Being on a boat of this nature, in this case the ferry to the Isle of Wight, reminded me of my time in a ship going to Freetown, Sierra Leone, when I was very young accompanying my father who was a missionary, and it reminded Francoise of her time on the Isle De Re of the southwest coast of France. It was the first time I’d ever seen someone charge five pounds for a slice of drizzle cake. The price was even greater than London but then you don’t have to buy it do you. Bought a delicious perfectly mixed gin and tonic in a tin believe it or not for £4.60 and it was a lovely tipple

We are at the resort now and taking part in all the free facilities of the health club. I sat in the Bubble pool for about 10 minutes but found the water too violent. It looks like this pool was built for children but children are no longer invited so it is slightly incongruous to see adults swimming in it but never mind everyone was having a relaxing time

I’m absolutely totally useless at archery. There’s far more to it than you think; you have to pull back quite vigorously in order to persuade the arrow to go anywhere. I have six goes and I only hit the board on two occasions. I was totally out of my depth but no one minded. The last round was devoted to popping the balloons and one lady did very well at getting three balloons at one visit so well done her

Norton down, the name of the Warners establishment, is only a couple of hundred yards from Yarmouth so we visited one day and found this lovely local coffee shop come lunch establishment facing the promenade. I felt I was back in the 1960s

The holiday park is quite big with room for 380 people. These chalets or bungalows or flats whatever you want to call them do not look glorious but they were very well appointed with a huge double bed, and a WC and bathroom where if you went in at night the sensors would turn on subdued lighting without the need to fiddle with light chords. Temperatures were at a steady 7 degrees C.

The whole was very well heated so although we took our hot water bottles – we are hot water bottle fans for most of our Year, we did not need them. The residence was very quiet, the gardens very well maintained, the staff were well trained and happy and we had a wonderful time. Totally recommended.

This image is way out of context but we stopped at one of the minor service stations for the privilege of being offered a latte at four pounds 60. I found a bakery outside the main center Greggs I think it was where they were selling decent coffee for £2.70. Anyway the above was a real live launderette. The cheapest wash was about £5.20 so no one could complain about that, and it was all automated including the drying.

We paid £139 per person for a 2 night bed breakfast and evening meal with all entertainment thrown in and there were many, including a cinema,  including coach travel from Bath to the Isle of Wight. Entertainments included a film ‘A man called Otto’ which was very moving; it was about a grumpy old man forming an unlikely relationship with a Spanish-speaking Mexican lady. It did my heart good and in a way completed the trip.

The food was very good indeed, the fresh fish jumped out of the plate almost and we had fun talking to lots of ladies of a certain age but they were all up for it, perky and enthusiastic