Ticket to Ryde

When I was a kid the family had one holiday a year, a week somewhere in the UK and many years during the 80's we returned to either Lyme Regis or the Isle of Wight. Both places are guaranteed to spark some nostalgia....investigating rock pools, building sandcastles, fossil hunting and swimming in freezing cold waters with my Portland Bill inflatable armbands and ring...ahhh, good times. I haven't been back to either since my teens and although change is inevitable when my folks suddenly planned a few days in the Isle of Wight, as the summer gasps its last, and with nowt better to do I figured a change in location may be welcome.

Me circa 'Butter wouldn't melt' years on one of the many Isle of Wight hols...ahh if only I could get away with those kinda shorts now

Turns out it was a bloody brilliant idea. Clear blue skies and temps into the mid twenties meant perfect conditions for me to do some serious exploring. We caught an early ferry in the a.m. and headed across the island to bee-line it to the Isle of Wight Zoo, at my request. The zoo is housed within the walls of a Victorian Fort and is home to the UK's largest collection of Tigers. I love pottering around a zoo, finding the animals both hilarious and so cute I drive mother up the wall by wanting to take home each and everyone of them....though not so much when the monkeys start eating their own faeces....what the hell is up with that!....Anyhoo pictures of cuteness (poo eating edited out for optimum cuteness)

This Lioness had the neighbours from hell....two male Lions who would start a 'I have the loudest roar' competition every time she settled for some 'Zzzzz's'

Apparently Lemurs have a very small brain due to there not being much in the way of predators in Madagascar, which explains the mildly gormless look on their faces

"Shh! We're hiding. Be quiet everyone. That includes me. Shh! Who's making that noise? Oh, it's me again."

Mamma Spider Monkey with Bub...who tickled me with her activity in learning to be a Spider Monkey...which mainly involved jumping about alot and falling off stuff


Bub making a break for it from mum

More shenanigans to follow, where upon I ditched the parentals, put on my walking boots ala Nancy Sinatra and took on some trails of the nature persuasion.