Isle of Wight

I had a business meeting in Andover on Friday, which was like an open invitation to spend the weekend out in the country. My top box easily accommodated my tent, sleeping bag, toothbrush and a pair of clean socks. And so I went, having the idea that maaayyybeee, this time I can make it all the way to THE island…

On the way to Andover, I encountered couple of wild downpours and gusty winds…

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…my waterproofs and nice warming leg cover couldn’t protect me from 1m deep fords that are nothing unusual on UK backroads… well, just another detour…

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…I was racing with the fast flying shadows of the clouds across the countryside and reached my meeting in a good competitive mood…

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…after the marketing talk was finished, I continued down south and reached the New Forest National Park with countless herds of wild horses…

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…the roads across the park are a dream… the speed limit is 40mph, traffic is light, the views are amazing and the horses don’t really mind you zooming by…

New Forest National Park near Southampton, England

…riding south all the time, one must finally reach the sea… ferry port of Lymington…

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…it was quite late in the evening when I got onboard the Wightlink ferry to “THE Island” as the natives use to call it…

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…the way the say “THE Island” sounded to me like some island from a horror movie, but it wasn’t like that… after a short ride along the sea, I found a nice place called Grange Farm where I pinched my tent on the edge of sheer cliff and went to sleep…

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…the next morning, I decide to go for a walk…

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…along the coast…

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…all the way to the west of THE Island…

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…to the rocks called “Needles”…

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…THE Island has been a tourist resort for centuries…

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…there is still a traditional steam train connecting some of the villages…

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…as I was zooming around the inner parts of The Island, I discovered a village called Godshill…

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…I was walking around that place with my mouth opened, not believing…

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…that all this looks so real… and yet…

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…it isn’t…

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…you guessed it…

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…the whole village is a model…

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…a very realistic model…

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…with running G-gauge railway…

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…a regular service of 3 train sets…

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…buses…

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…it’s own futball league…

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…real people…

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…real children…

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…real music…

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…and of course a real wedding…

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…and a lonely girl that everyone wants to fall in love with…

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…this model willage of Godshill is built in the real village of Godshill…

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…leaving Godshill I decided to go for a ride along the coast…

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…I stopped on a bit of unstable parking lot tortured by the gale winds…

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…very happy I just finished reading the section about “Riding in the wind” in Proficient Motorcycling …

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…the high winds mixed the air with tiny droplets of seawater, which turned into an orange haze as the sun was setting down…

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…quickly all people disappeared to sleep…

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…the following morning I said good bye to the Needles…

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…left my campsite on the Grange Farm…

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…and prepared for a 100 miles trip back to London.

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7 Comments on “Isle of Wight

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