With its easy access from the mainland and everything from palaces to gastronomy, the Lyons find the Isle of Wight to be a touring delight
THE SUMMER HOLIDAYS always appear to be over in a sudden blur as the hectic autumn term at school begins in earnest. But often, good weather and daylight hours continue well into September and October.
Bearing this in mind, our son Ben had booked a UKSA Dinghy Instructor Course on the Isle of Wight for the October half-term holidays, hoping that the weather would remain favourable.
As Ben perused his course criteria certificates, we boarded the Red Funnel ferry for the 60-minute crossing from Southampton to Cowes, the most northerly point on the island.
Booking the ferry trip through the Caravan and Motorhome Club and staying at Southland Club Campsite for six nights meant that we could take advantage of discounted ferry tickets through the ‘Sail & Stay’ incentive scheme.
With full board paid in advance, we left Ben to complete his residential Gold Duke of Edinburgh section with his very own nautical adventure at the impressive Sea.Change UKSA training centre, which is based in West Cowes.
Then, temporarily ‘teenager free’, we headed off to Southland Campsite, a 30-minute drive away. After our first experience of automatic check-in, we hurriedly set up, mindful of the dark clouds gathering above us.
A quick downpour provided a beautiful rainbow and an opportunity to consider our first walk – the somewhat wet underfoot five-mile circular route from the campsite, which included a short section of the Red Squirrel Trail.
South coast sands
That evening, the site’s intermittent Wi-Fi caused us little concern (although it would have annoyed Ben!) as we studied some leaflets from the well-stocked information centre over a glass of wine, settling in for a quiet evening with our dog, Lucy.
We knew that parking on the Isle of Wight was expensive, so heading towards the south coast next day for our first trip, we were not surprised to find ourselves parking some way back from the beach and walking into the traditional bucket and spade seaside resort of Sandown.
Sandown rather merges with Shanklin across Sandown Bay. With its beautiful golden sands, quirky 1879 pier and beach huts, we found it sadly let down on the esplanade by rows of neglected, no doubt once impressive, Victorian hotels.
We later discovered from a local that these were part of a c
