Isle of Wight – how's it riding?

Thinking of doing the longer of Singletrack's Isle of Wight routes on Saturday: http://www.singletrackworld.com/trailguide/uk/south-east/the-isle-of-wight/

Going to rain a far bit Friday night but not too bad on Sat – any ideas of how it will hold up? Plan was South Wales but looks hideous rain wise.

Oh and any locals who fancy it are welcome, pace won't be blistering but pretty continuous…

Oh and is there a better direction to go round, there's no indication on that route card.

Looks good, im from Portsmouth but going away this weekend unfortunately.

Would be interested as to which way the longer ones goes as well.

It's often dry on the island when here's rain on the mainland. I have a visit planned in Summer half term myself when I'm aiming to do the off road route around the island.

Depending on how you like to ride and what trails you like?

If you are going to ride the Tennyson Trail then generally on the western half between Newport and Freshwater Bay if you go Newport to West Wight then there are, on the whole, longer downhills followed by shorter steeper up hills.

When I used to ride it to and from work/Gfs I would ride the road to newport and the trail home to freshwater.

If you are heading on that trail then a definite stop off would be Brighstone forest. You go through the middle of it and there are some nice (quite hidden) single track lines and some DH and jumps.

Unfortunately I am in cornwall at uni but the Isle Of Wight is my home land 🙂

p.s. if you are going around the island then you will mainly be on the roads?

Well reading the actual article, I'm guessing it goes clockwise.

SO what's the ground generally like there if it does see some rain?

There isn't a dedicated circular around the island and I know that the 'round the island' race is road riding along the coasts. If you want some trail riding then you can do little circulars i.e. around Ryde, Newport, Freshwater etc. if you fancy a gentle road ride then the around the island thing would be OK.

I would suggest, depending on what ferry you are coming on, if you are coming from the east then I would suggest the Nunwell trail out of Ryde then onto the Bembridge trail into Newport then along the Tennyson trail to Brighstone, if you are tired from this, and its probably around 14miles (acf) then you can head back to newport along the road and then from newport to wherever. If you are still keen for more at Brighstone then you can follow the Tennyson trail to Frshwater bay, This is a stunning ride by the way!!!

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Hope that helps

In the summer it is dry and dusty but as there hasn't been lots of sun there won't be as much dust so it won't sludge up, if it rains you won't be swamped in the wooded areas providing it hasn't been torrential. 😀

This is the off road island route I'm going for. Have done most of it before…
<http://www.extremists.co.uk/randonnee.PDF&gt;

Well it's this route I'm planning on doing: http://www.singletrackworld.com/trailguide/files/2008/12/isle-of-wight-big-route.pdf

Another poster was thinking of doing an around the isle…

Looks like a good route. I've done some riding around Arreton Down but haven't been as far south as the route goes. Might give it a go myself as I usually stay in Ryde when on the island… Let us know how you get on…