On the Monday, after leaving Annie for her interview and assessment, Mooch and Monty
had three days to look around the island.
They started with a trip to the western tip to see the Needles. On the walk from the car park
Monty looked down at Alum Bay and its famous multicoloured sand cliffs.
(16-Mar-2009)
The Needles are a group of rocks that extend out westwards from the chalk cliffs,
there is a lighthouse on the last rock.
Mooch and Monty found a small replica of the lighthouse in the car park.
A little known use of the southern cliff at the Needles is the
rocket testing site
at the New Battery.
From the 1950s until 1972 the site was used to test the Black Knight and Black Arrow rockets.
The site was abandoned after the launch of the
Prospero satellite in 1971.
Only the block houses and some of the concrete test stands remain.
On the day we visited the small exhibition was closed.
Monty looked down into the remains of one of the rocket exhaust pits.
