Bike Ride Around the Isle of Wight
July 4, 1998

Distance: 80 miles
Elevation: 3,740 feet
Difficulty: 4/10
Scenery: 6/10;
Route: Ryde Ferry Pier-Ashey-Brading-Alverstone-Apse Heath-
Sandford-Godshill-Wroxall-Ventnor-Whitwell-Niton-Rookley-
Newport-Little Whitehouse-Shalfleet-Yarmouth-Freshwater-
Shalcombe-Brightstone-Shorwell-Little Atherfield-Chillerton-
Blackwater-Newport-Downend-Ashey-Ryde Ferry (Whew!)

"Every summer we can rent a cottage in the Isle of Wight,
if it's not too dear..." (Lennon-McCartney, "When I'm Sixty-Four")

Well, I'm not sure that I can manage to wait 'till I'm 64 to visit. So I found myself, on a promisingly sunny 4th of July morning on a train from Waterloo to Portsmouth. From Portsmouth, the Isle of Wight is a quickish 15 minute (3 miles) ferry ride away to Ryde.

Below: At Portsmouth Harbour

The Isle of Wight is a bat-shaped island that's about 12 and 22 miles at its longest and widest points. My route started in Ryde and went in a sideways figure-8 direction, with the town on Newport as the point of intersection between the eastern and western half of the rides.

Note about the island's bike lanes: there are three bike lanes (2 near Newport, 1 in Yarmouth) in the Isle of Wight. Cyclists who like to ride fast may find these lanes too gravelly to be useful at speeds greater than 10 mph. Nevertheless, we must be grateful for the few cycle-only lanes in existence, and these lanes are good alternatives to nearby nerve-wracking A roads around Newport and Yarmouth.

Part I: Eastern Half of the Island

Wight's eastern half seems to be the more densely populated and developed half of the island, and appears to receive more of the tourist load. Consequently, even the smaller lanes receive enough car traffic to make them bothersome. Nonetheless, the roads are generally excellent, with enough rolling hills to get me out of the saddle every now and then.

Above: On Ashey Road heading east towards Brading.
Below: Godshill in the southeastern quadrant of the island is a good-looking ancient village of old houses with thatched roofs and an old church.

Below: Some of the tombstones in the Godshill cemetery date back from the mid-1700's. Old cemeteries like this makes the history of a town more interesting and humanized. I wonder about the folks buried here, who they were and what their lives were like.

Below: Two views looking out towards the southern coast of the island and on towards the English Channel. The road is called Steephill (any guesses why?), but "Potholes" would do justice to it as well.

Below: Heading back westward and inland, the road leading to Niton. Visible just below the horizon are bright yellow flowers that are probably farmed, as such carpets of Van Gogh-esque yellow (wildflowers?) are very common in England.

Below: Thatched-roofed houses always attract my attention as I have not seen them anywhere in the US (although thatching is common in Asia). The house is "Johnson's Cottage" on a long, delightful, generally flat road leading to Rookley in the middle of the island.

Below: The continuation of the long and unwinding road shown above.

click here for the western half of the ride...

Last Updated: July 05, 1998