The Island Line

Towards the end of our stay on the Isle of Wight we took the obligatory trip on the Island Line, the line which runs from Ryde Pierhead, through Brading and onto Shanklin. The last leg, to Ventnor, having been closed years ago. Which is a pity from our point of view as the train would have been a far more convenient way to get there than driving. So we do not know Ventnor as well as we might.

In the course of last year's upgrade, Brading moved from one track to two track working. At the same time declaring the footbridge unfit for human consumption and installing a temporary replacement.

Upgrade did not include this bit of roof. With the upside being that I have learned that this station was open as long ago as 1864.

Upgrade did include new-to-the-island rolling stock, London underground trains with blue seats, replacing the brown wood and red seats. Not sure about the electrics as this track uses same the third rail system as the rest of the Southwestern Trains network, which is not the same, as that on the underground with its two power rails.

Arrived at Shanklin, to go past St. Paul's church, in the charge of one Mark Williams. I knocked on the vicarage door to see if was the same Mark Williams that we used to know, also a parson. It wasn't and I had the uneasy feeling that I had knocked on this very same door before. Perhaps this Williams remembered but was too polite to say so - but which might account for his lack of interest.

The church itself was rather a grand place, complete with palm trees, presumably dating from Shanklin's glory days as a seaside resort. Didn't get to look inside.

Lots of tea shops, junk shops and charity shops. With the largest of these last occupying what had been the town's auction rooms, complete with a very grand staircase. And including the chap at reference 2 who makes unique souvenirs out of bits of old bicycles. He has a large shop, so I imagine rents must have drifted down as the regular shop keepers drifted away.

And so to the famous chine. We went down, but there seemed to be plenty of people coming up, some of them as old as us.

Near the bottom, the giant rhubarb was doing well, complete with the odd echium, strayed from Ventnor Botanic Gardens.

The Lazy Wave, a traditional beach café, had made way for a new place which seemed to specialise in donuts and smoothies. A change for the worse as far as we were concerned. We shall see how long they last.

We went across the road to the Lookout Café where we had very satisfactory crab sandwiches. They also offered meat and two veg. Run by a husband and wife team of middle years, efficient but I suspected tired: just two of you to run such a place must be hard work.

The beach was reasonably busy and somehow more cheerful looking than Sandown. And somewhere along the way we met the chap already noticed at reference 1.

Clambered back up to the station, which was warm work, it being around 14:00 by then.

A pause, then more Kosovan sausage stew. Followed by a somewhat overripe melon and some fruit loaf (I think from the big Tesco's) which I forget to toast. But not bad for all that.

Another pause, then an evening stroll to see Little Jane's house, Little Jane being remembered for dying well of tuberculosis when she was 15 and as the subject of edifying stories. Back through a busy recreation field, busy with some sort of community picnic, winding up at the Bugle to return the book noticed at reference 5.

Where I was intrigued by what appeared to be a curved wooden beam holding up the chimney. Chimney possibly rebuilt and no longer in service, but the beam looked real enough.

Home to learn about the rather florid poem called 'The New Helen', written by Oscar Wilde to celebrate the then reigning beauty, Mrs. Langtry. Learned about, but not actually read.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2022/07/danfo.html.

Reference 2: https://www.recycleandbicycle.co.uk/.

Reference 3: https://shanklinchine.co.uk/. The chine.

Reference 4: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2021/07/shanklin.html. Last year's visit.

Reference 5: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2022/07/oliver-twist.html.

Reference 6: http://www.online-literature.com/wilde/2250/. The florid poem, nicely garnished with advertisements.