Newport & Carisbrooke Castle

Our third day on the Isle we decided to head inland to Newport and the village of Carisbrooke, I had read in one of the pamphlets that there was a castle there that was supposed to be pretty nifty. We took the bus into Newport and wandered around town. It was so cute and still had many of it's original narrow roads and large squares.

After wandering around Newport for an hour or two we decided to walk over to Carisbrooke to check out the castle. From a distance we could only see the Motte (a large tower built up on an artificial hill), because of this I assumed that the castle was in ruins. Turns out I was wrong about that! The castle was originally built by the Normans around 1100 and gradually built up and improved upon throughout the years and lived in all the was up until 1944. Charles the first was famously imprisoned here in the 1600s and Princess Beatrice (daughter of Queen Victoria) made the castle her home until her death in 1944. The castle was massive and once reaching the top walls and the top of the Motte we had the most amazing views of the countryside!

View of the castle from afar (the motte in the background and the military fortifications built up on the sides)

Up on top of the castle walls!

View back into the innards of the castle (the biggest building to the left is the manor house of Princess Beatrice)

Stairs of death up to the Motte

The Gatehouse and entrance to the castle

I had an amazing time and definitely suggest that anyone heading to England check out the south...especially the Isle of Wight! I'm heading back to work on Monday....but stay tuned, I have a long weekend off in May and am heading to Paris!

The headland

It was just slightly windy up there...

The old coastguard cottages

Tennyson Downs

Alum Bay

Headon Warren - a protected area covered in heather...so pretty!

The New Battery

The New Battery was built further up the cliff in the 1890s with the fear that the new and heavier guns would cause the chalk cliffs to collapse at the Old Battery. It was mostly used for ammunition storage as well as administrative purposes until the end of the second world war.
From 1956 until the 1970s it was used as a testing site for rockets. Until I visited the headland I had absolutely no idea that Britain had even taken part in the space race. Apparently (according to this place anyways) at one point they were ahead of Russia and the United States. The site was used to test the Black Arrow and Black Knight rockets before they were shipped to Australia for launch. It was a very secretive project which is why it took place in such an isolated area. It all came to an end when the British government decided that there was "no future" for launching satellites into space and the project was scrapped.

The old control room (in a former ammo store room)

The old rocket testing sites along the south side of the headland (so all the stink and fumes would blow towards France! HAHA!)

The Old Battery

At the very tip of the headland there is a battery (an armed area with large guns, smaller then a fort). The one on the very tip is known as the Old Battery and looks out over the Needles (huge chunks of chalk jutting out of the ocean, and the Needles Lighthouse....which wasn't automated until 1994). The Old Battery was originally used to protect the Solent (area of the English Channel between the Isle of Wight and the mainland) from the French and was built in the early 1860s. The Old Battery was used to protect England all the way up until the end of the Second World War. Soldiers were stationed here throughout both world wars to spot e-boats with a spotlight (added in 1899) and help to spot coming air raids. It was a bit of a terrifying time being stationed at the Old Battery and they were very isolated from the rest of the isle. While visiting we heard a terrifying story of two young guards on watch whose job it was to walk around the outer areas of the Battery who happened to not show up for the guard switch. It turns out they had been swept off the side of the cliff by a gust of wind and sucked out to sea (this made the idea of walking back down the coastal trail even more terrifying).

Guns on parade at the Old Battery

The stairs heading to the tunnel that leads to the spotlight.

The Original Searchlight (a little corroded from being exposed to the salty air)

The Needles and the Needles Lighthouse (not automated until 1994, the lighthouse keepers would be stuck out here for 2 months straight!)

Views of the cliffs from the North Lookout at the Old Battery

View of the Parade and the New Guard offices (built in the 1940s)

Isle of Wight

After our little visit to London we headed to the Isle of Wight for a few days. After four train rides and a ferry (never travelling on Easter Monday ever again!) we finally arrived in Yarmouth where we then had to find a bus to Totland where we were staying. That evening was miserable, the waves were massive and it was quite a rocky ride over on the ferry. When we finally reached Totland on the bus we had to hike up a massive hill in the rain after which my phone dies and we get a little lost! After about 30 minutes of aimless wandering we finally arrived at the B&B. Luckily the next few days that we spent on the isle were beautiful (but windy) and the scenery was really beautiful.

The first day we decided to hike to the Needles from where we were staying. It took us around an hour from where we were staying to hike up to the headland in Alum Bay on the coastal trail. This coastal trail was a little bit terrifying, you are literally on the side of a cliff in a crazy wind heading uphill the entire way, with a small road on one side and a huge drop into the ocean on the other side. There were tons of warnings about keeping your dogs and children under control on the trail to avoid an inevitable drop since there is no fencing to catch you from the drop.

 On our way up the Coastal Trail

The coloured sands of Alum Bay

The Road and Coastal Trail (and edge of the cliff...yikes!)

London Round Three

During my third trip to London I got to explore a few places I was yet to visit... Westminster Abbey, Harrods, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the Natural History Museum as well as St.James park, Green park, and Hyde park. The weather was amazing, the parks were beautiful and the museums were awesome!

I got to view a few exhibitions in the Victoria and Albert Museum (60 years of Elizabeth II) and the Natural History Museum (Animals inside out). The animals inside out exhibit was definitely one of the coolest things I have ever seen! It was a series of plasticized animal muscles, nervous systems, hearts, and other various innards. We spent about 5 hours in the museum and there was still a lot that we didn't get a chance to see. I'll definitely be heading back there!

Just a little preview of the Animals Inside Out Exhibit (no photography inside!)

The awesome escalator in the Earth room

The Marine Mammal Room (with a full sized blue whale and various other skeletons)