Touring Tuesday!

Tuesday dawned bright and sunny, if a little windy! We had decided to drive to Yarmouth and get the Breezer bus which does a loop round to the Old Battery at the Needles and then back to Yarmouth. We got a very good deal on a group ticket for the three of us which lasted all day and you could hop on and off. So we hopped on and off we went!

 

This photo was taken on my phone and shows how windy it was! However, the ride was lovely and being up on the top of the double decker bus gave us wonderful views. We had decided to ride the bus first to the Old Battery at the Needles - the ride up was a little scary, but once we arrived the views were worth it.

We had a look around at the Old Battery, and took the spiral staircase to the tunnel which led from the parade ground to the searchlight position which overlooks the Needles. Hugh gets a bit claustrophobic, so it was a bit harrowing for him, but the view when we arrived was wonderful.

This shows the look of relief on Hugh's face that he was out of the tunnel - going back wasn't so bad as he knew how long the tunnel was!

Here you can see the entrance to the tunnel to the right of Hugh - it was very dark - until I realised I had my sunglasses on!

The view from the searchlight position.

We then walked back to the top of the cliff to the New Battery and had a look around there at all the details of the rocket testing.

 Having a rest and enjoying the view on the way back up the cliff - boy it was steep!

Even though it was a lovely day, it was a bit too nippy and windy to have our picnic outside. However, there was a convenient picnic room at the New Battery, so we got our food out and ate it there.

We then hopped back onto the bus and went back down to the Alum Bay stop. We got off there and decided not to take the many stairs down to the beach and we didn't fancy the chair lift either, so we went into the shops to have a look around and bought a souvenir each containing the many coloured sands of Alum Bay. It was then back onto the bus to go to Fort Victoria for Hugh to see the large model railway. What we didn't realise was that we got onto the bus which was going up to the Battery, so we went up to the Battery again before coming back down to where we had just got on and then off we finally went!

Whilst Hugh spent some time looking at the railway (which he thought was great!) Penny and I sat outside the cafe at Fort Victoria, overlooking the Solent, in the sheltered sunshine and had a drink and a slice of carrot cake each which was yummy!

We then walked the half mile back to the bus stop and reboarded the bus back to Yarmouth. When we arrived back, Penny suggested that we stayed on and did the whole loop again, without getting off, so that we could really appreciate the views. There was a taped commentary running as well, which told you what you were looking at and it was very enjoyable.

Whilst we had been at Alum Bay, Penny bought Hugh this hat as his ears had been getting very cold in the wind! He wore it quite a lot for the rest of the holiday, so it was a good purchase!

This is a view of Alum Bay from the bus when it was on its way down from the Old Battery. The first time the bus was going too fast, but on our final trip the bus had to stop, so I got a good view of the cliffs with their many coloured sands.

When we arrived back at the cottage we were exhausted from all the fresh air and walking we had done, so Penny treated us to tea - Kentucky Fried Chicken!