This morning we caught the car ferry over to the Isle of Wight. Even thought the weather forecast suggested sunny breaks and rain later in the day, by the time we went to load the car at 10:00 am the rain had once again started, and it continued in regular intervals throughout the day.

As we drove off the ferry we all felt rather excited to have arrived. We drove to see Quarr Abbey. As it continued to rain, we decided to leave visiting here until another day.

We drove to Ryde and looked around the high street and waterfront. We were pleased to find a lovely stretch of sandy beach. It appears not all English beaches are covered in pebbles like Brighton. It all looked so lovely despite the overcast weather.

We were just driving aimlessly around when we discovered that the Isle of Wight had a train service. We saw a sign to the station at Brading so we decided to explore. This was the start of a new adventure. We found a little station staffed by volunteers who are trying to preserve the place. We had a tour of the old signal box and then caught the train up to Ryde and back. The train used to be on the London Underground. You can book a train from Brading all the way to Waterloo in London. The Isle of Wight train takes you to the end of the jetty in Ryde, you catch the ferry across to Portsmouth, and then another train all the way to London. It was a wonderful experience riding on this little train and going all the way out to the end of the jetty at Ryde. Upon our return to Brading, we sat in the station room and had tea and toasted tea cakes, which are a bit like English fruit muffins. There was even a station cat smooching around. The volunteers were so friendly and we had such fun with them. We were waved off on our way.

We drove south, skirting the edge of the island, through Sandown, Shanklin and Ventnor. We finally drove north into Whitwell, the original village of the Jacobs family. We walked down the street to see the White Horse Inn and looked at the old buildings that were around during the time of our forebears. We went to the start of Nettlecomb Lane, which also features in 'Jacobs Ladder'.