Isle Of Wight - Day 3

The weather today was almost a repeat of yesterday. It was difficult to get up from the bed on such a csy day. We reluctantly got up around 8.30 had our usual sumptuous breakfast by around 9.30 and were ready to go out by 10.00. Anand having been to this part of the world earlier was our navigator and the plan for the day’s site seeing was done on the breakfast table.

So it was decided to cover Godshill Village, The Alum Bay Beach and then to take the Boat ride to the light house there at “Needles” as it is known as.We were to also visit the Glass & Ceramic Factory.

After the customary Breakfast we caught a bus and reached Godshill Village.

Godshill is a village and civil parish on the Isle of Wight with a population of approximately 2,800 (1998). It is located between Newport and Ventnor in the southeast of the island.

Attractions

Since 1952 Godshill has been the home of a model village of itself and Shanklin's old village at a scale of 1:10. It is so detailed that it contains a scale model of the model village. Within that second model there is a third, even smaller model of the village.

Some Images form our camera.

Click on the link below to enjoy the breathtaking photographs of the Miniature village.

http://www.invectis.co.uk/iow/gv1.htm

After that we went to visit “The Needles” at Alum Bay.

The Needles are the western most point of the Isle of Wight and are a series of chalk stacks which protrude into the see at the end of which is a lighthouse. Nearby is Alum Bay, which is home of the famous coloured sand but is has a rather commercialised 'pleasure park'. The is a chairlift from the top of the cliff to the beach. The sea around the Needles was notorious for shipwrecks. The first lighthouse was built in 1785 on top of the downs, the current one during from the 1850's. A helicopter pad was added in the 1990's and the lighthouse subsequently became automated and unmanned.

Black's guide of 1880 describes them:

The celebrated Needles are five "isolated masses of the extreme west point of the middle range of Downs, which have been produced by the decomposition and wearing away of the rock in the direction of the joints or fissures with which the strata are traversed The angular or wedge-shaped form of these rocks has resulted from the highly-inclined northward dip of the beds of which they are composed." The appellation Needles has been traced by some to the German niecler fels, or " nether cliff;" but, more probably, was suggested by the numerous pinnacles starting up from each rugged mass, or by the lofty conical rock, 120 feet high, known as " Lot's Wife: which fell into the sea, in 1764, with a clash and a roar audible at Portsmouth harbour. The channel between the Needles and the Dorsetshire coast is called The Race. There is something imposing wrote Mr. Rush, the American ambassador, in 1817, "in entering England by this access". "I afterwards" he continued, " entered at Dover in a packet from Calais--my eye fixed upon the sentinels as they slowly paced the heights. But those cliffs, bold as they are, and immortalized by Shakespere, did not equal the passage through the Needles"

To reach Needles we had to change two buses. After along run aboard the buses we reached Needles where we found one of the most amazing beaches. This is a pebble beach rather than a sand beach. The beach is down a sloping hill and to reach there you have to go by a chair lift. down a deep slope. It was a great experience. From the beach there is a boat service which one can take so that one can go for a ride in the sea as well as have a good look at the ancient lighthouse from close quarters.

Click on the link below to get the images of the Needles bay.

http://www.theneedles.co.uk/gallery.php

Some Images form our camera.

After that we spent time visiting the glass and ceramic factories and had a first hand experience of ceramic and glass ware like flower vases being made.

Last but not least after a tiring day was our dinner which, we for a change had at a town called Newport where we had to change bus en-route to our hotel in an Indian Restaurant and again surprisingly the food was excellant.

DAY 4 Blog Follows

Link to our full Album on the web :

http://picasaweb.google.com/venkatraman.anand/IsleOfWightDay3GodshillAndNeedlesAlumBay?authkey=k0sv_Z20Kas