Recently, Mum and I gave into the lure of our sea fever and caught a train for the coast. We were heading for the Isle of Wight, via Southampton. We had deliberately kept our plans vague, but we were determined to visit Osborne House, Queen Victoria’s country retreat, even if we did nothing else. It turned out to be worth a whole day.

Our plan was to get the bus from the station to the ferry terminus at Southampton, and sail across the Solent to Cowes on the Isle of Wight (UK Meet folks may want to know that the ferry terminal is opposite the Meet hotel). Unfortunately, our journey went a big wonky at that point. There is, in theory, a connecting bus which meets the London train. Unfortunately, there’s only a minute’s change and it had gone early. So we walked down the main road, cutting across the car park of the Novotel and two Ibises, past IKEA, and then past the Grand Harbour Hotel where the Meet will be. We even spotted some zebras on the way…

These were just the ones we walked past–we spotted a lot more from the bus back to the station that evening