| The Isle of Wight How to get there.
It is said, by the locals, that the short stretch of water keeping the mainland from invading the island is the most expensive piece of water in the world to cross! Be warned! It might be better to leave your car on the mainland and use the islands efficient public transport system to explore. The lanes are narrow and windy so the driver would have little chance to enjoy the wonderful scenery.
I much prefer to leave my car at Southsea and take the hovercraft across to Ryde. From the hovercraft landing you walk past the bus station to get to the railway station a distance of very few yards. From this arrival point the whole island is but a bus ride away  |
.It would be an exaggeration to say that a main road runs around most of the island. There is a road that goes pretty much around the edge of the island AND it is an 'A' road - ergo it is a 'main' road.
To put things in a little perspective, a few words about the British road system (sic). There are basically four classifications of roads. (M) Motorways - multi-lane highways usually marked in blue on the modern maps. 'A' roads - these are the old 'main' roads. Many are now supplanted by the motorways. 'B' roads - these are the minor roads that weave and wend their way across the landscape, joining up the 'A' roads, as it were. 'U' Unclassified roads - the old cart tracks, usually metalled, the place to be held up for hours by a farm tractor. A place where caravaners fear to tread. That then, is the basic premise. Additional to the classification each motorway, main road and 'B' road is numbered. The motorways are generally numbered to reflect the 'main' road they were designed to 'replace'. The other roads are numbered to reflect the relative importance. Hence the A1 is a 'better' road than the A10 which is way better than the A25 - believe me I know this to be oh, so true! The bigger the number the lower the 'standing ' of the road.
Which brings me neatly back to the Isle of Wight 'main' road. It is the A3055 - need I say more? I have driven around it and I have taken the bus - I know which I prefer, the choice is yours.
If you must take your car across then car ferries go from Portsmouth to Fishbourne (35 mins)- clearly marked off of the M27 J12, Southampton to Cowes(55 mins), again marked from M27 J3 (M271) follow the signs to the QEII terminus, it's just before you get there on the right and Lymington to Yarmouth (30 mins). It really depends where you are arriving from as to which is best. I've no idea what the cost is but I rather suspect they will work out very similar.
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