Yarmouth Castle was built to protect the harbor and to defend the western end of the Solent. It was the last and most sophisticated addition to Henry VIII's chain of coastal forts, being completed after his death in 1547.
The street we drove on to the hotel. The George Hotel from the pier, showing the castle to the right.
The hotel from the castle wall. The patio from the restaurant. From the castle looking out to the pier, and Barbara. I stood on the end of the pier to take the previous photos.
Two areas in the castle. The iron gate opens out into the hotel patio.
From Yarmouth, we headed on around the coastline to Alum Bay to view The Needles. The Needles is three distinctively stacks of chalk.
We rode the chair lift out over the cliff to the beach, where we boarded a boat to get closer to the Needles, way out at the end of the point of the land.
We chose to ride the chair lift. You can see the walkway to the right. You can also see the dock down below. We did not ride in the speed boat you see there, but a larger one that went slowly up to the Needles.
Alum Bay is known for having 32 different colors of sand in its cliffs. The colors are so definite. We are edging closer and closer to the Needles and begin to see the lighthouse.
The lighthouse was built in 1859 and sits near sea level. It was continuously manned until 8 December 1994, when it was made fully automated. Note the helo pad on top.
Bob and I enjoyed the boat ride with the wind in our hair. When we got back to the top we took the bus that brought us up on top for a spectacular view of the bay, The Solent, and different angles of The Needles.
On top, we walked to the other side of the point and had amazing views of the cliffs, The Needles, and the sea. God's creations are beautiful. I thought of what Michael must have thought after he had helped create the world in all of its spendor.
The Needles Old Battery is punched amid acres of unspoilt countryside. It is a Victorian fort built in 1862 and was used throughout both World Wars. The middle picture is of the point we came down the chair lift to the beach. We did a lot of walking and at one point Dad started studying all the trails in order to find the shortest distance to where we were going.
The parade ground still has its two original guns. We went down 19 steps to an underground tunnel that led to a searchlight emplacement with dramatic views over The Needles rocks.
The view from the searchlight emplacement out to The Needles. The first soldiers came to the Old Battery in 1864 and the last left in 1945. Their job was to protect the Solent passage and the dockyards at Portsmouth from enemy invasion.
We completed our tour, caught the bus back to the car, and headed out, traveling along the southern coastline. The beautiful weather lent itself to gorgeous views of ocean, cliffs, rolling fields and grasses, and where water meets land. We were sailing along without a care, just looking for a bed and breakfast for the night and to watch general conference.
All of a sudden Dad noticed the car was getting hot. We pulled off and he checked engine to find everything looked good and sound. It had cooled some from stopping. We headed back out and more anxious to find a place for the night. We came to The Wight Mouse Inn in Chale, and a room was available for us.
We settled in, Dad checked out the car once it had cooled, and then asked some of the guys at the Inn if a garage was near by. They told him where one was and he decided he would take the car there in the morning as he was thinking the thermostat was stuck. We watched general conference and it was during the break when Nelson made contact with us about Milton passing away.
We awoke Monday morning to a storm that had blown in during the night. There were high winds and plenty of rain. Dad got the car checked out and the mechanic agreed with him it could be the thermostat, but he was not able to fix it today. Dad got the same news from the Vauxall dealer on the island. He then called AA, our roadside assistance service. They sent out a tow truck and a mechanic. Adrain said his shop would not be able to fix it today either. Our best bet was for him to take us to the ferry where we could get to the mainland where we would have a better chance of getting it fixed.
We had our things already packed in the car, he loaded the car onto his truck, we got in, and he drove us across the island to the ferry in Fishbourne. Our time was scheduled for 4:30 p.m., but we all figured we would be able to get on earlier if there was space, like when we came on Saturday. Well, due to the weather in the Solent, and the ferry service down one boat, the 12 noon ferry had been cancelled so that put all the other ferry's behind. We sat in the coffee shop all afternoon waiting for our turn.
Five hours at the ferry. . . .without much to do. . . .but figure out things to do. . . .like count how many cars load onto the ferry. . . .112. . . .with lorries or without. . . . .eat lunch. . . .play endless games of spider. . .edit pictures on my phone. . . .walk around. . . .watch people. . . .talk to people. . . .go outside when the sun comes out for 20 minutes. . . .count the coaches lined up to load. . . (they don't load because they are empty and are at the end of priority.) . . try to guess when we will load. . . etc.
Our turn finally came and we were on the ferry and underway at 5:55 p.m. The ride over to Portsmouth went smoothly. Dad made the decision that we would drive the car home with going slow and stopping when needed to let her cool down. So, off the ferry we drove at 6:40 p.m., headed to Newchapel. The hour and half drive it took to come to Portsmouth on Saturday, took three hours going home. We made two stops to let her cool down and continued driving with the heater on to draw heat off the engine and the windows down to draw heat off of us. Dad stayed off the motorways so he could pull over when needed. The clear night and full moon made for a beautiful canopy to drive under on the twisting, winding, narrow country roads we found ourselves on. We were without a flashlight to view the map and Dad could not figure out how to turn the dome light on, so we relied heavily on the GPS. The drive was without incident and we were both very happy to arrive at the lodge safe and sound, at 9:30 p.m.
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