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Day 12 - From Portsmouth To Freshwater - 25.7 miles

    We were especially excited this morning. We were going to the Isle of Wight. The line, "In the summer we will rent a cottage in the Isle of Wight, if it's not too dear,"  from the Beatle's song kept playing in my head as we went down to breakfast. Our hostess, Sandra at the Hamilton House, 95 Victoria Road, provided a well cooked English breakfast and talked to us about her travels around the world as we ate. Her husband fetched the bikes from their inside storage and brought them into the hall for us to load our panniers on. We paid our bill which was a little steep at 46 pounds compared to some of the other places we had stayed but we couldn't fault the accommodations, just the price.

    We left the house by 8:30 and rode in the bright sunshine to the ferry wharf. The weather had really improved over the last three days and we felt almost as if we were at home with the warm summer days we were experiencing. We bought two tickets at 13 pounds each and then joined a line of cyclists waiting to board the ferry for a weekend adventure.  Most were on mountain bikes. We spoke to some of them and they said they really enjoyed riding the trails on the island. We asked about hills and they told us most of the hills were in the southeast portion of the island and that it became flatter the further west one headed.

    It was a fairly short ride across the Solent to Ryde where we got off the ferry only to find a very long plank pier. I was a little nervous riding with our 26mm tires and tacked like a sailboat riding down the pier and told Jeanette to do the same. Once in town we tried to follow a bike trail from Ryde to Newport but kept on getting lost and finally just rode the A3054. 

    Our original plan was to spend one day at Sandown on the east side of the island and another on the west side at Totland Bay, staying at the YHA hostels each night. However, since it was the weekend, both were booked. People we had talked to told us that the area of Totland Bay was a fairly quiet place and suggested that we just spend two days in that area.

    I mapped out a route that would take us through Newport and then onto B3401 which would take us through Carlsbrooke, Calbourne and Shalcombe before riding into Freshwater and finally, Totland Bay. My Ordnance survey maps did not show elevation but I wasn't worried since the riders we talked to said that the western side of the island was pretty flat.

    We were only a few miles from Newport when we figured out that the route we picked was going to have more hills than advertised. We encountered a series of rollers that were just too difficult for Jeanette to ride without dismounting and walking. The rollers came one after the other. We reached Carlsbrooke and saw a large picnic and amusement area but Jeanette was too frustrated to stop. We pushed on and finally reached a summit where we could see much of the western end of the island laid out before us.

    The downhills became much more frequent and longer than the rises as we finally neared the coast. We had no clue to exactly where we wanted to go so we headed towards Freshwater Bay. We passed a B&B before reaching the beach and I wrote down the phone number and called. The older gentleman wanted 48 pounds a night for an en-suite double. I told him I'd get back to him. We surveyed the area. There was no store, no town, just the B&B, two hotels and the beach. A little too primitive for us since we planed to spend more than one night there.

    We rode into the village of Freshwater and after checking at two places that had no vacancy, found a beautiful B&B at 46 pounds a night, just off the main road. The Brookside Forge was being operated by the owner's son and his girlfriend. They were cyclists and were happy to have us as guests. We rested up and then headed for a pub we saw in town, The Vine, where we met a very chatty crowd. 

    The pub had a map of the island on the wall that showed elevations. I gulped. We had ridden over some of the higher parts of the island. True, they weren't the steepest parts but they did have some significant increases in elevation. I didn't rush to tell Jeanette the news. We had dinner and I had a pint or two while Jeanette stuck with her gin and tonics. The owner told us that a band would be playing tomorrow night if we were interested. We were. We told him we'd be back. We headed back to the B&B, watched a little TV and then turned out the lights.

Day 13 - Touring the west coast of the Isle of Wight - Day's Mileage 13.8 miles