I remember Isle of Wight from back in 1984 when I was cycling across the south coast of England. I came on the Portsmouth-Ryde ferry and stayed at the Sandown Youth Hostel which I have discovered is still up and running.

At the time I was reading David Niven's "Moon's a Balloon" because I was and still am a chronic Anglophile (is being Canadian close enough?) - so I stopped at Bembridge and toured all three of the Rose Cottages that there were, the place where David Niven had grown up- a sort of pilgrimage.

The English people were so friendly, one kindly old lady spotted me staring at her 17th century cottage. She opened the front door and said "D'er yew loik it ?" and invited me in for tea, showed me the timbers marked with Roman initials taken from an even older Roman structure used to build the house.

I cycled round the island, saw Carisbrook Castle, but now wish I'd seen more. My last day was at Totland Bay on a Sunday, when the hostel was closed, and a nice man named Peter Clack invited me to his house. He later took me to the pub for Flowers Ale and told me how he and his mates would sit there in the evening and watched the QE2 steam by.