Taking a break from strict chronological blogging, this entry is about last weekends trip to the Isle of Wight (IoW), and I’ll get back to London to Paris shortly.
The IoW trip had been planned for a little while, and Steve had put a lot of effort into figuring out what was going on, what routes to do, where to stay and how to get there. This turned out to be invaluable as the Festival itself appeared somewhat less impressive than we’d expected.
Having travelled down in one car, with 5 people, 5 peoples gear and 5 bikes (4 on the roof and one on a tow bar mounted bike rack)we’d been a little crammed in and quite glad to get out for a walk around after a few hours travelling. The ferry was a nice break though. When we parked up at the festival, we had a quick look around. Laughably small, there was a pretty good trials show, a magician (???), a vintage bike display, a kids cycle obstacle course, and two charity displays.
20 minutes later we were back in the car heading for the B+B, (which turned out to be great 
) and 40 minutes after that we were readying the bikes to head out.
To correct anyones misconceptions, The Isle of Wight is NOT flat! Hills can be long, and they can be steep. Its a lot like the South Downs Way, in fact, but there is a little more flat ground in between the hills and at the tops.
Paths are generally pretty wide, and there are a lot of bridleways (allegedly more bridleways per square mile than anywhere else in england).
Heading out of Newport we took about 10 minutes before we got into the country, and after a few faltering miles of navigational issues, we got to the bottom of an enormous hill which I ended up walking. Being the most unfit of the crew, I generally remained at the back (although on the flat and downhill I was as fast as anyone), and occasionally resorted to walking. We managed 18 miles on the Saturday, heading out towards the Needles on the Tennyson trail, over some big hills, with some awesome views (at one point we could see both ends of the Island and the Mainland really clearly).
I was about done when we got back and chilled for a bit before we headed out for a gorgeous Italian (ask for recommendations – Italian in Newport – its good!).
Day Two dawned and it looked a little chilly outside, but I figured it would brighten up so still went out with a short sleeved top. Heading out from Newport again, we went the other way, towards Shanklin and up some more nasty climbs, with fast, wide, easy descents. Some of them were a little bumpy, but nothing twisty or difficult. The climbing did seem to go on and on though, and I was getting rather tired and cold by the time we reached Ventnor and headed down the steep road to the Spyglass (lovely pub right on the seafront) for lunch. A leisurely, and absolutely delicious, halibut and chips later we started out again and headed UP out of Ventnor. THAT is a very steep, and pretty long climb, all roads until nearing the top, when A bridlepath continues up and over the downs with some fantastic views!
I was feeling more human again at this point, proper lunch inside me and a windproof top over my short sleeves feeling very welcome. The wind on IoW can be evil! More up, and more down (more downs?) followed as we continued along some pretty exposed bridleways heading generally back towards Newport. We met a few people doing a ’round the island’ ride on their Brompton folding bikes on the way back along a disused railway path and stopped for a chat for a few minutes before heading back.
At one point, two of us had to stop to fix punctures from some extra vicious hawthorn spikes. (Pic attached – mine was like a nail!) and we eventually pulled into Newport, very tired and pleased to be back.
Another fantastic pub meal followed and we took ourselves to bed very full and pleased to be getting some sleep.
Day three woke us with wind and rain just dying down a little, and revealing a grey morning, colder than the previous day. After a full english breakfast we loaded up the car and headed off half way down the Tennyson trail to get to the needles before catching the ferry home. I didn’t make the needles 
When we got to Freshwater I was suffering, and rather than hold the rest of the group back, I decided to be a sensible wuss and sit on the beach for 90minutes while they headed off up the downs to the end of the Island.
The sun had come out by now and it felt good on the pebbles out of the wind. The guys were quick and 90 minutes flew by. After a quick rest stop on the way back, we roadied it back to the car (less hills – woohooo) and headed off to catch our ferry home.
I got home very tired, pleased I’d been away, but with the confirmed knowledge that my fitness and cycling strength are not what they were, and that I’d need to ride some more to get back to where I should be and not hold the guys up. Pictures are hosted on Steve’s gallery here.
NB – hyperlinks and pics to follow once I have time to get on the pc and edit.
