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Isle of Wight, United Kingdom: A day across the Solent to brick abbeys and wallabies

Two Isle of Wight trips: a June 2012 day of Quarr Abbey, wallabies and clifftop paths, then back in November 2017 for Cowes and thatched Shanklin Old Village.

In June 2012 we rolled onto a Wightlink ferry at Portsmouth and gave the Isle of Wight a proper day out: an abbey, a wallaby, a kookaburra and a clifftop path or two.

Wightlink sign reading Welcome to The Isle of Wight above a blue sign for Tesco Extra Ryde on the A3055 Brading Road — Welcome to the Isle of Wight, and, with equal ceremony, to Tesco Extra Ryde. The island covers all bases.

The cupola-topped tower of Portsmouth Cathedral rising over rooftops under heavy grey clouds — Leaving the mainland: Old Portsmouth and its cathedral tower under a suitably dramatic sky.

Inga and Dileep on the ferry deck with a white Wightlink fast catamaran crossing the Solent behind them — On deck mid-Solent while a Wightlink catamaran does the same crossing in half the time. No regrets; the slow boat has the views.

The brick nave of Quarr Abbey church with layered pointed arches and rows of wooden chairs, a robed monk standing near the entrance — Quarr Abbey, a church built almost entirely of brick arches. A monk kept a quiet eye on proceedings.

White stone statue of a robed monk drinking, set against a tall green hedge beside a fenced path — In the abbey grounds, a statue committed to the longest drink in Christendom.

Terracotta relief panels on a brick wall showing monks building a church, with organ pipes and a congregation in the side panels — The abbey story told in terracotta: builders in the middle panel, organ pipes on the right.

Visitors bending down to stroke a wallaby on a gravel path between wooden rails at a small wildlife park — The island also stocks wallabies. This one worked the queue like a professional.

Inga in a blue jacket crouching to stroke a young wallaby beside a paddock fence — Inga making a small marsupial friend.

A kookaburra perched on a bare branch inside an aviary — A kookaburra, several hemispheres from home, refusing to laugh for us.

Inga on a clifftop path with hedgerows, a hazy sea and a distant white sail behind her — Up on the cliffs, where the path forks and both options look correct.

Silver light breaking through a blanket of cloud over the sea and a long curve of coastline — The sea putting on its evening show as the coast curls away below.

Back on the ferry we agreed the island had over-delivered. For more of the English coast, try Brighton or head west to Torquay.

Back again: November 2017

Five years later we came over a second time, on 4 November 2017, and did the other half of the island. November on the Isle of Wight is quiet in the best way: the roads empty out, the light goes silver by four in the afternoon, and everything thatched looks even more improbable than it does in summer.

A bicycle painted entirely yellow, with a wicker basket and a chalkboard advertising cheese wedges, propped against a shopfront on Cowes High Street beside a green milk churn reading Have a Nice Day — Cowes High Street, where the local deli parks a yellow bicycle outside and lets it do the advertising. The milk churn wishes you a nice day; the small dog isn't real.

Inga standing in the doorway of the Old Thatch Teashop in Shanklin, a pink-painted building under a deep thatched roof with a giant thatched teapot and cup on the ridge — The Old Thatch Teashop in Shanklin Old Village, complete with a thatched teapot and cup on the roof. Subtlety isn't the point.

The curving road through Shanklin Old Village with a thatched stone pub hung with blue bunting on the left, the pink thatched teashop on the right and a bright blue sky above — The whole of Shanklin Old Village in one bend of road: thatched pub, thatched teashop, and about four cars all afternoon.

Pencil Cottage and the neighbouring thatched cottages in Shanklin Old Village lit up at dusk with fairy lights along the eaves and warm light in the shop windows — The same street at dusk once the fairy lights came on. This is the argument for visiting in November.

Two visits in, we still haven't got round to the Needles. There's clearly a third trip owed. If you're coming from the mainland the crossing starts at Portsmouth.