The Isle of Wight

The British are real dog-lovers!

Just a nice view.

The seaside

• The Island is less than 5 km from England and it's closest point. At its furthest point it sis 8 km from England.
• The population of the island is just over 132,000, almost exactly the same as Oxford.
• In the year 686 it became the last part of England to convert to Christianity.
• It was bought by King Edward I in 1293. Before that it was a private island.
• The first yacht race was started by George IV in 1826.
• Today over 1,000 boats take part in "Cowes Week" every June.
• 50,000 people come to watch  the yacht race. The double tides round the island make it a very hard race.

Me standing in the ocean for the first time in my life!

A typical British summer resort!

• Queen Victoria moved to the island in 1845. She died on the island in 1901. Her 9 children and 39 grandchildren lived or had holidays on the island.
• Many poets and artists have lived on the island, such as Keats and Tennyson.
• Tennyson wrote poems for Queen Victoria and has a monument near Freshwater.
• In the "Oxford Dictionary of Quotations" he is the second most quited writer after Shakespeare.
• Jimi Hendrix played in front of 600,000 people at the Isle of Wight Festival on August 3oth , 1970. He died 19 days later.

Shanklin Village, doll's hoses

 

Tea room in the Village of Shanklin

THE SOUTHERN PART OF THE ISLAND.....

.......is totally different from the northern one (see the text and pictures above). It a typical English/British countryside with vast fields and pastures  with the cattle and sheep. 
In the afternoon we had a nice walk on the southern side of the island which has some of the best coastal scenery in England.

A pasture and sheep

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   The sign says everything

We continued walking towards the white cliffs and to Tennyson's Monument. The landscape was picturesque and the view was breathtaking! You just have to experience it yourself! Cannot put it into words as I was just speechless standing there on the edge of the cliffs, admiring the scene, the ocean (The English Channel as well). Took some chalk with me to prove I was there.

Don't push me!

Like a painting!

On the edge of the world

The white cliffs

The Needles at Alum Bay

Somebody's front yard with lots of stuff

Beautiful glass items are made from the sand