A TALE OF TWO ISLANDS
Queen Victoria and Prince Albert took just four hours to travel from Buckingham Palace to their much-loved family retreat at Osborne, on the Isle of Wight, in the 1850s. That shows how rapidly Industrial Revolution Britain was modernising.
In the 21st century, a very similar trip took me a day and a half.
But then, Victoria and Albert did not have to contend with a lorry driver being taken ill on the motorway, resulting in a three-hour tailback on all surrounding routes. That prevented me getting to the late-afternoon ferry I had booked.
Fortunately for me, Wightlink managed to rearrange my crossing, and the following afternoon, I was leaving Portsmouth.
I had wanted to visit Osborne for some years, after discovering that this rather grand private family home has its own beach. Apparently Victoria, along with being a dab hand at poker, was an early advocate of the benefits of sea-bathing.
Added to that was the fact that it is on an island, so would involve at least a short sea crossing. Last summer the ravages of Covid-19 had prevented me from sailing anywhere further away.
Even after that short sea crossing, it felt odd to drive off the ferry at Fishbourne and not immediately switch sides of the
