After yesterday's dinner failure I was running rather on empty this morning. But with Paul acting as pilot he led me along the first part of the run into Portsmouth. Leaving Paul I grabbed breakfast in a cafe on the sea front before heading for the ferry. The guy lining people up in queues seemed somewhat confused as to why I was using the car rathger than the foot passenger ferry when I had a bike but seemed happy enough when I explained I thought she'd be easier to load here. The crossing was smooth and we were passed by the hovercraft ferry... Perhaps I should have investigated that option.
The ride to Ryde was rather undulating and cold; underfed muscles were struggling. I didnt spot an obvious cafe stop but I did take the gratuitois Ryde and Glyde photo. Not using the phone though, so you will have to wait. Following the coast road along to Bembridge my journey was interrupted by a road closed sign. Now the Isle of Wight isn't huge but checking the map showed that the detour was significant. The closed road headed downwards so, dreading having to backtrack, I carried on. It turned out that the closure waa due to pothole repair and with no sign of any work being done, I dodged these works for half a mile or so and was rewarded by finding a cafe where there was a vigorous argument going on about the roadworks keeping away trade.
After lunch I picked up the island cycleroute that Paul had recommended. The route uses quiet lanes which a sign informed me had a 15mph speed limit. They were also mostly single track with passing spaces. This would havev been fine if half the world and his dog weren't driving up and down them. They were also lumpy with climbs and drops but with poor sightlines so no advantage could be taken of the descents. And the centres were often filled with debris - sometimes rocks, other times mud or worse. All in all not a very nice place for a velomobile - it took hours and a couple of flats to finally pop back out onto decent roads where I could open up the speed a little even if it was in a long gentle climb. The haul along the south coast of the island was a relief after the singletrack and so I made good time to the campsite. Then I found one that would let me stop.
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Hi Rob, I'm glad to hear you found the way to the Ferry OK. I'm sorry the ASDA takeout last night was a bad choice. Thanks for the ride in the Glyde. Yep, that IOW cycle route is single track but I've never encountered that much traffic on it. And its surface didn't seem too bad last year, but maybe this winter has added a lot of debris. One of the drawbacks of multi-track vehicles is having to put a wheel in the rough. I hope you enjoy the rest of the trip.
ReplyDeletePaulM - I'd be interested to hear your Glyde impressions!
ReplyDeleteRob, I'm going to do one of these trips, you are absolutely inspiring me. I am also going to google ride to ryde.
What a cracking trip thus far rob,i hope you are enjoying this fab mini heatwave we are having in the uk at the mo.This is the first thing i check every morning and it inspires me to get saving for my quest.:)Did you say you had a quest velomobile before?John.
ReplyDeleteRyde is one of the towns on the north coast of the Isle Of Wight. The spelling of the name seemed to be a good match wiht 'Glyde' so I took the opportunity to take photos - will get them uploaded shortly...
ReplyDelete@John: yes I had a Quest. The Glyde seems a better choice for hillier UK touring with disc brakes and serious 'touring' gear options such as the Schlumf Mountain Drive. Biggest decision I guess is whether joystick or sidestick steering works best for you...