A Grand Day Out On The Island...

Good afternoon. August has absolutely flown by.

For much of this month, I've felt like I haven't had a second to myself - or indeed a second to process what's actually been happening - the second I complete an event/activity, it's straight into the next.

Earlier this summer, I hadn't a clue that August would be so wild - but finishing up July, it quickly became apparent that August would be very much like last year.

Monday, August 15th, 2023

Half-way into August and still I was going flat-out with events left, right and centre.

Tuesday, August 16th, 2023

With work finished for the week - or no work until Saturday, I could resume with my (limited) social life. Very little gets me out/outside - work (although I work indoors), friends (spend most of the time driving/indoors) and a visit from the mainland... (actually going outside)

1 Year and 14 Days after he last visited, Jack - a school-friend of mine visited the island - in that 1 Year and 14 Days, not a single other friend visited me on the island.

I know it's nothing personal - the Isle Of Wight is a pain in the ass to get to - first getting public transport to the port (whichever port that is), and then the one-way fee of either £31 (Hovercraft) or £17 (Wightlink/Ferry) is understandably a hassle/pain. (This being why my parents said they'd cover all ferry crossings I wish to make).

As "social" as iRacing and Tesco both are - the point still stands, if Jack can make it - what's stopping anyone else? It's a beautiful Island and there's plenty to see - but I understand that everyone has their limitations, and travelling to the island isn't financially or logistically viable for everyone.

Coincidentally, upon arriving in Ryde (where the hovercraft is), I got stuck in moderate traffic - which gave me time to find and locate Jack, and eventually pull up in front of him.

From outside Ryde Pier - our first port of call was petrol and then a car-wash (ironically, we did exactly this last time).

With the car prepped (full on fuel and sparkling clean) - we set off on our day.

Being early on, we were still in time for McDonalds Breakfast - which Jack covered (bless him)

After ticking off A LOAD on Jack's first visit to the Island, I only had one thing on my mind this year - a local mini-golf course at a place called "The Water Mill" in Calbourne - to my utter surprise, there was A LOT more there than I was first expecting - sort of like the tardis...but outside.

Prior to playing Mini-Golf, we first had a look around - and it turned out to be about six museums in one - first (and most obviously) the place was a Water Mill - apparently milling grain into flour and oats.

Running for over 1,000 years, it's one of the oldest still-functional water-mills in the UK, although in April 2023 one of the pinwheels shattered in a "tragic accident" - I'm sure seeing a 1,000 year old mill still in operation and still...milling would have been a sight to see.

Also on-site was a fire "museum" (fire 1940's fire engine and equipment) with a television museum further inside.

From the limited sources I can find, the fire engine was a Dennis Light Four - but can't find any further information from there.

Aside from a woodworking museum and bakery museum with old/antique/vintage tools on display, there was also a small war-museum including some artifacts from the war.

For many, the Isle Of Wight was the first piece of land encountered after flying over from France/mainland Europe - so air (and sea) defence were incredibly important to the Isle Of Wight.

One sign that particularly stood out to me was this one:

Just imagine - it's the middle of the war, the air-raid siren is going off, there's the sound of a distant aircraft whining overhead - there's smoke, there's fog, there's fire - I appreciate the thought behind the sign - but in the heat of the moment - if I saw ANYTHING flying overhead, I'd dive under the nearest shelter - and if it was my job to fire at planes to defend my country - with how high up the planes were flying - I would absolutely have my luck stacked against me - because a black shadow, with tears and dirt in my eyes... just being trigger happy could lead to the death of my own men and/or women.

I haven't even taken into consideration that either myself or the target could be moving, wobbling, shaking and vibrating at the same time.

I suppose I have a new respect for those fighting in air-combat or ground-to-air combat - WWII kick-starting the development of surface to air ammunition.

War-time tangent over, we returned to reception, picked up our mini-golf clubs/sticks and started playing - Jack took an early lead, but I caught up after a couple of holes, before we stopped counting (there were a fair amount of holes and about half-way through a BIG family group (mostly kids) began catching us up and we eventually went in the wrong order (accidentally) but relieved us of the pressure behind - but we had an absolutely amazing day out - and the weather was absolutely glorious for it.

I had wanted to do mini-golf at Calbourne for a while - but part of the fun of mini-golf is having someone to compete against, and taking turns to "putt" the ball - Felix was the closest to my age (beside my parents) - but quickly ran out of time during his stay - and since Jack was the next to visit me - he was the perfect candidate to play with.

After golf, we returned to Maccies for lunch before deciding where to go next.

Next up, we decided to hit up some of the Island's finest beaches - first (accidentally) going to Freshwater Bay, before going to my intended beach of Totland Bay - a (usually) beautiful, sandy beach - but we had arrived at high-tide and there was no beach at all.

Onward from here, we headed to Bembridge, on the other side of the island in the hunt for a mysterious pub/cafe (I think it was "The Lobster And Crab Inn") - this lead to a stunning walk along the Southern Coast of the Isle Of Wight - the next piece of land in front of us being France (albeit a LONG way off into the distance - this being one of the widest stretches of the English channel).

We sadly gave up - which was a shame, because looking back, the pub/inn looked really good.

From here, we went to Ventnor and headed up to the highest point on the Island (probably tradition at this point).

After a lengthy walk on the Ventnor Downs (lovely summer's day - had gorgeous weather for it) - we eventually headed back to the car, and I drove Jack back to Ryde, where we parked up and walked down the pier.

Ryde has free parking on a main-street - for a big town like Ryde - that's impressive.

In Ryde, Jack had fish and chips, I had my classic order of Sausage and Chips.

Despite a little interest from the local wildlife, we managed to eat our food in peace - before heading back to the hovercraft terminal (via a petrol station)

I had never seen a hovercraft land before - so was treated to seeing Jack's hovercraft arrive - and deflate - before he had to board - from here I headed on home.

Following this, I had a very busy week of (iRacing) racing - four races on Wednesday, before somehow pulling a 4th place (win in AM class) at the Evolution Sim Racing Bathurst race - but that's a story for another day.

Thanks for reading.