire to travel in a campervan, let alone ever sleep in one. Work circumstances a couple of years ago (workumstances?!) made it so that we needed to get hold of one at short notice, so (after I'd calmed down) we traded in our car and saw what we could find. I'm very surprised at how well I've taken to it.
For once I wasn't lost, Mary, but I'd simply put that down to not being alone and not heading off for any long walks this time!
I've just looked up eidetic memory - how fascinating - thank you so much for giving me a really interesting rabbit hole to explore! In fact there are some things I've only seen once and some places I've been to only once that I can remember very vividly, but in general I am absolutely awful in this respect! I don't think anything on the Isle of Wight looked terribly familiar from those days.
I'm certainly going to read more about it, though. Thank you! :D :D :D
Reminds me of my favorite novel of all time: The Shell Seekers. Both the Isle of Wight and Rosamunde Pilcher's Cornwall make me want to renounce my US citizenship (among many other reasons) and spend my summers eating seafood, frolicking on the beach.
Great piece of writing. My own childhood summers were at the other end of the country near the sea in the north east of sunny Scotland. I've never been to the south coast !
I hadn't really thought about the variety of beaches on the Island; what a great observation. Your photo on the Coastal path is along a section that we walk daily, and every day I feel blessed to live in such a gorgeous place.
Thanks, Sabrina! I wish I’d had a closer look at more of the coastal path - but I’m looking forward to (I hope!) walking the whole of it perhaps next year!
IOW sand is extraordinary, isn’t it? Have you checked out Alum Bay? It’s a rather unattractive tourist trap these days, but 40-odd years ago we collected our own multi-coloured sand from the stripy cliffs!
I have not been there yet! And I have heard of other childhood trips to collect the coloured sand, so that is ringing bells. And another list item! *looks frantically around for the IoW list*
I love the light on the Isle of Wight. Your pics do it much justice. I hired a bike there once, when I went on holiday with a friend. It was good, although I still think they should flatten out the hills, or at least only have them going down.
Thanks, Terry! We hired bikes on the island a while ago - battery-assisted for him, leg-powered for me. We fell out as soon as he breezed past me WHISTLING as I fought my much slower way up the biggest hill in Shanklin. I remained unimpressed until he'd shouted me a glass of wine that evening....
Thanks, Michelle!
It's a lovely place, and like everywhere some parts are nicer than others. They call it 'Little England' based on the 'diversity and character of its resorts, towns and villages' (isleofwight.co.uk).
We're lucky enough to travel there for work every so often, and always try to stay for an extra day as a treat to ourselves. :D
Such great scenery. I'm not much of a traveler (in fact, I hate traveling), but I would still love to visit a lot of places over in the U.K. We started watching "Doc Martin" and fell in love with the scenery and backdrop. Meanwhile, I can live vicariously through your great posts :)
Thanks for your great comment, Mark!
I haven't watched the more recent series so I'm a bit behind, but Doc Martin is such fun! Cornwall is such a stunning place, as a squillion tourists will testify - when we went there on holiday I was naively disappointed at how jam-packed with people it was. I read in the paper a couple of weeks ago that the house used as the exterior for Doc Martin's house-cum-surgery is up for sale. Imagine!
We don't travel far or often, but having said that, since we bought the van - by sheer coincidence just three days before the first Covid lockdown - we have travelled in the UK quite a lot for work. It's been brilliant.
We're really looking forward to the next season, even though it's bittersweet in that it is going to be the last season. I can just imagine how packed it would be and I did hear that the "surgery" (which we still find odd as here in the U.S. a surgery is a procedure and not a place) was up for sale. I wonder if anyone bought it?
Sounds like a lot of fun. I don't mind going for day trips, but after a lifetime of growing up with a military dad and moving every two years, I'm over traveling. Again, living vicariously through posts like yours :) Thanks for the great one!
LOL - yes, 'surgery' is an unusual term, given that it also means what we would call 'an operation'! I think it's a 'doctor's office' across the pond, isn't it? What I'd call an office is a room full of computers and stressy executives. Of course a doctor might HAVE an office where he does his paperwork... but it would be next door to his surgery!
Goodness me this language stuff is confusing!
I don't envy your having to move every two years. My dad is a retired longhaul pilot, and because of that we would only ever go away in the UK! Stepping onto a plane to go on holiday was never on his radar.
Haha, yes, we just call it a 'doctor's office' or an 'office visit' if it doesn't involve going to the hospital. It's funny the nuances of language, for sure.
I can see it now. The hot rays of the sun beating down on the souls on the beach. Sweat rolls off their bodies as if it were raining. Kids frolic and create sand castles that will get swept up by the incoming tide.
Another summer roadtrip. This is fun. I won't be traveling to your neck of the woods so I enjoy seeing all the great photos and the story.
I don't travel much but I wish I could. I think it would be cool to rent an RV, go places, and write about it. In my current predicament, that's not going to happen. Maybe someday.
Thanks so much for your comment! Gosh, yes, there were lots of very overheated people and plenty of sandcastles around!
I had no desire to travel in a campervan, let alone ever sleep in one. Work circumstances a couple of years ago (workumstances?!) made it so that we needed to get hold of one at short notice, so (after I'd calmed down) we traded in our car and saw what we could find. I'm very surprised at how well I've taken to it.
The question is: Were you lost? My guess is that you have eidetic memory--and weren't at all lost on this diversion to your past summers.
For once I wasn't lost, Mary, but I'd simply put that down to not being alone and not heading off for any long walks this time!
I've just looked up eidetic memory - how fascinating - thank you so much for giving me a really interesting rabbit hole to explore! In fact there are some things I've only seen once and some places I've been to only once that I can remember very vividly, but in general I am absolutely awful in this respect! I don't think anything on the Isle of Wight looked terribly familiar from those days.
I'm certainly going to read more about it, though. Thank you! :D :D :D
Reminds me of my favorite novel of all time: The Shell Seekers. Both the Isle of Wight and Rosamunde Pilcher's Cornwall make me want to renounce my US citizenship (among many other reasons) and spend my summers eating seafood, frolicking on the beach.
Ah Erin, The Shell Seekers - I must dig it out for another read!
And eating seafood and frolicking on the beach are certainly a great way to spend a summer! :D
Sounds and looks lovely! For a few of my childhood summers we'd spend a few weeks camping near a lake but the scenery was pretty dull!
Thanks, Mark!
I bet the lake was fun though, right? :D
Love this! It makes me want to visit. I love your writing!
Thanks so much, Amy! :D
Great piece of writing. My own childhood summers were at the other end of the country near the sea in the north east of sunny Scotland. I've never been to the south coast !
Thanks, E!
I’d love to see more of Scotland - what I’ve seen so far has been absolutely beautiful. :D
I hadn't really thought about the variety of beaches on the Island; what a great observation. Your photo on the Coastal path is along a section that we walk daily, and every day I feel blessed to live in such a gorgeous place.
Thanks, Sabrina! I wish I’d had a closer look at more of the coastal path - but I’m looking forward to (I hope!) walking the whole of it perhaps next year!
IOW sand is extraordinary, isn’t it? Have you checked out Alum Bay? It’s a rather unattractive tourist trap these days, but 40-odd years ago we collected our own multi-coloured sand from the stripy cliffs!
I have not been there yet! And I have heard of other childhood trips to collect the coloured sand, so that is ringing bells. And another list item! *looks frantically around for the IoW list*
I love the light on the Isle of Wight. Your pics do it much justice. I hired a bike there once, when I went on holiday with a friend. It was good, although I still think they should flatten out the hills, or at least only have them going down.
Thanks, Terry! We hired bikes on the island a while ago - battery-assisted for him, leg-powered for me. We fell out as soon as he breezed past me WHISTLING as I fought my much slower way up the biggest hill in Shanklin. I remained unimpressed until he'd shouted me a glass of wine that evening....
Divorce him
LOL! Naaaaah, he's a keeper. And I had the last laugh, as I'm rather fitter than he is!
Fair enough I suppose. LOL