Alum Bay

This is a shot of Alum Bay looking west towards The Needles, a row of three stacks of chalk off the extreme western tip of the Isle of Wight. The Needles lighthouse is at the end of the stacks and was built in 1859, although is now automated.

The formation takes its name from the former 4th needle-shaped pillar that collapsed in a storm in 1764, but the name stuck.

This was the best could manage today as the weather took its toll and even this was affected by the strong winds that closed many of the attractions at The Needles Pleasure Park that was our entertainment venue for the day. We might be able to use the tickets we had already bought before we go home at the weekend but it was a bit of a disappointment (although recognise that the closures were for safety reasons).

Time seems to be speeding up and this week is going much faster than last week. I'm going to start getting gloomy about going back to work: then again, the kids are getting to a point where I might just start looking forward to going back to work.