Godshill and The Needles

We had a day out driving over to the western extremity of the Island. We stopped at Godshill, elegedly the prettiest village on the island. We walked up to the church on the hill to light a candle and photograph the cottages and church. The village is a bit of a tourist trap with spaces for about a dozen tour busses and coffee shops to cope with them.
We continued on the military road along the southern coast which is a short switch back of cliffs and bays to Freshwater. It was lunch time so we had our first seafood of the holiday at The Hut on Colwell Bay. A bit upmarket with lots of boaty types, a nice spot overlooking the bay and nice food.
After lunch we drove up to The Needles. Rosemary said we could park at the NT old battery car park, but the road sign said - no cars. We followed a shuttle bus up the single track steep windy road taking people from the car park up to the battery. There were 5 staff cars and one motorhome (us) at the top - perhaps Rosemary was wrong!
After a brief wander round and a walk down the path to a photo opportunity we waited for the bus to follow back down. There is a cable car from the car park at the top of the colourful Alum Bay cliffs down to the beach. However it appears to have finished for the winter. There is a monument to commemorate the first radio station built by Marconi here too.
We returned via Yarmouth where I had sailed with Auriga many years ago. Then on to Newport shopping centre where we did a bit of shopping at the Island's only M&S. We arrived back on site just in time to miss the red sunset.