Ten things I learnt on the Isle of Wight last week:
1. Ferry prices across to the island are extortionate. It cost me more than £70 flippin quid to get the car there and back. And it's virtually only a stone's throw across the water.
2. Customer service really does county. The lady who we hired bikes from in Brading station - you're an absolute star.
3. Houseboats look lovely, but must be damp, dark and grim to live on.
4. The Needles are well impressive.
5. Time seems to go slightly slower on the island (and it seems to take longer to cover the same distance in a car than it does on the mainland).
6. Locals sometimes call people from the mainland 'overners'.
7 Cowes is very nice - but can be a mecca for annoying, braying young people spending their parents money!
8 Tennyson Monument is worth a visit.
9 Crab meat is delicious.
10 Cycle tracks are an inspired idea. We had a great ride from Brading to Newport and back. Despite the puncture. And the fact that I ached like hell the day after.
70 quid to get across (and back)??
It's a beautiful place but still ...70 pounds?
Hi Lane, Thanks for dropping by.
Yes, it's gorgeous countryside and coasts - but locals told me the ferry prices were really hitting the tourism.