Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: Cowes

  • Isle of Wight Trip – Day 6 (Cowes Floating Bridge)

    I don’t think that I’ve been on a chain ferry before, even though there is apparently one at Reedham. This service runs between East Cowes and West Cowes, with the journey time being just a couple of minutes.

    The information board showing the current list of charges to cross the River Medina on the ferry. There’s a ticket machine to buy tickets, although there’s also a ticket inspector who can sell tickets and they accept cash or cards. There’s no option to buy just a single ticket, as they’re sold as returns.

    The ferry after all of the cars and pedestrians had crossed. We got on at this point to travel from East Cowes to West Cowes. There was a rowing boat service offered between the two towns from the early eighteenth century until 1859, when a steamboat service was introduced.

    The current chain ferry is the sixth one to ply the waters, with the fifth one being withdrawn from service in January 2017 after forty years of service. The new ferry operates from around 05:00 until just after 00:00 and it carries around 1.5 million pedestrians per year and around 400,000 vehicles.

    Looking at a newspaper article from 1930 there were 1.4 million pedestrian crossings, so the number of people needing to use the service hasn’t changed. As there are no other crossings over the River Medina, the alternative is to go down via Newport, which adds around thirty minutes to a car journey.

    There’s a pedestrian area on two levels as well as the facility to carry twenty cars. There’s some seating available, although since the journey is so short, there are no other facilities.

    The ferry landing in West Cowes. We took this ferry as part of our coastal walk around the Isle of Wight, so it presented an interesting and intriguing way to end our walk back into West Cowes from where we had started.

  • Isle of Wight Trip – Day 6 (Ryde to East Cowes)

    And the journey is now over, we completed the last section of the walk from Ryde to East Cowes which was a distance of just eight miles.

    The breakfast at the Royal Esplanade Hotel was better than I expected, although overall I’d be unlikely to stay at the hotel again. There are though plenty of hotel options in Ryde and it’s one of the cheaper places to stay on the island.

    The first side expedition of the day was to Ryde Pier Head, which is the first train line that I’ve seen which runs for the entire length of a pier. There are three separate structures which go down to the end of the pier, the structure carrying the train line, the structure carrying the pedestrians and cars and the abandoned structure which once carried trams.

    There’s a small display at the end of the pier about the history of the railway network on the Isle of Wight, now sadly much depleted from its former state. Someone shouted a few things at Richard about his shirt, which caused much hilarity, and then it was back to the hotel to start the walk properly.

    The first substantial stop was at Quarr Abbey which is an early twentieth century monastery of some considerable architectural interest. There is also an old abbey, of which we saw the remains, but this was destroyed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries and much of the stone sent to Cowes and Yarmouth to use in their fortifications.

    There wasn’t a great deal of coast walking today as most of it was inland. There was a bit more road walking than was ideal, a total contrast to the open spaces on the southern parts of the island. We walked into East Cowes and had a late lunch at the Prince of Wales pub, a former hostelry used by the coachmen of Queen Victoria.

    From there it was the excitement of using the chain ferry to get from East Cowes into West Cowes, a strangely enjoyable final section of the coastal journey. From there it was a short walk back into the centre of West Cowes and we had completed the entire coast path.

    The evening meal was at the appropriately named Coast Bar, where the pizza was marvellous and the service engaging. With everyone tired from their exertions that is now the end of the trip. Well done to every single person who took part and thanks for their forbearance.

  • Isle of Wight Trip – Day 0 (Cowes – Holy Trinity Church)

    Sadly, Holy Trinity Church in Cowes was locked when I tried to visit, so I wasn’t able to see inside. However, it was built in 1832 and was designed by Benjamin Bramble using primarily Isle of Wight yellow brick and was based on the same designs which were used for St. Thomas’s Church in Ryde. The church was funded by Sarah Goodwin and intriguingly she did this to provide employment for her son-in-law the Reverend Maximillian Geneste. How rather noble…

    The church was formally consecrated on 21 June 1832 by the Rt. Reverend, the Lord Bishop of the Diocese. There was a collection held after the service which was donated to the Funds of the County Female Penitentiary. I liked how the church was advertising for a new curate in 1867 and they wanted “an active, earnest fair preacher, of no extreme views”.

    A view of the tower which has extensive views out to sea, so it’s no surprise that there is a strong connection with the maritime community. In the garden of the church there is a memorial to those killed in the Fastnet Race in 1979, when fifteen yachtsmen died along with another four people who were watching the event from a yacht.

    It was mildly disappointing that I couldn’t get to see inside, but maybe another time.

  • Isle of Wight Trip – Day 0 (Cowes – Cowes Ale House)

    The Cowes Ale House, the sister pub of the Newport Ale House, which has a marvellous concept of a welcoming environment, bar snacks, no jukebox and a community feel. A few years ago this was a clothes shop and the conversion is a positive move, this trend of bringing shops back into use as small pubs is one I’d like to see even more of. The staff member at the bar was helpful and warm, so the environment was welcoming.

    The Good Beer Guide said to expect the occasional mild and porter. So I did. And they didn’t have any. The nearest to a dark beer they had was the Robinsons Trooper, which is linked to Bruce Dickinson from Iron Maiden. The beer was well kept and at the appropriate temperature, which was good as it was in a cooling jacket and these are sometimes more effective than others.

    The beer tasted a bit bland to me, no real strong flavours or depths of taste and I couldn’t get the subtle hint of lemon.

    Some of the pump clips from past beers, and there are some interesting past selections, not least the Ernie’s Milk Stout. The prices of the beer were reasonable, mainly coming in at just under £4 per pint.

    The pub wasn’t particularly busy when we went in on a Saturday afternoon, but there was a welcoming and comfortable feel to the pub. I do really like the whole concept of this pub and the environment feels just right for a relaxed drink. Unfortunately for me and this visit the beer selection didn’t have anything to interest me.