A day on the beach in the Isle of Wight
Having heard only glowing reviews, we decided to check out the Isle of Wight. The journey south involved a train from London Waterloo down to Portsmouth, then a ferry across to Ryde. We arrived in Ryde about 9am, and caught a train down the east coast to Shanklin. The trains that run in this area are actually old ex-London Underground stock, complete with wooden interior and a steam-train style whistles - awesome!
Shanklin is a picturesque costal town, with a beautiful beach and authentic old village. Everyone must have been sleeping in, as when we got there at about 10am we had the place to ourselves. We sat down for a nice picnic on the seaside and soaked up the sun.
The rest of the morning was spent wandering along the shore admiring all the brightly coloured beach chairs and huts for hire. The beach itself is beautiful, and even has sand - which is not as common as you might think in England. We visited the 'old village' with its old-English style houses with thatched roofs. We also made a quick stop at 'The Rock Shop' - one of the best candy stores I have ever visited, selling a huge variety of sweets, fudges, biscuits etc. When I came out my bag was significantly heavier!
A short train ride away is the town of Sandown - with picturesque beaches covered in golden sand. The beach is littered with bright umbrellas, loungers, chairs and wind-breaks. We spent most of the afternoon relaxing in our hired beach chairs. One quick note - if you are looking for a party beach, this is definitely not the place. There was more of a family/retired couple feel to the place. Still, it didn't stop the sun shining...
We spent our last hour or so in Ryde, watching the awesome hoverscraft zoom back and forth (youtube vid), and enjoying the last rays of sunshine. The return journey to London was rather uncomfortable - think a layer of sweat, sunscreen and sand covering the entire body.
On the whole, a great way to spend the day. The weather was perfect, friendly people, beautiful beaches... almost reminds me of home.