#MiniBreeze goes for a trip

Hi, ever since @Kittehboi's #MiniBreeze got here he has been keen on the idea of going on the car ferry.  He got the chance when he and Mini-Kolo went for a trip to Deal in Kent to stay in a hotel and visit our grandmother.

#MiniBreeze was so excited that he wanted to look out for the ferry, but all he could see was the queue at the Fishbourne terminal.

Eventually it was our turn to board the ferry, #MiniBreeze was very excited.

We were sailing from the Ryde terminal, at Fishbourne, to Portsmouth Harbour.  This is the resort at Portsmouth, called Southsea.

Entering the harbout you see the Spinnaker tower which is a landmark for miles around.

Further into the harbour you see more and more interesting things.

After a not uneventful four hour drive to Deal, in Kent, we arrived at our hotel and a very comfortable bed.  The hotel was the Royal Hotel at Deal.  Admiral Lord Nelson and Lady Hamilton stayed there once, so it is very old.  It gets a good baboon rating for service, lunch and dinner.

The hotel was on the seafront and we got views of the sea from one window and nice old buildings from the other.

Uh oh!!  What have they found?

Oh dear, it looks as though somebody has left their luggage behind.

The hotel had a nice bar, no #MiniBreeze and Mini-Kolo didn't drink these drinks.

We went out for a walk and #MiniBreeze checked out Deal beach.

We came across this interesting character wrestling with fish.

Yes #MiniBreeze climbed all over him.

Then #MiniBreeze checked out Deal Castle, it is an old castle, built during Tudor times, along with others, to guard the English Channel against invaders, mainly French or Spanish.

Later we went to pick up my grandma for dinner.  Mini-Kolo introduced #MiniBreeze to the rehomed
baboon Russell, who lives with my grandma and his friends Somer, the little white gibbon, who came from the Owl and Monkey Sanctuary on our island, and Harry Fox who my people gave to grandma more than 20 years ago.

We took grandma to a restaurant in Deal, called 81.  Grandma likes it a lot and it gets a high baboon rating.  It was difficult for #MiniBreeze to decide what to eat as there was too much choice.

The risotto looked good to him, as it had cream in it.

But oh, the monk-fish is fish, um not sure what to do!!  In the end he decided that he would have manperson's monk-fish with the cream from person's risotto, clever #MiniBreeze!  He was polite and left grandma to eat her skate wing in peace, even though it was fish.

When it comes to puddings #MiniBreeze knows his stuff, but Mini-Kolo is the expert.  What to choose?

Person's tiramisu?

Manperson's cheesecake?

Or grandma's peach bake with sorbet?  Well he and #MiniBreeze opted for a piece of each.

After that it was back to the hotel for bed.  It had been a long, and not uneventful, journey (watch this space), a long walk and a biggggg dinner. The next morning #MiniBreeze was the first to check out the breakfast buffet.

He was quite impressed with the amount of yogurt on offer!!  Kippers were available too.  #MiniBreeze was very happy.  After all that breakfast we went for a walk.  #MiniBreeze was quite surprised when he saw the beach at Kingsdown (where we walked).

This is a beach, but it is full of flowers. We don't get that on the island, our beaches have stones or sand.

Back to the hotel and we met grandma for lunch in the bar.

#MiniBreeze has developed a taste for fish finger (translator's note - fishstick) sandwiches.  This one was particularly nice, in ciabatta bread.

Well the afternoon brought more walking.  #MiniBreeze found a boat that must have been meant for him.

The evening brought a dinner of scampi and chips (translator's note - fries), so nice that #MiniBreeze ate it before we could photograph it.  It was a fishy weekend.  Deal is a fishing town.

The next morning we had to leave for the drive back.  After breakfast we checked out.

We drove back and got onto the car ferry again.

#MiniBreeze looked at the smart flats that overlook the ferry terminal.  We wondered whether the ferry made them a bit noisy for the people.

The harbour was sunnier than on Friday and he got good pictures.

His last view of the mainland (for now) was the yachts at Gunwarf Quay.

#MiniBreeze had a very good weekend away and lots of his favourite foods.  He has more adventures to come.  He has already been on one today, details to follow.  Clue, we said our journey to Deal was not uneventful!!

#MiniBreeze meets some interesting characters

This week my person is off work and the manperson was off work yesterday, so #MiniBreeze got out and about again.

All good days out start with breakfast and #MiniBreeze had two croissants with strawberry jam, at French Frank's, in Ryde.  French Frank's gets a high baboon rating for breakfast.

Then we drove over to Freshwater and parked up for a walk.  #MiniBreeze has done this walk before but he concentrated on some different things this time.  Walking through the Victoria Fort Country Park he met some interesting characters.

First he met this interesting character who was drinking tea on a bench.  #MiniBreeze stopped for a chat and a cup of tea with him.

Moving on #MiniBreeze stopped and said look at this!!  We stopped and look and saw this character.

A giant owl down the hill in the woods.  What was he doing out during the day?

Hey we all know that #MiniBreeze has no fear, but wrestling this giant snake and sitting on his head, that is something else!!  We don't usually get snakes in our country and the ones we do get aren't usually this big!!

Well after a long walk and meetings with strange characters #MiniBreeze was hungry, so we went to his favourite cafe, The End of the Line, at Freshwater.  This used to be the Freshwater railway station (high baboon rating for lunch or cake).  What did #MiniBreeze have?  He didn't have his usual tuna baguette, he went for the tuna sandwich this time.

#MiniBreeze in Southampton

Yesterday #MiniBreeze and Mini-Kolo visited Southampton and had lunch.  Some of the pictures are not as good as we hoped because the hi-speed ferry goes so fast that the windows are always covered in water as though it is raining.  However, it is worth showing some of them.

It was a very sunny day and #MiniBreeze found a nice sun puddle on the bus going from Ryde to Newport.

At Newport we changed buses and made our way to Cowes, there was a nice sun puddle here for #MiniBreeze as well.

At Cowes we got on the hi-speed Ret Jet ferry and #MiniBreeze looked out at the yachts.  Another sun puddle.

The island is near to the naval base at Portsmouth so it is not unusual to see a navy ship.  Of course the camouflage grey makes them difficult to photograph, especially from a hi-speed ferry.

The Port of Southampton is very large and it accommodates cargo ships and cruise liners.  We were disappointed that there were no cruise liners in the port yesterday but there were plenty of container ships.

We reached Town Quay where the ferry docks.  #MiniBreeze was fascinated by the enormous yachts.

We were meeting @chalkybear13 at the City Station and then we went to West Quay shopping centre to have lunch in the food court.  We chose Ed's Diner.

Well actually they were meeting Chalky's wife, Cuddles.  Don't worry Mini-Kolo isn't in the habit of meeting married ladies without their husbands' permission.  Chalky was busy preparing dinner at #FurryTails.

We had a chickpea and quinoa burger served with cheese, lettuce and mustard.  It was yummy so Ed's Diner gets a high baboon rating from Mini-Kolo.

After lunch Cuddles wanted to buy some donuts for Chalky so we went to Dunkin' Donuts.  #MiniBreeze couldn't resist a photo opportunity.

Eventually we needed to reboard the ferry to go home.  We sat on the other side of the ferry to get different pictures.  It went so fast that the pictures are not great but we decided to show the better ones.

This is the oil refinery at Fawley Island, we can see this from our window at times.

This is Calshott power station that we can see from our window.

These two are of the waterfront at Cowes.  Many of you will know that Cowes is very famous for yacht racing.  Sailing fans from all over the world come here to sail and there is a week in August where there are world famous yacht races.

I am sorry the pictures are not clearer it is not easy to get good pictures from a hi-speed ferry and the spray from the sea made it much harder.

On Friday #MiniBreeze will start a weekend of adventures with Mini-Kolo!

#MiniBreeze checks out summer

Today #MiniBreeze went on a walk that Mini-Kolo did in March.  Mini-Kolo was looking for spring when he did it.  #MiniBreeze was checking out summer.

We drove to Freshwater and climbed the hill.  #MiniBreeze took the opportunity of a rest to look at the scenery.  This is looking east back towards our end of the island.  You can see Freshwater Bay.

This one is looking north east to see more of the island.

Southward #MiniBreeze checked out the sea.

The climbing continued up to the Tennyson memorial.  Set up as a sea marker for sailors, paid from the residents of the nearest town, Freshwater and admirers of Tennyson from the rest of England and America.  Tennyson (Alfred Lord Tennyson), was the poet laureate in Queen Victoria's day and he had a house near Freshwater.  He walked on these downs a lot.

 
#MiniBreeze checked out the inscription.

Then we walked down hill for a while towards the west end of the island.

The scenery is varied along this route and #MiniBreeze found a tree to climb to check out the scenery.

Further along #MiniBreeze wanted to lie in a sun puddle and he used the opportunity to check out more scenery.

He looked south to check out to sea.

South west to check out the Dorset coast in the background.  You can just make out Portland Bill.

He looked west to see the rest of the path, nearly there!!

We got to the far western tip and back again.  After all of that climbing, looking at views, climbing trees and lying in sun puddles #MiniBreeze was hungry.  Guess what is in that baguette!!  Yes you got it right, tuna!

Tomorrow #MiniBreeze will go on a different kind of adventure with Mini-Kolo.  It will involve buses, a high-speed ferry, meeting a pal, lunch and who knows what else!!