June 11: Getting to the Isle of Wight
We got up, ate breakfast, and checked out of Aston’s Apartments. We walked with our luggage to the Tube station and took the Picadilly line back to Heathrow. We were worried that it would be rush hour on the Tube and we packed everything into just two suitcases. It turned out not to be rush hour making going much smoother.
We arrived at Heathrow and walked from the Tube station there to the central bus station. We had wanted to take the 9:45 National Express bus to Portsmouth but when we tried to buy a ticket we found it that bus was sold out so we bought tickets for the 11:45 bus. Our ticket also included the ferry ticket from Portsmouth to Ryde on the Isle of Wight. So I actually got get a “Ticket to Ryde” that sounds the same as the Beatles song. When the 9:45 bus came it looked full and it looked like they were even kicking some standbys off after letting them on when they thought ticketed passengers wouldn’t show. We didn’t even try to got on it. While waiting for our bus we had lunch at a fast food eatery near the bus terminal. I had roast chicken and my wife had steak and kidney pie.
The bus ride to Portsmouth was fairly uneventful. The bus stopped in a couple of other places and the driver told us when we got to Portsmouth. We unloaded and walked to the ferry terminal. There we caught the Wightlink ferry to Ryde. The ferry was very crowded with others who looked like they were going to the festival. Many of them were already drinking in the terminal and on the ferry. We found seats inside and the ferry ride took only 15 minutes.
After we disembarked from the Wightlink ferry we had to walk the long quarter-mile pier to the Southern Vectis bus station. Southern Vectis is the company that runs the buses on the Isle of Wight. They go within the towns and between the towns and are mostly double-decker buses. We bought a map at the bus station and caught the bus that would take us to the Shanklin Somerfield stop, the stop closest to our hotel on the Shanklin Esplanade, the street along the beach in Shanklin. The bus ride took about 45 minutes to get to Shanklin. When we get there we found out that Somerfield is the name of a supermarket that’s right near the stop. We followed our map and walked back to our hotel.
The walk to our hotel didn’t take too long but required walking down hill to the Esplanade. Our hotel was located in the most beautiful place I’d seen on the trip. It was right across the street from the beach. Also along the Esplanade were other hotels, places with games such as miniature golf and arcade games, and right next to our hotel was a Minghella ice cream shop. The family of the movie director, Anthony Minghella makes ice cream. From the Esplanade were beautiful views of the water and the cliffs along the coast of the Isle of Wight. We checked into our hotel, the Esplanade Hotel, and met Kevin Thornton who I had talked to on the phone when I made reservations. He led us to our room that was upstairs and had been set up for three people to sleep. It was bigger than the one at Aston’s Apartments and nicer with a better shower and much more closet space. We unpacked a bit and then headed back out to catch the Southern Vectis bus to the Isle of Wight Festival.
When we got back to the bus stop at the Shanklin Somerfield it was very crowded with people going to the Festival. I had thought we needed to take bus number 3B to the festival but we soon figured out that bus 2 was the one we wanted. A bus 2 came but it filled up and we had to wait for the next one. Another came and we got seats on the bottom level. The bus went through the countryside in the interior of Isle of Wight to Newport and there weren’t really any towns on the way though there were a few houses and farms. The concert took place at Seaclose Park in Newport. The bus stopped at the Newport bus station but the driver told us we were going to stop somewhere close to the festival so we stayed on. It turned out that the bus went all the way up to the town of Cowes and then back to Newport stopping just a bit closer. Staying on the bus really didn’t save any time and it probably would have been quicker to get off at Newport bus station and walk.
We got off at Seaclose Park and walked down the hill towards the entrance to the festival. Along the way we noticed a small stand selling Minghella ice cream. As we got closer it got more and more crowded and by the time we got near the entrance it was very crowded and the crowd was very slowly being let into the festival. We approached the entrance and we could hear the rock group Super Furry Animals playing on the speakers. We ended up missing them, but at least we got to hear part of their set. When we finally got to the entrance they took our tickets and put these orange plastic wristbands on our wrists. It looked like it would be very difficult to remove them and we just ended up wearing them for all three days of the festival. On this first day of the festival I didn’t bring my camera because I wasn’t sure if they were allowed. But after we got there I saw many people with cameras and figured I could bring the disposable camera the next day.
Upon entering the festival I bought an official program so we would know the definite schedule of the acts. It turned out they also had handed out small free programs and someone gave one of these to my wife when they saw us copying down the schedule from my official program. We saw the Ferris wheel and the bungee pod or whatever you call the ride where two bungee cords are attached to suspended pod. We decided to have dinner before Groove Armada came on. For dinner we had sausage and bacon baguette sandwiches.
We found a place and decided to sit on the yellow plastic rain poncho that my wife had bought for rain. The Isle of Wight (IOW) Festival had only one stage with a large jumbotron on either side. There was also a jumbotron near the entrance.
Groove Armada play electronic dance music that the program said could be equally described as “funk, chilled, groove, freakout, psychedelic hip-hop”. The two principal members add singers and other musicians for the live acts. They had a woman singing of the songs. The only song I recognized was the last of their set, Superstlyin’ with a man rapping. That sounded great along with the rest of the set.
After Groove Armada left we decided to head back rather than stay for the headliner, Stereophonics because they didn’t interest us and we were tired from the trip to IOW. We walked to where the bus dropped us off north of the entrance. The stop was near the campgrounds where many of the festival-goers stayed in either tents or RV’s. There were many buses but none that looked like they were going to Shanklin. We asked one of bus drivers and he suggested we walk back to the Newport bus station and catch the 2 back to Shanklin. The walk was long because we did quite a bit of backtracking. As we walked by the festival grounds we could hear the Stereophonics playing. After some navigating with our map we found the Newport bus station and caught the number 2 bus back to Shankin Somerfield. On the way back we noticed there weren’t very many streetlights it sometimes felt we were riding through darkness. From the Somerfield we walked back to the Esplanade.
We got up, ate breakfast, and checked out of Aston’s Apartments. We walked with our luggage to the Tube station and took the Picadilly line back to Heathrow. We were worried that it would be rush hour on the Tube and we packed everything into just two suitcases. It turned out not to be rush hour making going much smoother.
We arrived at Heathrow and walked from the Tube station there to the central bus station. We had wanted to take the 9:45 National Express bus to Portsmouth but when we tried to buy a ticket we found it that bus was sold out so we bought tickets for the 11:45 bus. Our ticket also included the ferry ticket from Portsmouth to Ryde on the Isle of Wight. So I actually got get a “Ticket to Ryde” that sounds the same as the Beatles song. When the 9:45 bus came it looked full and it looked like they were even kicking some standbys off after letting them on when they thought ticketed passengers wouldn’t show. We didn’t even try to got on it. While waiting for our bus we had lunch at a fast food eatery near the bus terminal. I had roast chicken and my wife had steak and kidney pie.
The bus ride to Portsmouth was fairly uneventful. The bus stopped in a couple of other places and the driver told us when we got to Portsmouth. We unloaded and walked to the ferry terminal. There we caught the Wightlink ferry to Ryde. The ferry was very crowded with others who looked like they were going to the festival. Many of them were already drinking in the terminal and on the ferry. We found seats inside and the ferry ride took only 15 minutes.
After we disembarked from the Wightlink ferry we had to walk the long quarter-mile pier to the Southern Vectis bus station. Southern Vectis is the company that runs the buses on the Isle of Wight. They go within the towns and between the towns and are mostly double-decker buses. We bought a map at the bus station and caught the bus that would take us to the Shanklin Somerfield stop, the stop closest to our hotel on the Shanklin Esplanade, the street along the beach in Shanklin. The bus ride took about 45 minutes to get to Shanklin. When we get there we found out that Somerfield is the name of a supermarket that’s right near the stop. We followed our map and walked back to our hotel.
The walk to our hotel didn’t take too long but required walking down hill to the Esplanade. Our hotel was located in the most beautiful place I’d seen on the trip. It was right across the street from the beach. Also along the Esplanade were other hotels, places with games such as miniature golf and arcade games, and right next to our hotel was a Minghella ice cream shop. The family of the movie director, Anthony Minghella makes ice cream. From the Esplanade were beautiful views of the water and the cliffs along the coast of the Isle of Wight. We checked into our hotel, the Esplanade Hotel, and met Kevin Thornton who I had talked to on the phone when I made reservations. He led us to our room that was upstairs and had been set up for three people to sleep. It was bigger than the one at Aston’s Apartments and nicer with a better shower and much more closet space. We unpacked a bit and then headed back out to catch the Southern Vectis bus to the Isle of Wight Festival.
When we got back to the bus stop at the Shanklin Somerfield it was very crowded with people going to the Festival. I had thought we needed to take bus number 3B to the festival but we soon figured out that bus 2 was the one we wanted. A bus 2 came but it filled up and we had to wait for the next one. Another came and we got seats on the bottom level. The bus went through the countryside in the interior of Isle of Wight to Newport and there weren’t really any towns on the way though there were a few houses and farms. The concert took place at Seaclose Park in Newport. The bus stopped at the Newport bus station but the driver told us we were going to stop somewhere close to the festival so we stayed on. It turned out that the bus went all the way up to the town of Cowes and then back to Newport stopping just a bit closer. Staying on the bus really didn’t save any time and it probably would have been quicker to get off at Newport bus station and walk.
We got off at Seaclose Park and walked down the hill towards the entrance to the festival. Along the way we noticed a small stand selling Minghella ice cream. As we got closer it got more and more crowded and by the time we got near the entrance it was very crowded and the crowd was very slowly being let into the festival. We approached the entrance and we could hear the rock group Super Furry Animals playing on the speakers. We ended up missing them, but at least we got to hear part of their set. When we finally got to the entrance they took our tickets and put these orange plastic wristbands on our wrists. It looked like it would be very difficult to remove them and we just ended up wearing them for all three days of the festival. On this first day of the festival I didn’t bring my camera because I wasn’t sure if they were allowed. But after we got there I saw many people with cameras and figured I could bring the disposable camera the next day.
Upon entering the festival I bought an official program so we would know the definite schedule of the acts. It turned out they also had handed out small free programs and someone gave one of these to my wife when they saw us copying down the schedule from my official program. We saw the Ferris wheel and the bungee pod or whatever you call the ride where two bungee cords are attached to suspended pod. We decided to have dinner before Groove Armada came on. For dinner we had sausage and bacon baguette sandwiches.
We found a place and decided to sit on the yellow plastic rain poncho that my wife had bought for rain. The Isle of Wight (IOW) Festival had only one stage with a large jumbotron on either side. There was also a jumbotron near the entrance.
Groove Armada play electronic dance music that the program said could be equally described as “funk, chilled, groove, freakout, psychedelic hip-hop”. The two principal members add singers and other musicians for the live acts. They had a woman singing of the songs. The only song I recognized was the last of their set, Superstlyin’ with a man rapping. That sounded great along with the rest of the set.
After Groove Armada left we decided to head back rather than stay for the headliner, Stereophonics because they didn’t interest us and we were tired from the trip to IOW. We walked to where the bus dropped us off north of the entrance. The stop was near the campgrounds where many of the festival-goers stayed in either tents or RV’s. There were many buses but none that looked like they were going to Shanklin. We asked one of bus drivers and he suggested we walk back to the Newport bus station and catch the 2 back to Shanklin. The walk was long because we did quite a bit of backtracking. As we walked by the festival grounds we could hear the Stereophonics playing. After some navigating with our map we found the Newport bus station and caught the number 2 bus back to Shankin Somerfield. On the way back we noticed there weren’t very many streetlights it sometimes felt we were riding through darkness. From the Somerfield we walked back to the Esplanade.
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