Isle of Wight

[Crackle]

My Missus is IoW born and bred, whenever we are over we always go to The Chequers Inn - great food (most of their meat is from their own farm), great portion sizes and good value for money

Thank you, looks good.

Nah, take your ease on the Red Funnel. There's plenty to see along Scumton Water and it gives you time for some retro '70s catering.




A34 can be a bit of a dog at the wrong time of day. Coming south, the worst bits are when you join off the M40 (bun fight) and at the M3-A34 junction at Winch (queue for the roundabout). It's usually much worse heading back north, where the M40-A34 junction can back up until before Oxford on a Friday rush hour.


Although it nearly finished me off last weekend, it'd be a shame not to try the round-the-island route. It's reasonably well-signposted. The downside is that the standard of driving is 'unenlightened', which is surprising considering the number of cyclists.

Don't have any choice about Red Funnel, it was the only one with availability at the times I needed but I prefer a longer cruise and I'm sure there'll be plenty to see. In fact looking forward to it.

Hopefully I'll be going through the worst bits of the A34 post and pre rush hour in both directions.

It's the MTb with knobblies which is going, it's the ubiquitous travel bike of choice and anything more than 20-30 miles by road on knobblies is a bit souless but if I like the look of the place I'll definitely go back, maybe for the IOW Randonee.

Looking forward to it now and for the first time ever, I've pre-ordered my groceries for a Tesco delivery to the cottage, which means no pre-shop and scratching of heads as we figure out how to pack the car so the dog can't munch the groceries, good that.

 

[Headgardener]

I get the feeling the Buddle Inn figures heavily in your recommendations. I think I may well have to check out this HSB stuff. Ghost walks sounds good.




Won't get there until 3 or 4, longish drive down.

Will probably be heading home at about that time, I will wave at any outgoing ferries I see just incase .

 

[ufkacbln]

It's the MTb with knobblies which is going, it's the ubiquitous travel bike of choice and anything more than 20-30 miles by road on knobblies is a bit souless but if I like the look of the place I'll definitely go back, maybe for the IOW Randonee.

The Randonnee is one of the best rides of the year!

 

[L.E.D.]

I will echo the thoughts on Chequers pub, it's a great place if you have small children.

Only just heard that Bear Grylls grew up on the IOW, so be careful they breed them tough out there.

 

[Crackle]

Well, arrived. Reasonable journey, one big queue outside Oxford for no discernible reason whatsoever and every single service station full of football or rugby supporters and I mean full.

Nearly missed the ferry due to another big queue in Southampton and then the dog refused to go up the ferry stairs so I carried 40Kg of Labrador from the bottom car deck to the top deck and anyone who knows the Red funnel ferry will know the Herculean undertaking that was, damn near killed me, next time he stays in the car, luckily he can go down steps. No I didn't know about the lift until too late.

Time to explore tomorrow.

 

[Headgardener]

Was that it I heard woofing just before the ship sailed?

 

[Arch]

one big queue outside Oxford for no discernible reason whatsoever

There often is, I think the reason is 'Oxford'...

 

[Crackle]

Well thank you all for your suggestions. I'm afraid I didn't get around to very many of them as we spent a lot of time on the beach and in the sea with the bodyboards as the weather was very good. Loved the Scooter festival happening over the Bank Holiday weekend, loads of them and the air was full of the evocative smell of two stroke.

I liked the Isle of Wight, it grew on me through the week and even though it's quite a busy spot, it never felt too crowded. Unfortunately FF, the Buddle Inn was out of ESB when I went, that was a real downer. I only got to one other pub, the Pilot Boat Inn in Bembridge which the dog insisted we call into on the way back from the beach walk. He also insisted I tried all the bitters on tap so I texted Mrs Crackle that me and the dog were in the Pilot Boat, in case she wondered where I was. She immediately rang me back wanting to know why the dog was in the Pilot boat, had I thrown his ball too far and he'd been caught in a current? I explained I'd omitted the word 'Inn' from my text.

I used my bike once, I'm afraid. I would cycle round the island but I did find the roads quite busy so can't decide whether it's worth making the effort to go down specially when for the same travel time and less cost I could go to say Arran instead or even closer Anglesey. It's always the same when I think of going to the South Coast, it's cost, complexity and ride value, different if I lived there of course in which case the Isle of Wight would figure in my cycling plans without a doubt, though I gulped at the hills.

 

[dellzeqq]

You were caught by a Tortoise?

that's what happens when you ride a Brompton..

second JamesAC on Shanklin. Much nicer than Sandown, lovely sand, lots of icecream, sheltered from the wind. And Blackgang Chine is great.

The IOW isn't fancy, and it's all the better for that.

 

[Fab Foodie]

Bad luck on the HSB front Crackle, but glad you had a good time!
We enjoyed our first holiday there ad I'me certain we'll be back. It's very close for us, so we should appreciate it more.

 

[ryans]

Probably come to the thread a little late, but the isle of wight is the greatestest place in Britain.

As said the white mouse in Chale is a good pub, just don't try put the parosol up on a table ouside, last time it attemped it collasped on my head . If you want something more lively then Shanklin, Sandown and Ryde are good, also a nice little zoo in Sandown. I love ventnor too.

If camping the west side of island is the best. Nice and peaceful and good beaches with a nice surf (although we accidently found ourselves on a nudist beach ). Shanklin chine is also very nice, and theres a good pub in Shanklin with nice food, Charles Darwin stayed there by all accounts.

Often hired bikes whilst down there as well and theres some great cycling to be done, particularly in land on the 'downs', go in toward Godshill in the middle of the island it's a very pretty little village.

Last time i was there i went to watch a Newport game (the best team on the island) and it was probably the worst game of football i've ever seen, and thats from a Halifax Town fan .

As for being boring, well, as a teenager it was one of my favourate places to visit.