5.10am is not for the faint of heart!

The early bus and managed a fortuitous meeting this morning, so I was at the train station in plenty of time for a potentially life-saving injection of caffeine (someone else's life that is, not mine, I can be vicious mean difficult in a morning without it). The train was on time and I spent the journey next to a rather attractive, slightly older gentleman with long silver hair - suffice it to say, he was rather easy on the eye lol. Underground to Waterloo then and another train to Portsmouth - I was surrounded by a huge Indian family which gradually migrated down to the other end of the carriage (was it something I said?) to be replaced by a woman with two miserable little b*****d unhappy children. That was a long 90 minutes!

Off the train and straight onto the ferry, and I barely had time to sit down and we were off! A short hop and the boat docked, then another train from Ryde to Shanklin - quite possibly the bumpiest ride ever, so thank god the seats were comfy. It was an old fashioned carriage with a wooden interior and the friendliest conductor I've ever met :-)

Quite a trek then from the train station to the hotel - and why didn't someone tell me beforehand how flippin' hilly it is here! I had a good sweat on by the time I got to the hotel - I'm from Yorkshire, we're a hardy folk but we're not accustomed to the heat, you know! It's only a single room, but plenty of space, a small but clean bathroom and door which opens out onto what I think is a fire escape, but it's almost like having my own balcony :-)

Had a bit of a sit down to recover then headed out for a slow, gentle wander round after handing the hotel owner the part of the door handle that I broke off when closing my room door - I was mortified. It's a really stiff (fire) door, and the bit of the handle that you pull to close the door just snapped off in my hand! It's fixed now - they were very gracious about it and refused to add it to my bill...

The blip is of part of the Old Town in Shanklin - there are a few lovely little shops and tea rooms, some in these beautiful thatched cottages. I had a restorative cappucino and victoria sponge cake, then went off through Rylstone Gardens and along the coastal path down to the beach. It hasn't been a particularly sunny afternoon, but I've been wearing a strappy top and jeans and I wasn't chilly. It's funny, you can tell the islanders from the tourists - padded jackets vs shorts and t-shirts!

Wandered back to the hotel via Londis for a sandwich, and that's me for the evening - am shattered, so a bit of telly then sleep I think. That's assuming the loudest woman in the entire world - who happens to be in the room next door - ever shuts the hell up!

x