April 24th
Isle of Wight day! The crossing wasn't until 11.30am so had loads of time to kill this morning. By 10 am we decided to leave anyway, you never know an earlier ferry may have bee caught. And what a good job we did leave when we did, Gosh Portsmouth roads were confusing, a symbol of a diamond had to be followed for Wightlink ferry and when concentrating on the roads, very easy to miss. I was navigating, and I must pat myself on the back because I did get Ian to the right place.
First to arrive, we were told to take lane 13. Eek...did that bode well for the crossing. Lorry's and coaches soon joined us, and we found ourselves well and truly hemmed in. 11.00 am and the ferry arrived. By 11.15 all the vehicles coming into Portsmouth had disembarked and lane by lane we were called to board.We were the second vehicle to board.
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| Ferry was called Victoria of Wight. |
We sat in MB unsure if we were to leave, the ferry sailed at one minute earlier than the allotted time. Next thing we knew one of the crew came over and said we must leave the vehicle and head up to the deck. Rather sheepishly we complied, well it was such a short crossing we thought we had to stay in the vehicle!
Took the lift to the top deck and grabbed two seats right at the front to watch as Isle of Wight drew nearer. Destination Fishbourne. Within 40 minutes it was our turn to disembark, and although in first it was MB that was last to come off!
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| Arriving at Fishbourne |
A
couple of miles from Fishbourne was our first campsite. It had all
facilities including a washing machine and boy did we need to do
washing. Tomorrow we travel to Havenstreet to do the steam train., after that we are not
sure, the island is small but appears to have plenty to see and do.
A noise from outside had Ian racing to the door. Looking up these two planes. "A Spitfire" said Ian "But not sure what the other one is. To modern so could it be filming the Spitfire?"
4 comments:
There at least two outfits in the UK offering flights in two-seat Spitfires, https://flyaspitfire.com/aircraft/ and https://www.spitfires.com/flyalongside. Both use Australian built Gippsland Airvans as "Chase" aircraft, with the latter operating G-IPPS, the one you photographed. You'll need VERY deep pockets for any of these trips, but considering the costs involved in restoring, maintaining and flying 80 year old warbirds, I'm afraid this goes with the territory.
We never got to the Isle of Wight while we lived in the UK - our landlord in Crystal Palace moved there, and was pleased when we left the house because he found it a very unfriendly place to live - - I think it's a place you need generations to pass before you can become a local!
Did Ian wish he was flying the Spitfire, given he's well practised now?
Mxx
Hi Dave, that could explain it, thanks
It never even entered his head and seeing as in the simulator he crashed more often than not, well probably a good job.
Xxx
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