Slight mishap at Smallbrook Junction

 I think this was out of order. This was a proper holiday park with caravans and motorhomes, so you would NOT expect the bin men to arrive at 5.30am! Reversing their lorry with the loudspeaker blaring out warning everyone that they were backing up and then lifting the bin with glass bottles and dropping them into the hopper which of course made them all brake making an even louder noise, well we did not pay for that sort of intrusion! As you may have gathered, we were not best pleased! We could expect that wild camping, not on a paid site!

We had calmed down after the first cup of tea, and lay in bed, enjoying the warmth of MB. The heating had been left on overnight, not something we do when wild camping. It was on the lowest setting and only kicked in when the temperature dropped considerably. It was because we were on electric hookup, had paid for the privilege, so of course we would make use of it. The rest of the time we froze, and boy for the end of April it was still very cold! Today we had an icy wind to contend with and the temperature on the IOW didn't get any higher than 10 degrees. 

So today we made for Havenstreet and the IOW steam railway. We had booked first class tickets on the first train leaving at 10.04. Shown to our carriage by a very nice station attendant, we had it all to ourselves. 

The hour-long journey took us first to Wooten from Havenstreet, then back to Havenstreet, and continued onwards to Ashey (request stop) and finally Smallbrook junction before changing ends and doing it all again in reverse.

A mishap occurred at Smallbrook Junction involving a lady and her sunglasses. We were watching the coupling of the loco to the carriages when a shout from her made us look around. Having dropped her glasses, one of the lenses had popped out and dropped between the carriage and the platform. Being prescription glasses, she was at a loss at what to do. Ian came to her rescue by finding one of the platform staff, explained what had happened, and he rushed to the office to find the ' rubbish grabber.' Ever aware the loco was to leave imminently, he lay down on the platform and managed to grab the lens and return it to the lady. We were all then ushered post-haste back to the carriage, and seconds later the train left.
 

 

Included in the price of the train ticket, a bird of prey flight demonstration. The birds flown were an Asian Brown Wood Owl, Kestrel, Harris Hawk, Tawny owl and Black Kite

Kestrel

Asian Brown Wood Owl

Harris Hawk

Tawny Owl

Black Kite

 

There was a railway museum to visit as well as the carriage and loco sheds. I couldn't believe we had been there for over 4 hours. What a great day out, apart from the birds, everything was indoors so a good day to visit for anyone coming on a rainy day. 

Not 1 mile away was a fabulous forestry parking area. Red squirrels have been seen here, so once all the dog walkers leave later, I'm hoping that one will turn up!

This raven did though, It's one of the larger of the corvid family.