Westgate-on-Sea to the Isle of Wight

We said a sad goodbye to my friend D, who has looked after us so well while we’ve been staying with her.  She drove us to the station, where we caught the train to London Victoria.  The station at Victoria was heaving with people and luggage and it was quite a mission to push our way through the crowds to reach our next train - to Portsmouth Harbour.  The second train was also packed with people, probably because it stops at Gatwick.  The train left on time and, as expected, a lot of people departed the train at Gatwick.  Shortly afterwards we realised that we had a problem.  We were in coach 12 of 12, and needed to be in one of the front 4 coaches, otherwise we would end up in Bognor Regis instead - not something we wanted to do.  We managed to work our way through the carriages until we were in the correct part of the train at Horsham, where it divided, and were soon speeding through the countryside to Portsmouth Harbour, where we would catch a WightLink ferry to Ryde on the Isle of Wight.  It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed watching the countryside flash by.  We arrived in Portsmouth Harbour on time and had time to share a sandwich before we boarded the ferry.  It was a quick trip across to the IoW and we were soon being hugged by our friends and transported home.  We had G&Ts while we caught up on their news, then supper and it was only when MrMacD suggested I go to bed as I was falling asleep at the table, that I realised how tired I was.  I’d been woken at around 2:30 this morning by a helicopter, which flew round and round for a long time (probably looking for boat people we suspect), and I only managed to fall asleep again at 5:30am, waking at 6:30am to prepare for our departure.

The blip shows:
LHS - a house at Faversham, a house at Fratton, and a plant in our friends’ house on the IoW

Middle - crossing the Medway at Rochester, Battersea Power Station as we approached London Victoria, crossing the Thames as we left London Victoria, and Portsmouth Harbour

RHS - a clock tower in Portsmouth and the flower on a yucca tree in the garden at Westgate-on-Sea