The Glastonbury Pilgrimage 1978

Day 3: Hayling Island to Ryde

Not a long walk today, though it felt longer! We started our day with Mass in the school chapel.

We then walked the length of the beach, with view across to the Isle of Wight and Southsea

The shingle was hard going, but in due course we reached the Ferry Inn, a chance to sit and take in the view

Or an ice cream - we are by the seaside!

There were some apprehensive looks at the ferry across to Eastney, our first of the day, though the crossing was without incident

We then walked the length of Southsea seafront, passing the pier, the castle and the major war memorial before reaching Clarence Pier, with its funfair, at the entrance to Portsmouth Harbour, and a good view of the cross channel ferries and Gosport beyond.

Until shortly before this time, Sealink (the ferry operators, now Wightlink) used to pick up at Clarence Pier; however Bill persuaded them to make an exceptional stop to collect us here, saving us the extra walk to Portsmouth Harbour Station. The time was well used - enjoying the funfair!

Then the ferry arrived  and we all boarded

and subsequently disembarked at the end of Ryde pier.

It's only a short distance from the pier to the church hall in which we were staying, but it's all up hill! I recall arriving at a semi-derelict building, but that may be inaccurate. What I do remember is doing the "spoon dance" (a Morris dance using spoons), and playing some strange variant of cricket. Maybe someone remembers more (Nick).

Clare remembers it this way: although the route notes describe a church hall, what we actually had was an old school - unused for some considerable time. the support team had to spend a good hour cleaning before anyone could get in, and there was no way that any cooking could be undertaken. The local chippy was somewhat taken aback when someone turned up and asked for 70 portions of fish and chips! It was while we were waiting for these emergency rations that we danced and played cricket.