IoW Tour 2019 Day 2 - Shanklin to Cowes, East Cowes to Reading (15/09/19)

Isle of Wight Tour 2019

 

Day 2  - Shanklin to (West) Cowes, East Cowes to Reading

(15/09/19)

Started with a (full-English) cooked breakfast at 8am.  A short (5min) walk from the hotel to Shanklin station, then 15 minutes train journey to Ryde Esplanade

We walked from Ryde Esplanade to St Cecilia's Abbey for Latin Mass at 10am. Beautiful angelic singing from the Nuns (the nuns are behind those gates on the right of the sanctuary.  Here is their perspective).

Walked back past the classic car show and saw an old 1960s Ford Thames similar to the family car from the 1960s.

Got train back to Shanklin and picked up bikes and backpacks from the hotel.

Rode along the cycle path from Shanklin to Wroxall. This starts around the back of Shanklin station near Lidl and gently curves around the edge of the downs towards Wroxall. Saw plenty of horse riders on the route. There are still a few railway bridges from long-ago.


Up on the downs


At Wroxall, we took the road up onto St Martins Down. Ended up getting a bit lost. Headed up a path indicated 0.5 miles to the radar station, past some cows (with very big horns! Highland Cattle possibly?).  I was a bit scared but Joe was not and when he approached they just moved out the way.

I discovered later that we had gone the wrong way and that we were initially on Luccombe Down but the view was great anyway.


Then a very very steep chalky path up onto the top of the downs. By climbing over a stile the view was absolutely spectacular (above) looking down into Sandown Bay.

You could also see the cliffs at Freshwater (right) leading to the Needles on the other side of the island.

Followed a smooth grassy path that led along the top of the downs to the radar station on the top of St Boniface Down.

From here took a very steep road down down down to Ventnor. There was a fantastic 180° vista of the sea as we cycled very carefully down the 1in4 incline.

The rims of my wheels were very hot when we reached the bottom and the brakes had started making metallic squeaking noises (new brakes anyone!).

Headed North back to Wroxall on  B3327. Stopped at a little convenience store for some snacks.

We sat on a nearby bench to eat and a brief rest. Joe had a cider and some gluten-free provisions from his pack.  I had some salami sticks and a pork pie. The salami sticks were good for cycling as they are very dense. I stuck the remaining ones in my pack to munch on later.


Appeldurcombe House

Headed towards Appeldurcombe house. It is basically just a shell of a house but a few rooms have a ceiling. There is a staircase you can climb but it is blocked on the 1st floor due to the 2nd-floor landing not being connected to anything. The steps are badly worn (I guess due to a combination of use and being open to the elements). The cellar looked interesting but unfortunately, it was blocked by an iron gate. Joseph said that it reminded him of the house in "The Amazing Mr. Blunden".

We took the path from Appeldurcombe towards the Freemantle gate. This was originally the entrance to the house but is now only used by farm animals and walkers. The path following this was very stony.  I almost got flung into the bushes by a very enthusiastic mountain bike rider careering down the steep stony path. In retrospect, I should have taken a road that runs parallel with this path about 200 metres to the east. Eventually, this leads back to the main road and then west on the main road to Godshill.

We visited the Model Village in Godshill.

Back to Cowes

It was getting a bit late now and we wanted to get back to Cowes before it got dark. I Decided to cycle on the A3020 towards Rookley to make quick progress. We covered a good 3-4 miles and then I heard a distinctive pinging noise from my back wheel (which sounded like a spoke).  Stopped 50m later on instinct and I was right, it was a spoke. This had led to a very slight buckle in the rear wheel. Anyway, soldiered on but more slowly and avoiding bumps. I just had to nurse the bike back to Cowes.

Cycled North on BlackWater hollow which was not too pleasant as the traffic was quite heavy.  At Blackwater, I spotted an entrance to cycle route 23 towards Newport. I know this route well as I have ridden it before. It runs along the River Yar and then the River Medina all the way back to Cowes.  It was a bit more risky in terms of breaking another spoke but in safety turns it was a no-brainer.

The path took a simple route through the centre of Newport and avoided all the congestion and roundabouts. A red squirrel ran past the front of my bike in the woods (I should expect no less on the Red Squirrel Trail).

Chain Ferry (closed for maintenance)

We arrived at Cowes without further problems.

At the floating bridge there was a long queue of pedestrians and cyclists and a big red sign in the middle of the road reading "Service Suspended".

For a couple of minutes, I thought we would have to cycle back to Newport and then along the east bank of the Medina all the way to East Cowes (over 1hrs extra cycling, with dodgy spokes!).


Somebody in the queue informed us that there was a replacement boat but obviously it would take longer to cross due to the much lower capacity of the boat.  We managed to squeeze in after about 3 crossings waiting. It was quite choppy and I had difficulty balancing my bike vertically on the back wheel with the front up in the air (without hitting seated passengers).



We arrived at the Ferry port about 50 mins before departure.  Spotted a Chinese takeaway near the terminal and decided it would make a nice snack on the Ferry. We hadn't had much since breakfast.

Here is the menu.  I had a 141 and Joe had a 23. To find what we ate is an exercise for the reader.

There was a beautiful sunset on the way back over the Solent and then Southampton Water.

Arrived in Southampton to discover that Joe had a puncture. It was getting dark and this point and we had no lights. After a brief assessment, I concluded it was only a slow puncture.  So pumped it up and travelled the final 20 minutes back to the car. It was still where we parked it in the quiet resident cul-de-sac near Southampton common (see: part 1).

Looking forward to the 2020 IOW tour now ...