Isle of Wight: A Family Adventure You Never Knew About

Hi guys, it's Chris from Boat Car Adventures. Hello guys. We're going to be talking to you guys today about our trip to the Isle of Wight. We got there late. I remember that. And then we made our way onto the ferry. Yeah. Which, that's when it all started, when we started getting funny looks. Like, um... Why is the boat going on the ferry? Yeah. You can go across yourself, can't you? That was the first time you went on the ferry, wasn't it? We went across, it was a lovely day. And it took about an hour and a half. Was it an hour? One hour? I think it was an hour, wasn't it? One hour crossing. Yeah. From Southampton? Yep. So, anyway, I got bored. So, we walked around the ferry. And then, at some point, I found my way into the captain's bridge. Oh, yeah. And to do that, I had to really blag my way up there and find someone who could get me up there. Because it was like Fort Knox. Had doors everywhere. It was like a prison. To get up there. So, I passed around. Everyone said, no, you'll never get up there. It's not going to happen. I said, I am. I'm doing it. And I persisted. And then I bumped into the information guy. OK. And there's a counter in there on the ship where, well, the ferry. And this guy gives you directions in terms of information. I thought you said he was some sort of security guard or something. I don't know. A bit of everything, I think. It was a bit of everything. So, I asked him. And he went, no, I don't think so. I said, I'm from Boat Car Adventures. I've got a boat car. And he went, oh. He looked at me like, I don't know who you are, mate. I don't know what you're talking about. Excuse me. Do you know who I am? I have absolutely no idea. Anyway, but he said, what he will do, he'll call the captain. He thinks it's very unlikely. But he'll call the captain and see whether I'll be allowed up to the bridge. So, he called the captain. He looked at me. And I thought, oh, it's not going to happen. Then he went, yeah, the captain would like you to come up. No way. Yeah. So, anyway, it was. So, I made my way up there to the captain's bridge. And it was through different security doors, up a few stairs and all that. And got up there. And I went in there. And surprisingly, the captain was quite happy for me. He then clocked that it was us driving the boat car. Right. Which I could see at the end of the ferry. So, he went, oh, I thought that was a boat car. But when I asked to come up there, he said, yeah, definitely. After watching the video, I saw there was loads of people in the area. Well, there's quite a few. Not really doing much. Well, one of them is. And it's the guy who steers the boat. So, you've got a captain. You've got a chief. I didn't know you had chiefs on boats. OK. You always talk about captains on chiefs normally in military or police. So, a chief is above the captain. Yeah, apparently. OK. And he does nothing, too. So, you've got the chief doing nothing. You've got the captain doing nothing. And you've got this guy who's basically making fine adjustments on these little wheels. And the steering wheels are tiny. And I think he's got 16 of them. 16 steering wheels altogether. Yeah, 16 steering wheels altogether. What can I do then? 16? Yeah. Steering wheels? Yeah. And there is, I think I showed a video, there's little steering wheels all around. And it's like, you'd have thought being, we're in the 20th century, this thing would have a yoke. I mean, aeroplanes don't even have that. I know. It's true. But anyway, you've got all these different steering wheels, different points on the port and starboard side of the ship or ferry. And for mooring and stuff. And you've got a load of stuff in the middle. And he's just making fine adjustments. And I started talking to him and he just was not really having it. He's just like, number one, he's got the captain on the left hand side and the chief on the right. So, he's thinking, I've just got my job. And he just said hello briefly and he was just concentrating. Oh, right. So, you've got a pilot, a captain and a chief? Yeah. Oh, so the captain and chief didn't actually drive the boat? No. Oh, right. Not crossing. I don't know what he does. I wouldn't stay to do it. I presume they mainly do the docking side of it. Right. And the same with aircraft. A captain would take off and land and it's normally a first pilot what would do the bit in between. And the captain just monitors. That's what normally happens on the aircraft. And then there was a girl there, wasn't there? Yeah. And she was called, was it Bonson? Oh, Bonson. Bonson. Or Bonson or something, yeah. I think that's what she said she was. Yeah. And I said, what did you do? And she goes, absolutely nothing. And she wasn't doing anything. So, I think her job is to monitor everyone else. So, she just keeps an eye on the captain, the chief and this dude who's steering the ship. Right, okay. And so, she goes, I'm not important. But I'm like, you clearly are. You're doing even less than they are. Exactly. So, yeah. So, I don't know. I didn't understand her role, but she's got a very important role, I'm sure, with getting us safely. Yeah. So, one thing we didn't notice is that if the ship was to go down, but we had our own life raft. Yeah. Definitely. I think that was one of the shorts, wasn't it? I said to the captain, he didn't find it funny. Obviously, the views up there were brilliant. I could see all around where we were going. That's amazing. And I didn't expect to get up there too far. I thought, let me just try and see. Try your luck. Yeah. And we got there. So, that was really good. It's not the first time being the bridge, but I'm always up there causing issues. Very quickly after setting off, we were seeing the coast off the Isle of Wight. And it was gorgeous. It was turquoise, wasn't it? It was amazing. And amazing. It was sunny. And, you know, the water was amazing. You could see, like, some tropical trees over there. And you could see, was it the needles? No. Oh, the needles. Yeah, not from that side. I think it was from the other side. The cliff edge. Yeah. And then, obviously, you can see the main port we were going into. Yeah. Bainbridge. Yeah. Isle of Wight was quite amazing because it's an island which everyone knows, but not many people have been to. Yeah. And we were really, honestly, shocked how nice the island was. Yeah. And I felt like we were actually away when we were on the island. As soon as we got there, the energy was just so… Yeah. It was just nice. And the water was so nice. It was amazing. It was like, I was still in the UK. Yeah. And… That shouldn't be the UK. Exactly. We should have been in the Caribbean or somewhere. It was amazing. It had a very nice energy to it. Yeah. So, yeah, I recommend anyone who wants to go and do a UK holiday, I mean, Isle of Wight is it. It is. Yeah. And, although the crossing is quite pricey, it's what it is. Yeah. If you want to go there, then you've just got to pay for it. Yeah. But once you're there, it's definitely worth… You'll see why. Definitely. So we got off the ferry and we headed down. The first point of call was a beach side because, you know, of course we're not going to get there and not go straight to the beach, which we did. Yeah. And it was absolutely stunning. Was it a pebbled beach or sand? Sand beach. Oh. And it was amazing. It was. And that's one where I think we rolled on the floor. Yeah. On chalk. It was. A bit of vandalism. Lane decided to do some vandalism on the… Who was it then? I didn't touch it. It's another person. Yeah. That looks a bit like me. Watch the video, you'll see. But it was Lane. To be fair, we found some chalk on the beach and we were wondering if it was really chalk. So we… Elaine picked it up. We. Elaine picked it up. And yeah, there's some scribble. I wondered whether actually the chalk originated from the Isle of Wight. I wondered whether they called it the Isle of Wight because of the chalk cliff sides. And I think it materialised that they did, right? I think so. Full stop. Can't believe I live in your thoughts. I think about you all the time. Morning, evening and midnight. Such a wonderful delight. The Isle of Wight, as we were driving round, it just got better and better. And I basically thought, before I was there, I thought, you know, I really want to see what the hype's about. Yeah. And then I realised that until you start really exploring the island, you don't see a lot of people. I guess a lot of people don't really explore the island when they go there. So Nettle Coon Farm is actually a working farm, which they have, like, I think it's about seven or five or so lodges on there that you can stay on in, sorry. Self-contained lodges, which had their own bathrooms, two bedrooms or one bedroom. I think they go up to three bedrooms, but it was amazing. There was a farm in the background, but I didn't really know that it was going to be like a farm hotel at first. Next day we woke up, we were happy to do the challenge. The landscape was beautiful. In the morning when we woke up, it was like, wow. It was definitely nice. Yeah. It was definitely nice. And the Nettle Coon Farm, I mean, the animals that are in there. Yeah, they had real animals. I didn't even know there were sheep there at first. I was just wondering where the hotel was. First we never knew there was a challenge and we never knew we can touch them at the start. None of these animals offer food. They are all pets for the farm. Yeah. From donkeys to ostriches to emus, guinea pigs. Rabbits. And we fed cows and other sheep and there was one where we can go in it and we went in with Kate and the other sheep and lambs too. And we fed milk to her too. Reindeers. Yeah, it was amazing. It's got so... Chickens. Yeah, and the chickens are lovely. Yeah. As seen in our video clip, our girls are holding chickens. Little Marjories running around. Yeah, it started at 8 too. Oh yeah, and guinea pigs and rabbits. And we saw a reindeer. Yeah, we saw a reindeer. So every morning you can wake up at 8 or 8.30, I think it was, to feed the animals. Yeah. Obviously, you know, as parents you don't really want to have to do that, but it really does. It's such a good treat for the kids. Not every morning, maybe not, but, you know, one or two mornings that you're there if you can wake up and go out there and spend a bit of time with, is it Tallulah? Tallulah, yeah. The grandchild of the owner. Yeah. She would really put her time with the other girls up there as well. You know, not just her, there was a good team there. And they take you around to different animals, tell you what they're about and any questions that the kids had, they really spent a lot of time explaining about them and telling you what, you know, what they fed on and how they fed them and how often, etc. It was amazing. The accommodation, the farm was amazing. The guys were absolutely brilliant. And a lot of people go for walks through the mountains because I think they also have a working garlic farm. Garlic? Yeah. Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah, they have a proper working garlic farm. So you can actually walk to the garlic farm and try out different types of garlic that they had there. And I think they had like garlic oil and all sorts of things that are made from garlic. So that's also a good thing for you guys to take the kids to. We didn't get to do that, but, you know, you can do that if you're that way inclined. It's about 10, 15 minutes from Vent now. Yeah. And then if you go the other way, then you end up going towards the Needles. Yeah, so we went to the Needles, didn't we? Oh yeah, I remember the cable cars. Do you mean at the... The Needles. Wait, what's the Needles? Remember when we went down to the beach? And went on a boat ride? Don't remember that. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. The Needles were fantastic. We met my brand. Yep. He's the director, I think, of the resort. Really good guy. Very good guy. We went past there and then into the car park and then we parked up and Branken met us and then after dealing with loads of people, we met a German. Was it a German couple? Yeah. Yeah, and then I was asking lots of questions and stuff like that. We went to Needles. I didn't know what the Needles was at first. I thought it was like a theme park. But then I saw the cable cars too. Then I saw the cable cars. We made our way over to the cable cars. Yeah. I don't know. For me, the cable cars are the highlight of the park. Yeah, definitely. But a lot of people actually go there to see the Needles and see the whole view of the Needles. So we went on the cable cars. Went down. And when we got to the bottom, it was, again, beautiful. It was a beautiful day. So the water was turquoise and see-through. And then we went on the boat trip, didn't we? Yeah, boat trip. We went on the boat trip. Pleasure Cruises? Yes, I think it is. Needles. Pleasure Cruises. Needles. Pleasure Cruises. So there's two boats. You've got the high-speed speed boat that does all the fast stuff. And then you've got the normal tour boat which goes along. So we went on the tour boat. Yeah. And that took us out to the Needles, just past it. And it turns around and comes back. And then they give you the history about the Needles. Oh, and on that day, we actually saw a boat that, earlier on or the day before? The day before, yeah. I think we saw a cave near it and it was on a rock like that. A big one. I think it was on the other side of the Needles. At bottom. The Needles are very famous for having big spikes underneath the ground. That's why it's called the Needles. Needles. And it will cut a hole through your boat. And this guy misjudged the area and ended up, unfortunately, a shipwreck and it sank. Sad. And we saw parts of it. Parts of it, what was left. It wasn't much of it left, was it? No. It was a lovely boat as well. But anyway, we saw that and we came back. Then we just came back and then there's tonnes about the Needles and how it formed. And also, within the rocks going back, there was a hole in the wall, remember? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Is that where they looked out for you? Yeah, I think the lookout. I think, yeah. I think that was used in the wall or something like that. Yeah. So, you saw that and then we headed back in and then, yeah, so... We had to take the cable car back up. Back up. To the top where we saw a whole load of caps. By the way, if you are going on the cable cars and it's a windy day, hold on to your caps because you will lose it. After leaving there, we went to... Oh, you went to Lobster Shack. Yeah. That was Ventnor, right? Yes. Yeah. Well, we went to a place called the Smoking Lobster and another place where... I forgot the name again but it was... That place had the French Tandem. So, we went back to Ventnor and... Went to Lobster Shack. Yeah, that was amazing. Oh, my gosh. And they... It's right literally on the beach, isn't it? Yeah. Right next to the beach and then we went and had lobster there with them and their food, yeah. It was amazing and the guys there, they actually own their own fishing boats. Yeah. So, they go out every day and they come back with their catch that they've got caught and, yeah, you guys can get the lobster, crab, etc. from them, fish, etc. Oh, it was just so scrumptious, wasn't it? It was nice. So, we enjoyed that and then, obviously, we drove. We went for a drive and back and as we do, just try to explore the area. To be fair, in Isle of Wight, we weren't expecting the people to be so attentive and nice. That was the main thing about there. You know, we got there and everyone was like, oh, hi, how are you doing? Where are you from? Blah, blah, blah. We also went to, you know, one of the little convenience stores. Oh, we got mums. Yeah. And everyone, even the young kids, are just so, they're just so nice and polite and attentive and, you know, welcoming you to their island and they've got such a pride, I guess, a feeling of pride about where they live. Yep. It's island mentality, I call it. Definitely. In a good way. So, it's, yeah, people are just so proud of Isle of Wight. They're so proud. Definitely. And the only other place I've felt that it was Cornwall. So, if you visit Isle of Wight, visit Off Peak if you can because that'll be good and it'll help the locals as well within the quiet periods and you'll save yourself some money with accommodation and definitely stay at Nettlecomb Farm. Yeah. Yep. So, we went, so we went to, um, we went to three places to eat, wasn't it? Yep. Um, we went to the last one which was, um, the, uh, that's in Ventnor as well. Was it The Shack? The Shack, I think it was. Yeah, Beach Shack. Beach, Beach Shack? Yeah. Yep. We'll put a link to all those, all these, um, these places we stayed at. We had lunch there. I know, which one was that? The Beach Shack, the one, the, on the, when we jogged down. Yeah, that we had to walk to. Yes, right, the Beach Shack, yeah, that's the one. Down Love Lane, I think it was. And, um, all the way down some little stairwell. Almost seems like you're going in the wrong place. Yep. And then when you get down to the bottom, oh my God, you'll understand why you took that. It's amazing. It was almost like the Caribbean. Yeah. And, um, so we went to the Beach Shack. Lovely guys, found business again. Yeah. Been there for years. and, um, yeah, it was amazing. The location is absolutely the best. Could be, well, I don't know. They're all great. It's just different. That was nice though. Yeah. It actually felt like you were in the Caribbean. It's right in this little, little covey area. They had their little shack there, which, by the way, once upon a time, did, uh, get really damaged due to storms. So, um, but yeah, being there was like, literally like you're in the Caribbean. You know, you could sit there right on the water's edge. Yeah. Drink your, um, your, whatever, your juice or, I don't know if they did cocktails. I don't know. I don't think so. It's non-alcoholic, wasn't it? Yeah. Oh no, there was alcohol. Yeah, there was alcohol. You could drink alcohol. You can imagine sitting there with your cocktail, you know, sipping your drink and just, just, yeah, experiencing the beautiful views that's in front of you. It was amazing. Yeah. So, if that's what you're into, then go to the beach shack, check them out. The seafood's amazing. ice cream was great. Yeah. And I managed to take his dog further than everyone has before. Because we had a bet where he said the dog would never go with me past the end of the, The doorway. The doorway, and it did. And I thought I won, I thought I was going to take it all the way down to the end and the dog clopped in real life. I think it just lasted the kids. If it was just us two, it would be like, no, I ain't coming with you guys, no. Yeah. So, no, it was great. Amazing. Yeah, no, definitely go check them out. Yeah. Go and show them some love and enjoy the food and the location. Yeah. So that was it, really. On the way back, we obviously jumped, we, the whole year we went to the wrong place to get on the ferry. We went to the east. Oh yeah. I think it was. You got east cows to west cows. Yeah. You got cows, no, cows went to, wasn't it? Yeah. You got east cows, cows, and west cows. Yeah, and we went to the wrong side, it was the east side. Yeah. Which is the right random side, and it's starting the 30 minutes drive and, and you can see the other part, but it's, when you look at the map you've got to drive all the way back round and we went there and it was like, oh gosh, wrong place. Yeah. So, east cows to the passenger terminal where you walk on the ferry and the other side of the castle, don't make that mistake I did. No. Just go to the main cows and, and it was regatta week I think coming up. Yeah. So, it was really busy and we had to head back and I thought, well if we could stay and go in the water it would have been great playing around but, we had to go back and we saw the boats coming over setting up and we were regatting all over the world to do that as well, cows week, so, yeah, so it would have been great to stay for that but we had to get back because we had a big massive adventure coming up. Yep. And so, yeah, it was, it was an experience. Yeah. I don't know why and to sum it up, definitely one of the best places to visit in the UK, definitely underrated, definitely all known but no one's really been there because I've asked people and they've never been there and I don't know why they're missing out. I don't know why it's amazing. Definitely. So that is it. Go back, like I said, go back, check our videos, like, subscribe and yeah. Someone said to me once you can't do all three at once. What's that? Like, subscribe and comment. Which could be hard to do all at once. They do it separately. Yeah, I know. No? They were like, well you shouldn't say like, subscribe and comment. Why not? Exactly. You like, if you want to see more you subscribe and if you want to say something you comment. That's what we normally do to a conversation. Exactly. You meet someone, you like them, you engage with them, subscribe and then if you want to communicate with them you comment. Subscribe? Okay. It's a natural thing. Yeah. So yeah, like, subscribe, comment. But if you appreciate it, we appreciate you regardless. Yeah. Anyway, yeah, thank you for checking us out and we're going to come up with some more great content and yeah, it's, we just can't wait to get back on the road. Bye.