Tag Archives: isle of wight

Bembridge Post Lunch Departures

While visiting the Island, we had gone to our hotel to check in. Earlier in the day, we had seen a few planes climbing out of the airport at Bembridge off in the distance. As Nancy was getting settled in, I made the short trip across to the airport to see if anything was still around. There were a few planes taxiing out. My guess is that people fly into Bembridge, walk across to The Propeller Inn for a spot of lunch and then head home again. Given the time, I suspect I was at the back end of the post lunch crews. Nothing seemed to be arriving. The wind meant the runway in use wasn’t so favourable for photos but some of them had gradual climb outs, so it wasn’t so bad. A few light aircraft shots before returning to the hotel!

Walk the Wight (A Bit Anyway)

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Walk to Wight is a charity fundraising event on the Isle of Wight that, if you do the whole thing, involves a 26 mile walk from Bembridge to the Needles. My mum has done the walk at various times in the past and this year she was interested in just doing the final five miles which takes you from Freshwater Bay, up the climb on to Tennyson Down and then on to the Needles. I asked if she would like some company, so I went along.

The climb up out of Freshwater Bay is initially quite steep and then gradually eases out until you are up at the Tennyson monument. Then it is a lovely stroll along the spine of the Island until you get to the Needles. The weather was lovely, and the wind was from the east so pushing us along our way. Freshwater Bay is a pretty spot on its own but the whole walk is lovely. We started pretty early in the day so it wasn’t too busy yet. As the majority of the walkers got to the final part of the crossing or those doing our section started later, the climb would have been very busy. We were back home for lunch! I might have more shots to share soon.

Out at Sea with Your Horses

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Every once in a while, when I am going through images to review what I have, I come across something I didn’t expect. While making the crossing back from the Isle of Wight, I was up on deck taking some shots and one of the catamarans that makes the crossing to Ryde was coming off Ryde Pier Head, so I took a few shots. When I go through the shots, I zoom in to check which images are sharp and which are not. In this case, I noticed that some people were out in the water with some horses. There are sand flats out a long way at Ryde so, the water can be close to the shore while it is shallow a long way out. These guys were obviously enjoying being out some distance from the shore. For reference, the pier is about half a mile long.

Changing Continents but Still Chasing Cormorants!

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Mum and I were walking across the wall that crosses the harbour in St Helens. There were a few birds in the vicinity, but I wasn’t anticipating getting anything. Then a bird took off from the water and flew around me providing a few good opportunities to photograph it. What type of bird was it? (Unless you haven’t read the title of this post, you already know.) A cormorant. My favourite bird is just as available to me here as it was in Washington. The colours do seem slightly different but that is just a bonus.

Photographing Ferries – Is It the Pandemic Again??

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During the pandemic, I did spend a bit of time checking out the various ferry services in Washington. Now I am back in the UK and taking a trip to the Isle of Wight, I did get some sunny conditions on one of the Wightlink ferries, Victoria of Wight. We took this ferry across to the Island but came back on a different boat. We were on an earlier ferry than planned so this would have been our ride if we had stuck to our schedule. Anyway, some nice sun on this ferry as it made its regular crossing from Portsmouth to Fishbourne.

Bembridge Windmill

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Sunday morning in Bembridge and the sun was out so, after a stop at a great local café – great job Lagom – it was time to stretch the legs (and try and offset that rather large toasted sandwich I had for breakfast). We wandered up to the windmill. It is owned by the National Trust, and we are members so we could have gone inside. They had only just opened for the season, but it was a possibility. However, we were more interested in the walk, so we didn’t go in.

That didn’t mean we didn’t have a look around outside. The evening before, as we had been driving out to dinner, the evening sun had been on the front of the windmill, and it would have made a lovely shot. I missed that opportunity, sadly. Even so, the morning light wasn’t a bad second best and the only remaining windmill on the Island looked very nice. It is only a few years since they replaced the sweeps (which is the right term for the sails apparently) so it is good that they are investing in keeping this icon of the village going.

A Couple of Military Hovercraft

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No shock to regular readers that I might swing by the Hovertravel facilities when on the Island. A pleasant surprise was to discover that it wasn’t just the Hovertravel craft that were present. A couple of smaller military craft were also parked up. I had seen pictures of these online but didn’t realise that they were still present. I don’t know whether they are ex-military that are being repurposed or new builds for the military. Whatever the story, here they were. It would be better to see them moving but it was the weekend so not a surprise that they weren’t going anywhere.

This Lifeboat Doesn’t Normally Live Here

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A recent sunny weekend took me and Nancy to the Isle of Wight to see my mum. She lives near Bembridge Harbour and, as we drove around the embankment, I noticed a lifeboat moored up at the marina. We took a walk across from her house and it turned out to be the Bembridge all weather boat. Apparently, the winch that is used to haul the boat back into the boathouse is currently out of service. As a result, they are operating from the marina until the repairs can be completed.

When you walk along the dock, you get to appreciate the size of the boat in a way that is not possible when looking down on it in the boathouse. The other than that struck me was just how pristine the thing looked. Boats tend to rapidly show signs of their usage, but the crew of this boat clearly have a ton of pride in maintaining things to a high standard. She looked great. I hope the winch is soon fixed, not least because I really want to get another chance to watch a slipway launch.

Bembridge Ledge Is a Dangerous Thing

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Those familiar with the waters on the eastern end of the Isle of Wight will know about Bembridge Ledge. When the tide is in, you might be forgiven for thinking that, while away from the shore, you would be in deep water. This is not the case and there is a lot of shallow and rocky areas that stretch away from the land. You might think that everyone would stay well clear but both inexperienced and experienced mariners have come a cropper on these rocks. We were up on Culver Down and the tide was quite low. It meant that the ledge was very visible, and you get to appreciate just how extensive it is. Sadly, it will continue to claim victims.

I Can’t Resist a Little Time Watching Hovercraft

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A previous post showed a couple of military hovercraft that were on the Hovertravel pad at Ryde when we were on the Island. It will shock no one that knows me to know that, since we had time, I stopped around to see the return of one of the Hovertravel services. On the ferry across I had managed to get some shots of one of the crossings and now I was able to get an arrival. The tide was quite low so there was a lot of the sand flats to cover. This is one of the unique features of the hovercraft that the service doesn’t mind whether the tide is in or out.

There were some strong winds on the days we visited and this shows itself in the way a hovercraft approaches. Because it has no significant physical contact with the water, its only way to counteract any crosswinds is to crab into them like a plane. Consequently, It looked like it was coming straight at me as it made its approach to the pad. Now we are more local, I suspect I shall aim to make a trip across just to spend time getting some more hovercraft images.