Dead of Winter
Having fallen in Love with the Western peninsular of the Isle of Wight in the springtime, the next step was to check how bad it might get in winter. I do have strong memories of living and working in Cornwall during the last few years of the 1970s, having some amazing wild summers careering about to parties and gigs in my little mini countryman. But these were swiftly followed by very long and bleak lonely winters. Friends evaporated as the tourists went home, Friday nights in the William the Fourth pub were almost empty, and if you saw someone you knew in the town you might get a brief nod of recognition and nothing more. I thought I might be able to reinvent myself as the sort of person who goes out in Falmouth instead, but it was the same. People I knew either either went away to college, or forever. Winters in an area with beautiful scenery and an easy pace of life could nonetheless be miserable times, if you are one of the people who need to have some contact with human beings. I know there are many who don’t need it at all, but that’s not the point.
So I knew I didn't want to live somewhere that closes down dead for nine months every year.
December Booking
The plan was to get an accommodation in a town so we could go out on foot in the evenings. Red Funnel were doing packages with ferry and stay included, and that worked out as the best deal going. Cowes looked like a town with a few options for going out in the evenings, all in one long street, and where the ferry company had some flats available. The date was in December but not in the school holidays. Then at the last minute, I was really surprised when they contacted me to cancel the flat in Cowes and offer a full sized apartment in Shanklin instead. That seemed a bit unusual but ok, why not.
Car Ferry
The journey over was uneventful but pleasant. I've always had a thing about ferry journeys, from travelling on the Night Ferry to Paris through to working for the cross-channel ferries in Dover, distant memories of the paddle steamers between Weston Super Mare and Cardiff docks, and the little trip boats that ply the tourist trade up the Truro river to Falmouth, St Mawes and Helford. So the thought of possibly living somewhere where a ferry was going to be an obligatory part of any longer journey wasn't going to put me off. I still see it as a bonus feature because of events, I travel more rarely than I expected.
Flat
The substitute flat in Shanklin was much nicer than the one originally booked. It was warm, quiet, had a well equipped kitchen (essential, I love to cook) and a lovely big picture window looking out over the sea to the horizon where large shipping vessels and international ferries passed by regularly. Not only that but facing southeast, every morning we were greeted by a magnificent sunrise coming up out of the sea, lighting up the sky with vivid colours and shining directly onto the breakfast table. Quite special! The apartment was in a small block on its own, but administered by a nearby hotel, with hardly any guests at all, which meant that I had use of my own personal swimming pool and jacuzi, so I did. Ahhh.
It doesn't take much to make a lovely meal, and it was great to discover the ‘Isle of Wight White’ soft creamy cheese always available at a reasonable price in the convenience Shanklin Coop. There was still a proper fishmonger in the town there too, and a wholefoods shop. We were having a sort of pre-Christmas rest and recuperation break, so didn't go off touring the island every day, but still managed to explore several places missed from the first trip back in the spring.
Freezing
Then the freezing weather hit sharply. There's only one radio station, well there are several others, but the main one anybody actually listens to is Isle of Wight Radio. They seemed to be telling people that you shouldn't go out at all if there's a tiny bit of ice anywhere! Gritter lorries would be out on the main roads, but that meant there wouldn't be any grit on the hill routes out of Shanklin. This wouldn't have bothered me normally, I've driven through numerous snowstorms and over frozen wastes and fjords before, but since there was no real need, I was happy to stay in for a couple of days and explore the local pubs on foot, as had been the original plan for central Cowes, if you remember.
Old Harry's Bar was the best, they had one of my favourite heritage ciders, and a real sense of being part of the conversation, gathered around the bar area. You don't get that in cities, you just turn up with your small group and stick with it, ignoring everybody else. It's considered rude to overhear or heaven forbid join in neighbouring chat, but that's what pubs were meant to be like in the first place. A social place for communing. Then the Christmas Market Day took place in the town centre, with lots of smiling happy faces in the sunshine! Live music and produce, a proper village or small town atmosphere where most people know each other. So the data was coming in, and the prospect was positive.
Outdoor Gear
I wanted to take a second look at the Western end of the island, where we stayed the first time. It's only half an hour up the coast road so why not. The idea was to find the other end of the lovely footpath from Yarmouth, and then walk into Yarmouth from there. Found it, parked the car and got out. It was beautiful to look at, bare trees and dry reed banks, massed winter wading birds on the water. But the wind was howling and freezing cold so the longer walk was shortly abandoned. We would have had blue noses, earaches and numb white hands. Not properly dressed of course. You need a whole range of fancy outdoor gear to go out walking on the Isle of Wight, until you live here and then you just need a pair of shorts, a fleece and a woolly hat!
Coming next: The big Clearout
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Cheers,
Andy.