Overner: Local Secrets, Honest Stories & the Real Isle of Wight
You can live here fifty years and you are still an overner.
Den told me that on the slipway at Fishbourne in my second week, watching the nine o'clock load. Seventy four, born in Oakfield, thirty one years on the Fishbourne boats. He said it kindly, which was worse. Then he told me where the tide goes at Ryde, which bus to sit upstairs on, and why nobody here calls the ferry anything but the boat. Four years on I have a notebook full of Den.
We came over from Shirley in Southampton in September 2022. We said it was for the sea. It was not for the sea. It was because a ferry is a moat and I needed one for a while. That is in the book too, because the Island does not let you get away with a tidy story. This is not a tourist guide. It is what the Esplanade knows that the ferry brochure doesn't, written down by someone who is not from here and says so first.
What's in it
The boat. Wightlink from Portsmouth, the FastCat to the Pier Head, Red Funnel from Southampton, the Red Jet, and the hovercraft that takes under ten minutes and is the only year-round one left anywhere. What each one costs an Islander against a visitor, the Multilink trick, the emissions levy, the regulation row in Parliament, and which one Den says is the proper way over.
Reading the tide at Ryde. Half a mile of sand at low water, the horse and cart years before the pier, where the channels run, why the town is pushing for year-round water safety signs after a swimmer nearly drowned off Appley this summer, and why you check the water quality before you check the weather.
The 3 bus and the rest. Ryde to Ventnor the long way over Bonchurch, the 9, the new 33 through Havenstreet, the Island Line with its old Tube trains from Pier Head to Shanklin, and where to sit on all of them.
Ryde, honestly. Union Street, the High Street with TGJones going in January, the old Liz Earle building and who bought it, the Arena on the seafront that has stood empty since 2016 and what is proposed for it, and where the town actually drinks.
The chippy question. Tony's, Wight's and The Codfather, who backs which and why, plus the Ventnor and Shanklin answers for when you are down the other end.
Overners and caulkheads. What the words mean, who gets to use them, the second homes premium, house prices, and the honest bit about people like me and what we did to the market.
The far end. Ventnor's microclimate and the bus depot coming down, Steephill Cove, the Needles and Alum Bay without the coach party, Compton at dusk, and Den's rule for which beach on which wind.
An Island year. Ship of Hope on Cross Street in October, Beer and Steam at Havenstreet, the Literary Festival at Northwood House, the winter when the hover stops in a blow and the Island goes quiet, Walk the Wight in May, and the Ryde carnival that claims to be the oldest in England.
What Den knows. Thirty one years of watching the Solent from the car deck: how to tell if the morning boat will run, what the wind does at the Fishbourne mouth, why the pier matters more than the town admits, and the one thing he says about overners that made me stay.
How it works
An ebook of around sixty pages, delivered by download link the moment the order goes through, readable on the boat on your phone. The Island changes its mind about ferries and buses more often than the tide, so every time a fare, a route or a shop changes I update it and past buyers get the new copy sent free. Pay once.
Who this is for
People who grew up here and left and still check the Solent webcam. People thinking about moving over who want the truth about the boat before they sign anything. Anyone with a week booked in Ryde, Sandown, Shanklin or Ventnor who would rather know what the Island is than what the brochure says. And anyone who has ever stood at Fishbourne watching the queue and wondered what it is they are actually paying for.
Den says I'll never be a caulkhead. He also says I'm alright for an overner, and on this Island that is the better compliment.
Download it now, free updates for life
Instant download. Any device. Written under the pen name Tim Morris.