Oh yes, the recce. I knew it would be, but definitely, with the benefit of hindsight, a good idea. In quite a few places there were issues of one sort or another- one 'road' the OSM routing had me going down early on was nothing more than a very rough bridle path (a helpful biker set me right about that). Shanklin beachfront was kind of fun, if somewhat sandy, and the approach from the road is best walked, or ridden extremely cautiously. Several places of particularly bad road surfaces (yes, even by IOW standards) where we'll have to be careful- coming down from Blackgang for one. Nothing like some big potholes on a 30+ mph descent. Didn't go down to the Needles- the south coast was hard work in that wind and I felt like having a tailwind ASAP. Some routing changes will be needed. Undercliffe Drive (all too literally named at the moment) I knew about, but Wight Roads (a massively ineffectual organisation judging by my experience) have shut part of the A3054 east of Yarmouth. Allegedly open again by the 14th, but today (as it will for Friday's night recce) it involved a diversion- I ended up going through Newport to Ryde rather than East Cowes, couldn't be bothered to take what in effect would be another diversion. The 'motorway' (the one stretch of dual carriageway on the island) was rather busy, but that won't be in the early hours of the morning. Seven hours to get round- some of which was down to the detours and the odd wrong turning, but mostly because it was hard work in that wind. And using the 'A' roads is only slightly flatter than the official round the Island route. Bring your triple or compact gearing and be prepared to suffer.
