Ryde Pier on the Isle of Wight is the 681m pier from which you can catch the Wightlink Catamaran for the  20 minute journey to Portsmouth. The original pier was built during 1814 so that visitors to Ryde didn’t have to walk across the sand to get to the town. Two parallel piers were built along side, one for a tram service in 1864 and another for a train service in 1880. The train service still operates but the trams stopped operating in 1969.

Ryde itself is not known for much other than being the place where a large number of the 600 people drowned in the sinking of HMS Royal George in 1782. The bodies were buried in a mass grave where the Esplanade is now. A memorial plaque to the disaster was unveiled belatedly in 1965.

Ryde Pier is nice and straight so offers the opportunity for some perspective pictures. These were taken between some very heavy showers of rain. You can click on the images to view them full size on my Flickr page.