The (Not Round The) Isle of Wight Randonnee

The annual Isle of Wight Randonnee is 100km of unrelenting hills - yes, lots of lovely descents but boy do you earn them.  The delay in the arrival of spring this year meant I was nowhere near fit enough for that, so we decided to ride the 55k route instead. This takes in the main route from Cowes to Alverstone but then instead of heading south to Whitwell, goes inland to Newport via National Cycle Route 23, then follows the River Medina north to Cowes.

The black line shows the 100k route, the white line the 55k route.

We travelled down to the Isle of Wight the day before and stayed overnight in Shanklin. The nearest control point is Alverstone, so we checked in there at 9.30am and set off on the 55k route.

The "Mini-Randonnee" route

We found the off-road cycle paths from Alverstone to East Cowes really nice to ride on. From Alverstone, we cycled through lowlands, most of which is farmland. We saw a herd of Highland cattle! And listened to the calls of many birds, the identities of which we had no idea. We pondered fields with strips of white plastic laid over the ground...

Most of NCR 23 is paved (asphalt). The stretch between Merstone and Shide however is packed dirt. This is called the Troll Trail.

I had an encounter, not with the P*ncture Fairy, but apparently with a P*ncture Troll.

(And the two chaps waiting to cross the road there seemed to me to symbolise the wide variety of cyclists out on the route:  mountain biker alongside the roadie.  Not to mention all the families out on the ride too...)

We crossed the River Medina from Cowes to East Cowes on the ferry.

We had several friends out and about on the island that day, doing the 100k route. As with the majority of the 1800 cyclists out on the route that day, our friends had either travelled over from the mainland early that morning or had stayed overnight in one of the ferry towns, so were all setting off from control points on the northern stretch of the route. From what they've said about their experience -- very crowded roads with hazards from beginning riders and stress from what appeared to be racing clubs treating the Randonnee as a training run -- we are glad we chose to start from a point further round the loop, so to speak. The portion of our route that was shared with the 100k route, we did in the early afternoon, after the bulk of the riders. Going through checkpoints was quick and easy for us - no crowds or queues.

We stopped for a light lunch in Bembridge.

Opposite the cafe was a spectacular ornamental cherry tree in full bloom, along with a striking hybrid hedge.

We did not get an official finish, as Alverstone was another couple of miles beyond the nearest train station and we wanted to get back to the mainland in time to see a dear friend in hospital. So we ended our ride at Brading.

I snapped this photo at Brading station as a visual note that I had cycled more than 15k with a bag on my back - a first!