After a very successful birthday lunch for David on 26 July, at the Courtyard in the Grosvenor Hotel at Stockbridge, and his finally overcoming the IT wrangles which grew out of a complete make-over of David’s website and info recording software, life might have settled down to a quiet summer, had not a confusion over WSET structures overtaken the Product Development team. 

The last week of July, enduring the fourth (or was it the fifth?) heatwave over southern England, was therefore dominated by teams meetings and conversations attempting to untangle the muddle. By Friday 31 July, when some clarity had been achieved, David decided he needed a break. 

A quick search of special hotel offers brought up a couple of old seaside favourites; but the Isle of Wight beckoned; yes, busy in August, but surrounded by sea and do-able without a car… 

Monday 3 August (today Ernest becomes a teenager… )

We left by train, travelling via Salisbury to Portsmouth Harbour, where the signage in the station delivers passengers directly to the Catamaran for Ryde. Couldn’t have been easier!

The sea air moderated the very high temperatures for the 22 minute crossing and we walked the length of Ryde pier (the coastal shelf makes a harbour too shallow for serious vessels – with the exception of the hovercraft which ‘lands’ on the beach!) 

The Ryde transport hub – ie the foreshore where train, pier and buses meet – provides the no. 9 Vectis electric bus between Ryde and Newport, which conveniently stops at Wootton Bridge, alongside the Old Mill Pond (managed by a weir, and formerly part of Wootton Creek through which at least three brooks discharge their waters) right opposite the Lakeside Park Hotel.

The Vectis electric fleet is made up of 33 brand new (introduced in May 2026), sparkling clean, extraordinarily prompt and very comfortable double-decker e-buses.  And they take Senior Bus Passes, of course. Couldn’t be simpler. 

We took advantage of the small indoor pool, (avoiding the other paraphernalia of a Spa – who needs steam rooms or hot tubs when it’s scorching outside?) before eating in the hotel’s Brasserie, which was both better and more expensive than we anticipated. The hotel is big, but spacious, and felt impersonal as other guests seemed scarce, though the hotel was full. 

Tuesday 4 August 

Nervous of busy sea fronts, I had my sights on Bembridge where we booked a late lunch in The Best-dressed Crab (next to a wet fish shop on a short jetty from which its owner fishes daily).

We used the magnificent electric buses from Wootton to Ryde, and thence to Bembridge where we walked along the water’s edge past a popular, alternative pop-up cafe at Bembridge Point. It is hardly a beach, comprising largely pebbles, gloopy yellow brown mud, some hardened to soft rock – to the Lifeboat house, perched at the end of its purpose-built pier, and staffed by knowledgeable volunteers, proud of the local RNLI history and its brave crews.

As we walked through the small town we passed many expensive private houses on unmade avenues and drives before regaining the main road, and sheltering from the onset of rain in the Pilot Inn overlooking the harbour. Welcome rain, yes; but our 14.00 table was outdoors….

Fortunately, an indoor couple, leaving the Best-dressed Crab as we arrived, gave us their table while a large family group already outside seemed unperturbed. We ate a fabulous plate of 12 very fresh, very large prawns, with chips, for £20. A feast!

We left as the rain stopped and walked over the causeway and onto what had been a golf course on the dunes until the 1960s when the land, known as The Duver, was given to the National Trust. This gave onto a quiet beach, alongside which were elderly wooden chalets (formerly tube carriages). Remarkably few people seemed to use this quiet beach.

We walked back up to The Green (claiming to be the largest in England (seemed unlikely – perhaps on the Island?) and picked up the bus back to Ryde, and passed a pleasant half hour in the courtyard of a seafront hotel, with a pint of beer.

Supper was already booked at RT Cafe Grill in Ryde, at Jason’s suggestion – an outside table in sight of the shore, and a stunning sunset. The food was excellent though the service wasn’t a match for the kitchen’s ambition. The photos say it all! Back to the hotel by bus, of course. 

Wednesday 5 August 

Another bus, but only to Ryde to use its integrated transport system by taking the train from the Pier to Shanklin – as far as it goes. It was formerly an Underground train, and is probably destined in the 2050s (after this first piece of up-cycling) to become a beach hut in Bembridge. 

There’s more to the IOW than we realise…in fact we were shamed by two travelling companions – young Italian women who had set out from London on an excursion to see the nearby Roman Villa and disembarked at Brading. We were aiming to use the bus from Shanklin to Ventnor, acting on Jason’s advice once again, to eat in the celebrated Smoking Lobster. The bus sped up the increasingly steep and windy roads as we hugged the steep edge of the downs before dropping down into Ventnor itself.

Well! Ventnor was charming; the sun shone, the waves broke gently on the shore. The tide receded as we were in the outstanding restaurant. Once again, the photos say it all…. 

We returned on the cross-island bus, via Newport, entering Wootton from the west, and thus avoiding Ryde. The downs we drove through reflect a familiar chalk geology and landscape with its characteristic undulations, turf and grazing sheep and cattle.

After a swim in the hotel, we ate at the little local restaurant Cibo, formerly Italian, now veering in a Spanish direction, a step from the hotel, where the hostess was friendly and the food good. 

Thursday 6 August 

Replace LHS below hovercraft pic ?

The IOW weather had been hot, but not as hot as the mainland, though sadly the buses lacked air conditioning despite their energy efficiency. We returned home via Ryde, its wonderful pier with its railway line and ex-tube rolling stock, and with dedicated car and pedestrian routes. We watched the hovercrafts coming and going (to Southsea) during our short crossing to Portsmouth Harbour and then tracked down the wet Fish shop recommended by Allan for a crab bap, and onto the train home via Salisbury.  

All very civilised, and great fun!