**This discount code has expired - but check our main guide to ferry discounts for the latest offers**

We've had an exclusive 20% discount code with Hovertravel on our Discount Isle of Wight Ferry Travel Guide for a while now. However, it is buried away a little amongst the other deals for Wightlink and Red Funnel.

It also seems a good time to mention it as you may be planning an Isle of Wight day trip from Portsmouth. After all, the nights are getting longer, snowdrops are sprouting in churchyards and lambs are frolicking in the fields (Ed: don't get carried away). 

So, here it is... (CODE DELETED AS NO LONGER VALID - check this page instead)

There are a few terms and conditions to this offer:

20% discount on standard adult and child day and period returns only. Not available on Senior or Student fares. Tickets are non-transferable, and non-refundable subject to the Disruption Policy. Hovertravel reserve the right to withdraw this offer at any time. Standard Hovertravel booking Terms and Conditions apply.

Newcomers to Isle of Wight travel might like to know a few things about the hovercraft.

• The hovercraft travels from Southsea to Ryde Esplanade. If you are getting a train to Portsmouth Harbour then you'll need to walk 1.2 miles or catch a bus which costs about £4 return for an adult.
• You can't take your car on the hovercraft. The hovercraft can carryfour bicycles at a time, which travel for free with an owner. You can't book a bicycle, so it's first come first served. Alternatively, you could gather up the other cyclists and arrange a sprint along Southsea seafront to decide who gets to take their bike onboard.
• It takes about 10 minutes to get to the Isle of Wight on the hovercraft. That's the quickest of all six ferries which travel to the Isle of Wight. You may like to refer to it as "two Peppa Pig episodes" if you are travelling with a young child who doesn't understand time.
• Technically, the hovercraft is a flight rather than a ferry crossing as it flies slightly above the water. Please do not ask for directions to the duty-free lounge or passport control. It's not big, it's not clever and they don't like it. You're a grown man in your late 30s, stop behaving like a child.
• Once you reach the Isle of Wight, the world is your oyster (to an extent). You can jump on theIsle of Wight's only modern trainline to head towards Shanklin or get onto an open top bus which does a circle of popular spots. Alternatively, you can wander round Ryde or walk along the coastal path. We've written a whole guide to days out from Portsmouth which will satisfy your every desire.

It is around this time of year that Mrs Guru starts saying "I'm enjoying these lighter evenings". The sun is setting at 5pm, but it still feels a lot better than the gloom of early January.

Sunny days on the Isle of Wight's beaches certainly start to feel a little closer. If I can close my eyes, I can taste the mint choc chip ice cream.

We've been digging around for new things to see and do for 2023. Here are some of our highlights:

At the end of 2022, we waved goodbye to the Cliffhanger Rollercoaster. We all gathered round and sent it flying off the cliff and into the sea where it began its long journey to the French coast (Ed: citation needed?).

A new ride is taking its place for the 2023 season...as this video teases.

Sister theme park Robin Hill is also getting something new for 2023. 

The teaser mentions 'jumping for joy' so my hunch is it will be a) trampolines b) a bouncy pillow or c) A Level students on the front of every local newspaper.

Tapnell Farm is always coming up with new stuff to occupy our half terms and summer evenings. This year, it is the arrival of bingo at The Cow. 

Robert Thompson has been associated with a few excellent eateries on the Isle of Wight. He was chef at Ventnor's Hambrough when it won a Michelin star a few years ago. He then set up his own restaurant in Newport, before leaving to work at a hotel in Cowes. The Newport restaurant is back open again for 2023, which caused some excitement with Mrs Guru. 

If you're into taster menus and that sort of thing then it's well worth a visit.

Niton's Tregear pottery make some really lovely sea themed items, which make excellent souvenirs for the sort of mother-in-law who shops at Waitrose.

They are now offering have-a-go sessions. I am sure my efforts would look like a brown splodge but it might be fun to find out.

Readers with a long memory will be familiar with the Take That video that was filmed on Sandown Beach in 1992. It was a heady time of rollerblading and volleyball on a day which looked only vaguely sunny. I suspect the boys were putting on a brave face.

33 years later, Robbie Williams is returning to the Isle of Wight to headline the Isle of Wight Festival, along with The Chemical Brothers, Pulp and George Ezra. It's possible that he has returned in the interim to visit Godshill's Model Village but I think I would have heard.

Alright, alright, this is appalling self promotion for which I apologise.

We now have a holiday let which is available to hire. It's in the West Wight and has a nice view of Freshwater Bay, which often ranks in my top five beaches guide. 

I think it's fair to say that I will watch any TV programme or film which features the Isle of Wight. If they make another terrible sequel to Home Alone and film it in Godshill, I will watch the entire thing, or at least look in the background for familiar thatched cottages.

And so we fired up Netflix with great excitement to watch An Action Hero.

I will not give too much away, but the gist of it is that a big Bollywood star is forced to flee and ends up in Ventnor. The town isn't described as being on the Isle of Wight, but is presented as though it is mainland England's coast.

We are then treated to a series of local scenes including:

• an opening drone shot of Ventnor overlaid in great big red letters saying 'Portsmouth'. Let's not dwell on that for too long, as I always take it personally when someone suggests the Isle of Wight might be in Hampshire (it hasn't been for several decades).
• a meeting on Ventnor Esplanade, including a drink at the Met Italia in the sunshine and a mooch around the walkway where Ventnor Pier used to be. This scene will make you crave sunnier days.
• a shootout at a posh looking house, which I think is overlooking Wootton Creek on that bumpy bit of road leading down to PGL and Woodside Coastal Retreat.
• a police chase through Ventnor, incorporating a trip to the Co-op and a bit of acrobatics on some scaffolding. I enjoyed seeing Ayushmann Khurrana having to skip around roadworks and closures thanks to Ventnor's, er, unusual landscape.
• a race along the Military Road, followed by a bit of fisty cuffs between Jaideep Ahlawat and Ayushmann Khurrana in the National Trust car park by Freshwater Bay Golf Course. This is one of my favourite spots for parking up and eating a sandwich. Next time I am visiting with my brother we will take a moment to recreate the scene over a prawn sandwich. Personally, I would like the driving scene to have lasted for longer. Perhaps they will offer an extended version for Wightophiles with slow motion shots of Compton Down.
• a meeting at the Blacksmiths Arms, or the Blacksmiths as it is now known. I was disappointed that he didn't order the pork belly and the pavlova but I still enjoyed the scene. This is a great pub, by the way, and features in our guide to the Isle of Wight's best pubs with a playground.

It is worth saying that there is a fair amount of geographical confusion in An Action Hero. Ayushmann Khurrana appears to run the 12 miles from Wootton Creek to Ventnor and then drives from the Military Road (described as the A1 for some reason) onto a motorway. He then ends up in the South Downs admiring the Seven Sisters before returning to the Island. Eventually, he ends up in London without catching a ferry. The fixed link campaigners will be salivating at this scene.

There is not a great deal of nuance and hidden depth in An Action Hero. It will not be studied on courses about cinema. There also wasn't a lot of romance, so Mrs Guru kept wandering off or staring at her phone.

However, I enjoyed the punching, shooting, wise-cracking and vrooming around whilst admiring the background and saying "oooh, that's where we dropped an ice cream last summer!".