Despite Jasper having stolen the end of the rod for the loft hatch yesterday we took him to his luxury hotel for the week before setting off down to Portsmouth. Hopefully the stolen white plastic whatsit turns up somewhere or getting into the loft will be interesting. Google Maps took us on a roundabout route to the A505 before we went down to South Mimms on the A1. Lots more electric vehicle charging points have appeared at South Mimms, a sign of the times. One of these days we’ll get an electric car or a hybrid one.

The M25 wasn’t bad for once, we did have to queue to get onto the A3 as there were roadworks blocking a lane to get onto it. The A3 was slightly lacking in decent service stations, we eventually found a Macdonalds as we neared Portsmouth. Google Maps interpreted us asking to go to Wightlink Ferries as meaning we wanted to go shopping at the Gunwharf Quay. So instead we asked for the Ferry Port and got to the right place in enough time to catch an earlier ferry! Our car ended up on Deck 3, Deck 1 also had cars on it. I don’t think the ferry could take as many as a hundred vehicles, it was a genteel size.

The ferry was happily not packed to the gills, we had no problems getting some hot chocolate and crisps and somewhere to consume them. We got them on Deck 4, the coffee bar on Deck 5 didn’t do hot chocolate. I took some pictures but it was a cloudy day with frequent drizzle and showers so not good camera conditions. Compared with the Isle of Man it was a quick 45-minute journey, and you can see the Isle of Wight clearly from Portsmouth. And vice versa.

We stopped at a Tesco Express for supplies, then voyaged off to Godshill. I once again faced the horror of meeting vehicles along single track roads, something that introduces stress to a restful holiday experience. We found our way to Godshill, booked up to eat at the Griffin, and then faced the first real challenge of the day. The place we were staying at was up a steep hill with a dirt track. No problem if you’re in a 4X4. We were not in a 4X4.

So screwing up courage to the sticking place like Macbeth and with as much a run up we could manage we zoomed up the hill as far as we could. We just made it to reach Cherry Lodge which was in itself nicely appointed. Cherry Lodge is set on a cherry farm and there is a strong cherry flavour to proceedings. Pictures of cherries. Cherry coloured curtains and cushions. Cherry juice and cherry jam in the welcome pack. Even a booklet about cherries with a picture of King Charles on the back apparently at the cherry farm.