I remember seeing some routes posted on here over the last few years, especially interested in the one that circumnavigates the whole island off road. Your experiences, and accomodation (preferably pub B&B) recommendations also appreciated.

Thanks

http://www.extremists.co.uk is the one.

No idea on B&Bs.

The highdown inn in totland is ok. Good beer and food and its straight down the trail from the tennyson trail. Nick keeps a lovely pint of bitter too!
Where you planning on riding.
btw tennyson down is on the cheeky side of riding if you get my drift.
Never stopped me when i rode there, ahem!

bigyin, thanks, a well kept pint of bitter is a serious consideration to our needs! Do you have any local breweries on the island, out of interest?

We’re not really sure where to ride, remember someone posting up a map of the island, with a coastal off road route circumnavigating the whole island. Sounded intrigiung, but saying that, we may prefer to take in some of the local secret stuff along the way or, just ride a few different areas. A small group of up from the south coast(mainland) are thinking of a long weekend trip over late summer.

Your thoughts welcome..

Done a few weeks ago here

Rainbowgirl didn’t report back though…..

Thanks all, so far, but I still haven’t seen the circular – ride the island route from years past. Any daytime folk help….

Bumpedy bump….

Have emailed you a gpx of the route from the Extremists website.

I compiled the randonnee route back in 1997! I got some interest from the council about signposts and leaflets etc but it never came to anything.

As I mentioned before, the route guide is on the Extremists website but if you join the Yahoo board there is a file with a load of 1:25000 map extracts of the whole 55 miles.

Two things you need to know – the IOW is bigger and hillier than most imagine.

Cheers both Daves’!

Thanks for the gpx, I don’t have one myself but one of our group may, so I’ll forward that on.

daveatextremistdotcodotuk, we plan to do the IOW in two days, so the 55 sounds about right for social pace. BTW, we could see the island from a view point (stone,flint folly) near Slindon, on a local ride Sunday – if it wasn’t for the water, it could be a local-ish ride for us!

I do remember an overview map of the whole island with a route circumnavigating the coast line though………

There is a coastal path which is mostly cheeky (we ride it a lot with surprisingly few moans from walkers)

There is also an official randonnee route which is 95% tarmac and 5% smooth gravel. This follows the coastline as far as roads allow. 65 miles and signposted.

Mine is more inland and follows the coast as far as BWs allow. Plenty of sea views though.

Enjoy.

I keep trying to put together my own round the island, avoiding as many Rds as possible. I think it “may” be possible to do most of it in a (long) days ride.
Not sure about shalfleet to cowes bit though…..

The whole area from Cowes to Newport is footpath only. I thought about taking my route via Firestone Copse and Parkhurst Forest but it wasn’t worth it.

Trust me, 55 miles of that terrain over 2 days is plenty.

bigyin, well if you fancy showing us your route, one weekend late summer (prefer to split it into two rides over two days – ability wise)…..not sure of numbers but we have four so far(three guys, one girl), with a possible two to four additions is my guess.

We’re over at Brightonmtb.org if you want to have look, that goes for any of the Daves too..

Cheers

Pete

Dave, there is the railway line from Cowes, but its hardly a challenge.
I really wanted to stick to the coastal routes (possibly with some cheeky bits used to link up), but its a complete desert like you say from Shalfleet to Wootton really. You’re prob right about the 55 miles, the 14 hills did for me when i last did it.

Pete, will try and pop over to your site and say hi at some point.

Cool bigyin – we’re not adverse to some ‘cheeky bits’!

Pete

Dave, there is the railway line from Cowes, but its hardly a challenge.

The only challenge is where the rabbits have burrowed underneath and the thin tarmac surface has collapsed!

If you look at my route, you’re doing most of the 7 hills killer then keeping going 😮

The best cheeky bit has to be Tennyson’s. I heard the National Trust rangers used to chase MTBers on quad bikes. We’ve only had smiles from grockles though.

We’re starting to plan things now, any more info greatly appreciated.

Thanks all

Pete aka Woodsman