Just returned from a couple of weeks on the Isle of Wight, where we rented a cottage - our first visit. As I have an 8 year old daughter we had to see most of the major attractions and beaches. This involved quite a lot of driving on the island as we were staying in Freshwater, close to the Needles. My observations might be of interest to other drivers.
The Red Funnel service out of Southampton. We travelled on a Saturday (2.30 ferry) and found the final 2 miles to the terminal to be clogged with stop start traffic and took over 45 minutes. Luckily we were early and arrived only 5 minutes late for the check-in time, only to find the ferry was running 45 minutes late anyway. The jam on the roads also meant the ship could not unload quickly and many cars remained on the ramp for quite a long time, delaying loading. Interestingly the ferry decks were marked out with three lines either side of a central barrier, but they only used 2 lanes either side. I believe this is due to cars becoming wider.
The roads on the island certainly need a few comments. Most of the roads had fairly sensible speed limits bearing in mind this is a holiday island and the roads do twist and turn, and have reduced width in places. The condition of the roads was very poor, I do not think I have ever driven so many rough and undulating surfaces in my life. The roads certainly need a lot of rebuilding to correct settlement, rather than resurfacing. There are a number of speed cameras, some in the oddest places where I felt they were most likely to catch the unwary. I also saw one mobile speed camera as well, on the route to the East Cowes ferry - naughty in my opinion.
The other big moan was the public toilets. We visited quite a few in towns and by the beaches. Disgusting was the general standard. My wife said there rarely was any paper, soap or hand driers - never all three. Not forgetting to mention the aroma. The Isle of Wight Council do not do themselves any favours with tourists with such poor standards.
My daughter rated Robin Hill the best attraction we visited. Generally the prices for things were reasonable and you felt you had value for money. Overall there was more than enough to do for 2 weeks, but I doubt if we will return in a hurry.
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Do they still allow people to climb up the cliffs at Alum Bay and dig out and collect all the different coloured sands?
Haven't been to IOW for years but can remember going there with my parents and thought it was a nice place.
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Hi Galaxy
No they do not allow people to climb the cliffs at Alum Bay. They claim the cliffs are to unstable to allow members of the public to do this. It also means that there will be plenty of coloured sand for future generations.
At the base of the cliffs they even rope off a strip about 10 feet wide as a reminder. This does make it difficult at high water as there is almost no beach left.
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Pleasant place, but a bit strange in some ways. We took the Wight Ferry? from Lymington. The dearest stretch of water to cross anywhere apparently.
It's like going back in time about 50 years. your comments about the public lavatories apply to so many places.
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Wight Ferry - run by the same firm who want to make a bid for the London Stock Exchange. The DT also mentioned it was the the most expensive ferry in the world per mile.
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Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
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Lymington to Yarmouth is the best crossing (though it is intersting to see the shipping traffic in Southampton Water), both are intersting towns as well.
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Personally drbe I have not found public lavatories as consistently bad as these anywhere else in the UK, and I have travelled all over our wonderful country. This area is where the local Wight council should put a lot more effort during the busy summer months.
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UK public toilets are poor and becoming scarce. I had a need to avail myself on the way to North Wales a few weeks ago. Need arose in a queue on the A55, came off atGlan Conway hoping to catch one in the next village, none !, next town had some signposted but deemolished, next town had some and I was forced to park on yellow lines (I would have cheerfully paid a Fixer), the toilets (in major tourist town) were a disgrace to the local authority. Totally motoring rant as we are all victims of our bladders in strange places from time to time !
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Never be without one Pug
tinyurl.com/5by7r
Had the prostate checked of late?
dvd
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I think it was a question of the second mug of tea followed by a 300 mile dash that did it......!
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Never be without one Pug tinyurl.com/5by7r Had the prostate checked of late? dvd
Great idea if you were to have a no. 1 but what if you needed a no. 2 & the local WC in Cowes was closed or vandalised, you would..... well.... crap yourself!!!!
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Its not what you drive, its how you drive it! :-)
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For number two's, try one of these!
tinyurl.com/3ztz
Not sure quite how well it would go down on a busy motorway though...
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Personally drbe I have not found public lavatories as consistently bad as these anywhere else in the UK, and I have travelled all over our wonderful country. This area is where the local Wight council should put a lot more effort during the busy summer months.
Why not drop them an email (if they have such capability)? They probably think it's OK, because nobody complains (they're unlikely to read about it on here).
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Bill Payer
I agree that the local council should be contacted. It is on my list of this to do when I have a spare couple of minutes. As a nation we are all not good enough at complaining to have standards raised.
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As I go there every year,travel all over,fully agree.Though prices are a bit steeper than on mainland.As for roads around most of the Island,Been like it for years,Though I do like to see the Old motors that are being done up,most to original spec and look great,Also had pleasure in helping restore Austin A40 countryman during last week.Though bloke doing it was often put off by trying to sort of finish his Sinclair C5.Mind you apart from hot weather last week,both are up and running
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Steve
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Driving on the IOW is great fun - in winter when all the tourists have gone home!!
Lived there from '78 to '97 (although only able to drive myself after '93). Going to the mainland was a big trip, and driving on a motorway, well.....
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RichardW
Is it illogical? It must be Citroen....
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"The Isle of Wight Council do not do themselves any favours with tourists with such poor standards."
You're quite right - we do keep telling them, but they always plead poverty for everything except the purchase of traffic lights. The road maintenance is appalling, but they always seem to attempt it when it will cause the most disruption - the middle of Newport is currently impassable because they have chosen now to build a new bus station!
There are a number of Truvelo boxes, but only a couple of cameras (you have to peer in the right-hand window to spot the lens) that get swapped around! Difficult to know in advance, of course...
Predictably, they are not in accident black spots, but in places where the limit is most likely to be broken. Speeding is hardly a problem here, anyway, as the locals are mostly retired and the visitors are usually lost!
I'm sorry your judgement was coloured by the public facilities - the island can be delightful, and has some good events in the summer, with Cowes Week, the Garlic Festival and, next weekend, a round of the Motocross World Championships. This annoys my neighbours (it's in earshot), but I thoroughly approve!
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How much does it cost to resurface a road?
Considerably more than sya, 5 lots of 25 grand?
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Adam
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