When is abroad not abroad? The Isle of Wight perhaps??

The old man turned 40 just a few years ago and as a surprise Mum whisked us off to the tropical paradise that is The Isle of Wight! Dad always stated that this was a wonderful surprise especially as he ended up booking it!!!!!

That aside, the three of us jumped into Keith the Corsa and off we went to the docks at Southampton. Now this was my first ever 'overseas' adventure, I mean I hadn't even had my first birthday at this point and the thought of going on a boat made me ever so worried. Still the folk assured me that even though it was a big boat it wouldn't sink. I felt better!

At Southampton we boarded A Red Funnel Ferry (so named as it had a red funnel) and headed into the distance towards Cowes, which was odd because I didn't see a single cow, not one, not a sniff, not a moo!! Well it takes about 1 1/2 hours to sail to Cowes which allows one plenty of time to sample all the tasty treats available, although Dad nearly choked at the price of a couple of bacon butties and coffee!!! Being a small monkey I didn't understand the whole money thing then and I hadn't inherited my bag of monkey gold from my Uncle Silas,he's a silverback didn't you know?

From the docks at Cowes we spend off to Sandown to find our 'luxury Spa Hotel' and there's me thinking that all Spar had to offer were crisps and diet coke! Turning off the main drag we spotted a sumptuous looking gaff but on approach realised that this wasn't our hotel. Next door was our hotel and had a very 1970s vibe about it. Outside, oddly everyone was wearing their dressing gowns and Dad mentioned something about 'swinging'. I got very excited, obviously as a small monkey I like to climb trees and swing about, Dad hinted that wasn't exactly what he meant. So we checked in.

Oooooooo what a lovely place. Despite outside appearances the hotel was smart, had a swimming pool, steam rooms and sauna, treatments and a big bar and restaurant serving fantastic nose bag including beef, well I guess that comes from Cowes, Cowes? Get it....???? Ok I'll move on!

We even had one of those four poster bed things. So the folks put on their swimming cozzies, me? I kicked back in the bar and had a fiery ginger beer!

Day 2 saw a full cirumnavigation of the Island where we saw the strangest sights! I mean a tiger, really????

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We met these two jokers ----------------------------------->>>>>>>>>

And we went to the Needles, that was closed, well apart from the chip shop! Hey it was January!!!!!

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Later that evening we took a stroll into town....again being out of season it was closed apart from the local sports bar on the pier. There we saw a shark! Very odd.

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All in all the weather for January was superb! Warm and sunny, definitely T-shirt weather.

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Well must pop off...........tatty bye for now Ed xxxxxx