We’ve had what I’m going to call our first “proper” adventure in the jeep over the last weekend. We’ve been out many times and had many enjoyable adventures but Saturdays was the first planned trip and it went spectacularly!
Having owned JP18 for about 3 months now, we have until now only taken short day trips in the local area avoiding journeys and trips further away for fear of any mechanical break downs or issues occurring. However, with the Jeep booked in for a full service later this week we wanted to make sure we had something planned in the dairy just in case it would be at the garage for an extended period.
On Saturday morning got up bright and early, took the door uppers and rear windows off but decided to leave the rear sides and roof on the jeep.
Sidenote: On every trip we take we need to have a good idea of the weather for the day will be for fear of getting cold/wet/sunburnt etc if we don’t bring the door uppers or roof with us, then we’re stuck with how its setup. It turned out this trip would be on one of the hottest days of the year
With the Jeep fuelled and tidied the day before we got going at 7am prompt, our destination? Wightlinks Portsmouth ferry terminal for our crossing to the Isle of Wight for the day. Known worldwide for being rich in its Dinosaur fossils and according to Dr Paul Barrett, Merit Researcher from the Natural History Museum, the Isle of Wight is the UK’s Dinosaur Capital! What better place to spend the day with JP18
Sidenote: Vikki and I had stayed on the Isle of Wight previously last year in at the excllent Into the Woods Treehouse where we also found a fantastic Ice Cream parlour Crave Ventnor which as you’ll soon learn is a corner stone of this blog
We arrived at the terminal bang on time for our 8am crossing and were actually on our way across at 7:58 so we all made good time. When we “landed?” on the other side we knew our first stop would be to travel south from Fishbourne down to Ventnor where we would find Crave Ice Cream for breakfast. I had a Peach, Mint and Toblerone combination and Vikki had similar with Mint, Pretzel, Bueno hippo and peanut butter fudge.
With that out of the way we started to think about what else we could do whilst we were here. We didn’t actually have much of a plan other than wanting ice cream but we did pick up an island activates brochure which we read on the crossing which gave us a few ideas. We had seen Dinosaur themed mini golf so set off from Ventnor up the cost to Sandown. Whilst setting the route on the phone I noticed a shop called Jurassic Jim in Shanklin, with a name like that we know we’d have to pop in on our way to the mini golf.
As we drove through Shanklin we saw Jims shop on the and stopped in a small carpark in town where we parked, not before noticing an ideal place to stop, right next to Jurassic Jims branded van! We took a few photos and headed to the shop. Jurassic Jim’s is an odd mix of genuine archaeological history and more “trinkety” bits with genuine dinosaur bones and gemstones and knickknacks. I picked up a couple of fossilised teeth and Vikki spotted a nice heart shaped coaster with a fossilised shell embedded. When we left to pay we showed Jim the photos of the jeep and his van, he loved it, and came with us back to the car park for an impromptu photoshoot! He was a lovely chap and talked about some of the “hero car” events that run on the island for charity, we may well look into those in the future. After a few photos we said our goodbyes and carried on up to Sandown.
Not much after 10am we arrived at Sandham Gardens home of Dino Islands Gold Adventure were Vikki and I had our 18 holes of mini golf fun. As it happened, we tired each other’s score so everyone was a winner. The course had all sorts of static and animated dinosaur displays and was nicely laid out. We didn’t realise at the time that the golf was part of the wider Gardens but did spot a high-level soft play and trampoline something we’re keen to bring our Nephew too once he’s a little older.
I mentioned earlier that it was turning out to be one of the hottest days of the year, by now it was approaching mid-day and temperatures were rising despite the clouds overhead, and so we set off in the Jeep again and wow was the fresh air lovely. On a previous visit to the Isle of Wight we had tried to visit the Isle of Wight Donkey sanctuary but alas visited to late in the day and missed them, this time we had plenty of time and so set off to see some Donkeys!
The donkey sanctuary was a lovely place, with almost 100 donkeys they all had plenty of space to roam around and were grouped depending on their needs or age with the old and very young inside their cool shed for the day. However, the intense heat of the day and our now hungry bellies meant we had to find shade and rest.
The time now approaching 2pm we were a little late in the day to stop and eat there as the last two remaining sandwiches in the cafe didn’t look to appetising, so on our way to our next destination we kept and eye open for an inviting looking place to eat, which we found in The Sun Inn a lovely looking pub with plenty of outside seat and in the shade. An ice cold drink and a hot meal did us both wonders! As we recharged we planned the route to the next stop on our jam packed day on the island to West Wight Alpacas
Of all the things we managed to pack into our trip the best was the Alpaca farm. A lovely way to spend an hour or so we brought a cup of food each and after a little guide on what we could do and where to go we were left to our own devices to wander the farm. The farm has more than just Alpacas with what I guess you could call a smaller petting zoo area at the start with Ducks and Chickens, Pigs, Goats, Horses etc. Then further up behind were the Alpaca paddocks with frankly more Alpacas than I could count.
They’re very gentle and chatty creatures and all had their own way of getting your attention for food. Some gobbled greedily, some took little nibbles, all were lovely and made all sorts of grunts and sniffles and noises with each other. We also befriended a pony who followed us the length of his paddock. Vikki brought me a small felted Alpaca that looked like one I had befriended.
Alas despite being later in the day the heat sadly had not left up. Vikki suggested we find a costal road to follow on our way back to Ventnor for one last visit to Crave before they closed at 6. Waze found us a lovely costal and road and her suggestion was spot on, the cooler coastal air was lovely, as was the drive. A quick google tells me this was the A3055 Military Road and something Vikki spotted as we drove along was a Velociraptor!
I didn’t know a the time but this was Chale Bay Farm a rental property and the dinosaur out front serves as an excellent landmark, we stopped for a quick photo with the Dinosaur and the Jeep then onwards back towards Ventnor and another Ice Cream at Crave, the cooler air and the ice cream certainly helped. With and hour and half before our return ferry we decided to make our way slowly back to Fishbourne trying to follow coast roads and set Bembridge as an arbitrary destination to give us somewhere to aim for.
We arrived in Bembridge and found ourselves on Fisherman’s Walk by the RNLI Lifeboat station where we parked up, made quick use of the facilities then I suggest we go down to the water’s edge for a walk along the shore. The water was lovely and cool, Vikki is slowly converting me to flip-flops and as such these and a towel now live in the Jeep for such an occasion, it was lovely as the sun began to sink the temperatures lowered, the gentle sea lapping around us was just lovely, as Vikki said herself “very romantic” and what better end to the day. The day had been packed with activates considering on the crossing over we only had Ice Cream in mind! The Jeep behaved flawlessly and of course got looks and attention wherever we go, I’ll never get tired of hearing passers-by show “Jurassic Park!” as we pass!