Just received this report in from Mike who went to the Isle of Wight
Randonee. Also, just to clarify, Beddington Park rides are now MONTHLY
on the 3rd Saturday of the month, not weekly as I typo'ed in
yesterday's email!

===

RIDE REPORT
Isle of Wight Randonee trip, Saturday 2nd to Monday 4th May.

For those who may not know,  the Randonee is a 100Km  circular route
around  the island that keeps fairly close to it’s coastline & affords
a good view of much of it’s picturesque countryside & small unspoilt
villages. Free registration is  on the day at any one of the
checkpoints, & a fully stamped checking card at the end of the
circular route is rewarded with a ‘Randonee certificate’ to show that
you’ve completed it. The island itself  has a very rustic traditional
ambiance & on the Randonee week-end the atmosphere is very friendly &
jovial with a great sense of ‘cameraderie’ among all the cyclists that
swarm across the island.

Saturday’s trip to Ryde on the Isle of Wight by train & ferry was
peaceful & uneventful,  and brought the four of us into Ryde at about
2:45 pm, when we cycled a short distance to our B&B near Ryde town
centre. After a quick freshen-up we cycled over to Wooton camp-site
under a clear sunny sky  by peaceful country lanes to link-up with the
Kingston-cyclists group, only to find that they  had  gone out on an
afternoon trip of their own; so  after chatting with some other
campers we re-traced our route back to Ryde. A text message enabled us
to meet-up with a Kingston-cyclist who was staying in Ryde , & the
five of us went out for a hearty meal & drinks at a pub in Ryde,
making arrangements to meet up the following day for the Randonee tour
itself.

The Randonee tour, Sunday.

After a hearty cooked breakfast we met with our Ryde-based  Kingston
cyclist & headed west to the check-point  at  Wooton to register &
collect our checking cards, where we met with the rest of the Kingston
group. Setting of as a group of about ten amidst a near constant
stream of cyclists exiting the check-point,  the PHC/Kingston ensemble
rode out to follow the route to the  Yarmouth checkpoint, crossing the
river Medina at Cowes harbour by it’s unusual chain-driven ferry.
Nicely prepared snacks & rolls at Yarmouth persuaded us to stock-up
with food for a picnic-lunch to be enjoyed later. The sun was fully
out at this point after an uncertain start & the PHC contingent
adopted a relaxed pace as the Kinston eager-beavers scooted off  at a
more lively pace to Freshwater. A quick in &  out of the Freshwater
checkpoint saw us steadily climbing the cliff-road which leads to the
descent into the vale by Mottisfont &  into Brighstone village where
we had our picnic lunch  in the Garden of the ‘Three Bishops’ pub.
After being briefly entertained by a ‘father-daughter’ guitar-duo
playing some classic sixties rock ‘n’ roll tunes in the ‘Three
Bishops’ garden we continued the route in the warm sunshine up the
cliff road to Blackgang’ & around the Chine to the descent into St
Lawrence. The route here goes a little further inland for the gently
undulating ride thru’ picturesque countryside by the next two
checkpoints for the final leg of the tour to  Bembridge, where
Drinks, cake, & good-humour were still in great abundance. Here we
collected our certificates & a couple of Randonee-badges which this
year commemorate the 25th year of the “Isle of Wight Randonee”.

Selecting a quiet B-road route back to Ryde we Freshened-up /rested
for about an hour before going out for a meal & drinks in ‘The Castle’
pub, whose novelty is that it does look like a castle from the
outside. We rounded-off by having spirits/liqueurs in a slightly more
trendy bar in Ryde before returning to the B&B for a well earned
nights sleep.

Monday.
A good breakfast was followed by a short tour along cycle-tracks to
‘Quarr’ abbey near Fishbourne where an order of Benedictine monks
still occupy the main section of the new abbey,- the ruins of the old
one being viewed over a fence by the old vicarage which is still
occupied by the local padre! After a quick visit to the Chapel & a
stroll around  the abbey grounds we retraced our cycle-route &
collected our luggage from the B&B and caught the Ferry/train back to
London. A thoroughly enjoyable week-end.



Report by Mike