South Central

Our most recent trip was to the South Coast starting at Southbourne, near Chichester. Then moving over to the Isle of Wight staying at East Cowes. Our final destination was Lytchett Minster near Poole. Not particularly by design but no CMC sites on this trip.

We chose the C&CC Chichester site because of its good transport links, buses every 20 minutes and trains from the nearby station if we wanted. The only problem with unfamiliar bus services is knowing where to get off, this was the case when we visited the Roman Palace at Fishbourne. Fortunately a friendly local showed us where we needed to alight. Fishbourne is an amazing place and the mosaics are wonderful. The Museum, including the gardens covers about half the original size. The remainder is, unfortunately, buried under the adjacent housing and road!

Another day we went the other way to Havant although we did not think that particularly attractive but on the way back we stopped at Emsworth which is. Its nice little town and of course following the various inlets than make up the harbour make a pleasant walk. We had a nice lunch in the Coal Exchange before making our way back for the bus. We wanted to visit the historic waterfront in Portsmouth but this time we took the train from Southbourne station as it takes you right to the harbour in Portsmouth. It was a dull today so we decide to take the millennium walk from Gunwharf Quays to Spice Island. It’s about the only place you can get a landscape photograph of the Spinnaker Tower which dominates Portsmouth Harbour and can be seen from the IOW.

After five days at Southbourne we headed for Southampton and the Isle of Wight ferry. Getting to our next campsite, Waverley Park at East Cowes, has to be one of the shortest journeys from a ferry to a campsite, about half a mile! This is a terraced site with wonderful views out over the Solent.  The choice of site was again the convenience of public transport and that it’s a fairly easy walk down into East Cowes and across of the chain ferry to West Cowes and this is what we did on our first full day. It was a very pleasant walk through the town and beyond to the Royal Yacht Squadron HQ where they start most of the sailing races by firing a small cannon. Notices warn onlookers that these can go off at any time!!!  If there is a fault with Waverley Park you have to climb a mountain to get back to the campsite!

Margaret wanted to revisit Alum Bay where we had been many years before. Bus to Newport and another bus to the Needles, except we stopped off at Yarmouth which is where the Wightlink ferries dock from Lymington. Another delightful spot where we had some lunch between buses. Alum Bay, famous for its coloured sand, is more theme park than attractive area but you do get a good view of the Needles from the viewpoint. The weather was set fair another trip was to Wootton and the Isle of Wight Steam Railway. We decided to take the train from one end to the other, all of about five and half miles! On the way back we alighted at Havenstreet which is their HQ with a good exhibition area mainly paid for by the National Lottery. That organisation has supported so many good causes  across the country.

We enjoyed our time at Waverley Park but after a week it was time to head back to the mainland. Our next site, South Lytchett Manor near Poole. A convenient bus service departs from right outside the campsite gates. Perhaps Saturday was not the best day to visit Poole as the traffic was snarled up everywhere. Our trip was cut short earlier than intended as it started to rain! The following day was Father’s Day and Margaret’s sister and husband were joining us for a meal. We had not booked anywhere and feared we may have ended up eating fish and chips out of newspaper! Fortunately we seemed to strike gold immediately in the next village as the pub, Saint Peters Finger, had space and we enjoyed a nice meal. It was made even better by the fact the campsite gave us a voucher for a free bottle of wine. Perhaps an idea for the CMC copy! We did eventually get back to Poole on sunnier day and enjoyed a coffee the Quayside overlooking Poole Harbour.

The seventeen nights seemed to go by quite quickly, time now for thinking about where we go next. More of this trip here.