Living in Ryde on the Isle of Wight I think gives me a perfect inside knowledge to be able to write this review. I have lived here for a good few years now and have enjoyed pretty much every single year.
The Isle of Wight is situated off of the very south of mainland England and a 15-minute ferry crossing from Portsmouth. One of the places you can catch a ferry to is Ryde and it is very easy to be able to hop over from Portsmouth just for the day to the island. Ryde is very popular with holidaymakers, tourists and island residents alike. It has the second biggest shopping town on the Isle of Wight and not only has great shops but has a load of wonderful beaches.
From the beaches you are able to have a wonderful skyline
view over Portsmouth and Southsea. The Spinnaker Tower is easy visible on a clear day and does look somewhat enchanting. The white sandy beaches of Ryde are often full over the summer holiday periods and the whole area is very child friendly. There are splash cats available in the summer holiday period and these can be rented for half an hour at a fairly reasonable price.
There are also lots of other summertime attractions that of course are closed during the winter season. There is a pitch and put golf course along the seafront, which offers a 9-hole course, that is rather demanding for the beginners but great for those who have had a swing or two before.
There are a large number of parking spaces available all along the seafront and up by the golf course. This is of course a pay and display parking option but is a fairly cheap price for all day.
There is an enclosed children’s play area with water feature and such like also situated next to the lake along the seafront, this is great for keeping an eye on smaller children. The boating lake next to this area has large swan boats in the summer that you are able to peddle around the lake for a small fee. I also believe that there are canoes available if desired.
Next to the boating lake on the seafront is the Waterfront pool. This is a small swimming pool that has an open top and is really nice in the summer months for those people who perhaps don’t like to swim in the sea.
A five-minute walk from the seafront gets you onto the main town centre this compared to mainland town centres in pretty small and there are not too main chain stores. There are a lot of cheap gift shops mixed in with a lot of local area stores. There is of course a vast amount of wonderful pubs and bars. A lot of these pubs sell food along with drink and most are at pretty affordable prices. There is a Wetherspoon’s pub, which is well known for cheap food and drink that is at a good standard.
The whole of Ryde is currently undergoing a lot of redevelopment at the moment and although there has been a lot of traffic works causing fairly bad delays for the island, this all seems well worth t. The Town itself is nice and tidy with hardly any empty shops and most look very presentable from the high street.
The seafront is also very tidy and perfect for both wheelchairs and pushchairs as it is such a wide-open space that is very flat and has many dropped curbs. There are many ice cream and cold drink sellers along the seafront and in the busy summer period this is needed. They do however seem to inflate their prices slightly during the summer months but this is only to be expected.
The transport links are fairly good as well in Ryde as there is the Train station both at the Esplanade and at the pier head so that access off of Ferries is no problem. The train links to many other smaller towns and villages around the island but is pretty poor compared to most trains as the whole line takes only half an hour to travel along and there are many places that the train doesn’t go. There is also the option of catching the bus as the station is slightly along from the seafront and directly outside the train station. The buses are priced reasonably and they are better for getting to anywhere on the island, even if the time tables are pretty limited and if travelling late at night the bus will be impossible.
The taxi rank is alongside the bus station and there are tons of taxi drivers always dying to take you somewhere and charge you an exceptionally high price for the journey you are actually getting. They seem to charge a lot more than taxi drivers I have used on the mainland and I think because of the bad times of trains and buses they are able to get away with it.
Overall though I would say Ryde is a pretty good place with lots to offer for holidaymakers and islanders. It is a great place to come to for a day trip if you only live the other side of the water and in the summer months it is really at its best.
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Apr 30th, 2007
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