While not technically half way going off the number of days left (that happened somewhere around France or Spain), our stop in Southampton does represent the halfway point geographically (kind of). From here onward we're heading back towards home.

Given neither of us had been out there, how easy it sounded it get there and how long it would take to get to London/Stonehenge, we decided we would spend our day ashore exploring the narrow roads, rolling hills and chalky cliffs of the Isle of Wight .

Probably the hardest part of the exercise was the walk from where our ship docked (at the QE2 terminal) to where the ferry terminal. The walk itself only took about 30 minutes and gave us the opportunity to see the commercial sights of the Port of Southampton.

The ferry ride over to West Cowes only took 25 minutes and included the opportunity purchase a hot drink and a muffin for a very reasonable price. We even got to see the cruise ship being refuelled.

After arriving at West Cowes we walked all of about 5 minutes before we found the car hire place – few months ago we had booked a small car for half a day and we were hoping they still had the booking. Mum filled in the necessary paper work and after getting a quick tutorial on how to drive the semi automatic car, we began our adventure.

I say adventure because we weren’t exactly sure where we were heading, the roads are narrow and people park on the wrong side of the road facing the wrong way . This is quite off putting when you’ve just come from countries that drive on the wrong side of the road.

First stop on our loop of the island was the town of Carisbrooke and it’s castle. This hill top fortress was a key to the islands security for more than nine centuries and imprisoned Charles the first. We took a couple of photos of the castle and the surrounding countryside before continuing on our way.

We continued heading towards the southern coast and the town of Nilton. Here we turned right and started driving along the road that skirts the coast. This section of the island has a couple of places where people like to go swimming, as well as providing a walking trail for people who were wanting to go on a ramble – it should also be noted that there are a lot of public paths on the island, so it seems like the perfect place for people who like hiking or bushwalking.

As we made our way along the coast, we passed a couple of interesting sights – such as the chalk cliffs of the island and a monument to Lord Tennyson who lived in the area.

Next stop was to the see The Needles. Located on the western side of island, the Needles are three chalk stacks that rise up out of the sea – there was a fourth named 'Lot’s Wife’ but that one collapsed during a storm in 1764. At the end of the line of stacks is The Needles Lighthouse (built in 1859) . The last lighthouse keeper left in 1994 and up until that time, it was one of three manned rock lighthouses in England and Wales. Due to its location on top a chalk structure, there has been work done to stabilise the structure so that it doesn’t fall into the sea.

The other drawcard of the area is the artillery battery that was active between the 1860s until 1954 when they were decommissioned. What we didn’t realise, was that to get to the old battery (where you can see the Needles very well) you need to either walk along a private road or catch a tour bus. We didn’t really have time for either, so instead we got a couple of photos from the park and had a quick look around. Interestingly, a nearby site was also used for the British ICBM program. Between 1956 and 1971, the Black Knight and Black Arrow rocket engine tests were done here.

As we headed back towards West Cowes to return the card we saw the yacht focussed town of Yarmouth as well as more green hills . We weren’t able to locate the exact location of where the Isle of Wight Festival was held, however we got a good idea of what it would have been like.

Given it was now close to 3pm, we decided to stop to have a pub lunch in Newport. After a false start that resulted with us encountering a cute black and white staffy that just wanted pats and who had a bed made up in a plastic shell pool that was near the bar, we made it to the Bargeman’s Rest. Mum had a Ploughman’s lunch, while I had a hamburger. We also took the opportunity to call home.

Upon returning to Cowes, we gave back the car and had a wander around the streets. Coming up in the next couple of days in Cowes is a large regatta. This meant that the harbour was filled with yachts and the streets filled with people having one last hurrah before the big race. Now either it is a yachting tradition or lots of people we on buck’s nights, but we say quite a few young men badly dressed up in dresses and heels . It was quite a sight.

The ferry back to Southampton didn’t take very long and soon we were back on the mainland.

Southampton was always going to be a port where we did some shopping. First stop was to find a Boots. Mum was on a mission to stock up on the shampoo and conditioner she likes that is not available in Australia, while I was looking for some purple toner and other odds and ends. Almost 50 pounds later we left the Boots store we had walked into and headed across the plaza to another UK favourite   – Primark. As we were looking for cheapish clothes that didn’t necessarily need to last forever, this was the perfect store. Once again we spent our cash walked out of the shop with a bag each.

It should be noted that we did do more in Southampton than just shop. While walking along the QE2 mile we saw a memorial to the crew, stewards and seamen who perished in the SS Titanic disaster, as well as the remains of a church that was bombed during WW2 . The shell of the church has been retained as a reminder of those who have perished at sea as well as a memorial to the people who died trying to save the burning church.

On a lighter note, we also saw the anchor of the SS Queen Elizabeth 2. Southampton was her home port and she made many trips from the there. When the ship was retired, the town had a celebration/farewell ceremony and as a gift from the ship, the town was given one of her anchors. We also got a photo or two of what remains of the old city walls and ‘Bargate' – a gate from Norman times that served as the main entry/exit for the north of the city.

Having ticked off three of the things we said we needed to do – Isle of Wight, pub food and shampoo/conditioner shopping, we headed to the meeting point for the ship’s shuttle. After getting back on board and navigating around all the new people who were hanging around the atrium area, we grabbed our life jackets for the mandatory drill – this time we were going to make sure our cards were scanned, as if you don’t turn up you get a letter from the Captain reminding you that it’s a mandatory drill .

Dinner was quiet as we were the only ones from our table who came. This was totally fine with us as we were both sleepy and didn’t really want to make polite conversation. In exciting news, we get to move to our new table tomorrow night – this one is next to a window so plenty of ocean views to come.

With all the new and continuing passengers aboard, we set sail for Ireland. As the sun set, we sailed around the Isle of Wight, but unfortunately it became too dark to be able to see anything of note, so we weren’t able to get an more photos of the island.

Fun fact:
I believe the very excusive Royal London Yacht Club has a club house on the Isle of Wight… quite possibly the club house serves as its headquarters.