please empty your brain below
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Regularly visited the I.o.W as a child, from Southsea in the mid 60s. Usually by ferry, but by hovercraft as a special treat. Have no recollection of the chair lift, but filled a test tube at Alum Bay and agree about shaking.
RosemaryT | 25.07.17 - 7:30 a.m. | #
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Stating the obvious, perhaps you weren't given the instruction to pack the sand in tightly and not leave a gap in the neck of the "bottle".
For me it is one of the those places that lost its magic the second time round - perhaps because the attractions, to me, are incoherent, and/or maybe it was the poor light conditions to view the coloured cliffs (it was overcsst and spitting with rain at the time).
Never mind, my childhood memories will never fade, it's just that my children will have different ones (they weren't impressed either).
Ken | 25.07.17 - 7:39 a.m. | #
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I too visited on a school field trip in the '70s, and returned with my own family in 2001. The impact of the experience was significantly diminished by the passage of time, but we still enjoyed the chair lift!
Frank F | 25.07.17 - 7:46 a.m. | #
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Aha, a dangleway that DG approves of. But this one does go somewhere, and has a bit of heritage of its own.
Petras409 | 25.07.17 - 8:00 a.m. | #
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Instead of a test tube, I went for an outline of the island. Still looks as good today as 30 years ago.
Al | 25.07.17 - 8:02 a.m. | #
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The Island Coaster is now running 3 times a day (school holiday timetable in operation) - leaves Ryde at 9.30am and 10.30am or Shanklin at 9.24am, 10.24am and 11.24am returning from Alum Bay at 3pm, 4pm and 5pm.
Roger French | 25.07.17 - 9:15 a.m. | #
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Used to go regularly to the IOW - it never disappoints but Alum Bay has got very commercial and Sandown has gone to seed a bit. Bus services are excellent- just wish they'd kept more of the train network.
| 25.07.17 - 9:29 a.m. | #
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First went to the IoW (and Alum Bay) as a child - before the chair lift and when you could still dig for your own sand!
We recently cleared my mum and dad's house after my dad died and my mum moved to sheltered accommodation, and I found my glass lighthouse still full of sand mostly in the original layers!
We went back there about 30 years ago when our younger son was very small. We went to Alum Bay and our older son insisted that I accompany him on the chair lift; scared me stiff especially when we went over the edge.
We went back to the IoW with our older son and his family 3 years ago and again visited Alum Bay. As DG says, it's quite commercialised now and not so attractive.
John Simmons | 25.07.17 - 9:50 a.m. | #
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The Isle of Wight is beautiful. There may be other treasures in the DG archives, but I've been reminded of this one from 2008.
I like the way the current Needles visit is presented reverse-chronologically, slickly done with "But..." questions.
The fact that so many comments refer back to past glories may well indicate that nostalgia could be the main driver of tourists to the Island. Which does not augur all that well for the future, given the diminishing pleasure anecdotally displayed through the generations.
Malcolm | 25.07.17 - 10:04 a.m. | #
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I'm another one who chose a silhouette Isle of Wight sand container when I went with a group of school friends to celebrate the end of A levels, 35 years ago. I know I took it with me when I moved to America for a spell, but not sure it returned home with me again! I must check the attic!
Returned to the IoW a couple of years ago with my teens. I still loved it - them not so much, but had they been with a group of their peers, I'm sure they'd have made better memories!
Cornish Cockney | 25.07.17 - 10:43 a.m. | #
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Q and A style of post - a new trial format?
Nick | 25.07.17 - 12:21 p.m. | #
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The style is kind of like Pathetic Motorways, but without the sarcasm.
Patrickov | 25.07.17 - 1:07 p.m. | #
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A previous IoW post encouraged me to try the old hovercraft and to take a bus trip to Ventnor and Newport, so with luck this one will nudge me to make a return visit to try the new craft and explore the west before the evenings start drawing in.
Seems the ride proved to be a bit too thrilling earlier in the year and they had to make some modifications.
Gerry | 25.07.17 - 5:05 p.m. | #
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Glass lighthouse +1, c. 1962 [John Simmons ↑]
Gordon | 25.07.17 - 6:20 p.m. | #
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As far as safety of the chairlift goes? There's a brand new one being built at Glencoe Ski Area. There's no advance on the "safety" bar.
Al__S | 25.07.17 - 7:46 p.m. | #
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Last time I visited the IoW (ten years ago), three of us bought rail tickets from Southampton Central to East Cowes to get YPRC discount on the fast ferry and then caught a bus across Southampton to the ferry terminal (we didn't visit our start station, or take a train). Looking to get our money's worth on day bus ticket, and on our ferry tickets that still cost the three of us more than taking a car and an extra person across the Solent, I suggested late afternoon that we took a bus towards Alum Bay that was a bit more scenic.
Cue an hour (the Island isn't that big, but it was a slow journey, despite being reasonably direct) of sitting at the front of the top deck of an empty bus with a mix of excellent vistas and having the glass in front of us being smashed with branches - fantastic. Got to the Alum Bay/Needles Park at 1645-ish, giving us 15 minutes of looking around and realising that there was nothing to do (OK, that took about 2 minutes) before it closed (not school holidays or weekend) as we couldn't go down to the bay. And then we had a 35-minute wait for the next (and final) bus of the day back to Newport (this time on the faster route via Yarmouth). The area turned into a ghost town come 10 past 5 - despite there being a hive at the honeypot just before.
Si | 25.07.17 - 8:15 p.m. | #
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Is it possible to see France from the hills on the very south of the island? Mathematics says no, Google Earth says yes. There are people who say it is possible and there is a picture of the lights of Cherbourg reflecting off the clouds taken from the island
Simon Guy | 25.07.17 - 9:36 p.m. | #
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Happy memories of Island holidays every summer 1967 to 77, including a ride on the chair-lift. (Thank you, DG.)
Dad woke me one morning to say that we could see France ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_France_(1961) was passing.
To see the lights of Cherbourg reflected off the clouds is a possibility - see also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scunthorpe#Coat_of_arms (the glow can be seen from ships in the North Sea).
JG Morgan | 14.08.17 - 5:47 a.m. | #
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