We have spent much time on this blog jabbering on about the Military Road. It features in our guide to the Isle of Wight's best driving route (The Wighty 90) and it also stars in a few films, as explained in our Isle of Wight TV and Film Tour.

​Forgive me for a little nostalgia, but if you aren't interested in waffle about Isle of Wight life then you shouldn't really be on this website. Feel free to watch a video of a cat on a skateboard instead.

When I was growing up, Compton Bay became our go-to beach - and generally the Compton end rather than the Hanover end. I'm not sure what year this started, but I would think it was when we were old enough to climb down the steep steps without falling over.

My parents were not keen to pay to park, so my father would drop us off by Compton Farm on the Military Road and we would start walking down the steep steps whilst carrying a cool box and a windbreak. He would then park for free at the car park at the top of the Military Road and cross the field to join us. I also suspect he enjoyed five minutes to himself so he could smoke his pipe and admire the view whilst we walked ahead.

As we grew up, trips along the Military Road continued with friends, often at night after an evening on the beach. On one occasion, shortly after I had passed my test, we were met with a herd of cows which had wandered onto the road. My friend Stuart climbed out of the car and started running at the cows...before they started running at him. He swiftly retreated, but not quite as swiftly as my car, which was reversing at pace. He caught up eventually and we decided the best bet was to call my mother. In the end, we found a number for Newport police station, who seemed happy enough to help.

A few years later, I proposed to Mrs Guru about 20m from the Military Road on the Compton cliffs. A couple of cars drove past and honked. I had written a message in the sand for her to view from the cliffs, but the tide had come in and left a message saying 'MARR ME'.

More recently, the Military Road served as a highlight of long drives spent trying to get children to either fall asleep or stay asleep. As the children have grown up, I often take a detour over Compton Down when travelling from Freshwater Bay to Carisbrooke - just to admire the view. They don't show as much interest in the view as I would like, but I suspect I was the same.

Anyway, if your favourite road is also the Military Road, please share your love stories in the comments below. If you've got another favourite road, such as a M6 or the A1...please keep it to yourself, I'm really not interested.

This is just a quick blog post to shout about a ferry deal that I suspect lots of people don't know about. It is what the kids call a gamechanger for anyone on things like Universal Credit, Housing Benefit, Jobseekers Allowance, Pension Credit and Council Tax Support.

It is only available to people who live on the Isle of Wight. 

If you have stumbled on this page and don't fit into those categories that you need one of these guides instead:

• our main guide to discount Isle of Wight ferry travel
• a thrilling blog post aimed at residents 
• our beginners' guide to the Isle of Wight ferry
• accommodation including ferry travel

(Yes, we've written a lot about the Isle of Wight ferries).

Anyway, back to the main subject of this blog post.

Six years ago, a discount scheme was created for people on the Isle of Wight who receive benefits (we will move onto the small print of what that means shortly). 

One guide I read suggested that is 14,000 people - or about 10% of the Isle of Wight's population. (The exact figure is hard to work out, as the eligibility varies depending on which ferry company you are using).

Each of the three ferry companies operate a similar scheme for low income households. However, they all use different names for it:

• Wightlink call it the Discounted Fares Scheme.
• Red Funnel call it the Assisted Fares Scheme
• Hovertravel call it the IOW Council Affordable Fares scheme
  
  

Why are there three names for it? Honestly, I have no idea but it may be because they all do it slightly differently.

A lot! Current prices that we've been able to find are:

• "a maximum fixed price of £59.10 return (or 20% off our lowest standard web fares if cheaper)" for a return car journey with Red Funnel. These fares are fixed and can be a day return or an overnight journey. Standard Isle of Wight ferry fares are 'flexible', meaning they fluctuate with demand like an airline. On a good day, you might pay £50 for a day return ferry if you use a discount code or a voucher. On a bad day, you might pay more than £300 for an overnight return with a car.
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• "a fixed fare of £12.30 return...for travel as a foot passenger between East Cowes and Southampton" with Red Funnel. The standard fare is £23-£25. Note that it can't be used on the Red Jet from (West) Cowes.
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• Wightlink don't publish the price but on this page say that it is a "fixed price discounted scheme and will apply to cars, motorbikes or foot passengers wishing to travel on any of our routes across the Solent" (I'm not sure why it's written in the future tense). If you know what the prices are, please add a comment below. My hunch is that it will be similar to the Multilink fares, but I'm not sure on that.
  
  
• Hovertravel charge £15.50 return (book via this link). Standard fares are £31-£41 depending on whether you do a day return or overnight stay. 

Each ferry company has a different criteria but the amount of paperwork and faff is not that significant:

• Red Funnel say that you need to "supply proof that you have been in receipt of Universal Credit in the last 30 days". It's worth saying that Universal Credit is available to lots of people who are working, so Negative Nigel from Newport can avoid snide remarks about this being a "deal for lazy people". You need to fill out a form on this page once and then they will let you know if you've been accepted onto the scheme within seven working days. You don't have to do this every time you travel.
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• ​Wightlink say that "Eligible applicants for the scheme include Isle of Wight residents claiming the following benefits: Council tax support, Housing Benefit". I'm not 100% sure on whether they mean one or both of those benefits. You fill out a form on this page which will "generate an automated verification email which will be sent to the Isle of Wight Council to assess your eligibility". As with Red Funnel, you just do this once - not every time you travel.
  
  
• Hovertravel has a wider eligibility that includes: "Housing benefit, Council Tax Support, Income Support, Job Seekers Allowance (income based only) Employment Support Allowance (Income Related Only), Pensioners in receipt of Pension Credit (Guaranteed Credit only), Universal credit (but only if the claimant has an established entitlement of Housing Costs in their UC award)". Hovertravel do things a little differently in that you "book online or via call centre" and then proof "must be shown at the time of boarding along with matching photo ID". You have to book via this link to get the discount.​