2026 IOW SEAVETS CYCLE – Dave Gilchrist

Monday 13th April dawned fresh and dry for the intrepid 6 Seavets cyclists taking on the 6th annual IOW cycle ride. As usual the rendezvous was at John Ellis's home on Hayling Island with 5 of us managing to make the deadline time of 9am. That's to say John, Joe Coulson, Andy Lacy, Richard Williams our illustrious leader and yours truly Dave Gilchrist. Russ Canning did manage to make it but his late arrival did mean a rather rushed ride down 'The Hayling Billy Trail' to make the Hayling - Eastney pedestrian ferry across to the mainland. In the event we all arrived in reasonable time and given the cool April weather the ride did warm us all up somewhat😁.

An uneventful ride along the new Eastney Esplanade through Eastney and along Southsea promenade to the Portsmouth/Fishbourne ferry terminal. A calm crossing to Fishbourne  and then what was for most of us, having completed this very popular ride before, familiar ground through Ryde, Seaview and on to Bembridge, punctuated only for occasional stops to regroup and for some the necessary discard of a layer of clothing. The weather had warmed up a little now being in the shelter of the east end of the island and the prevailing SW wind. Our lunch stop on the Bembridge Harbourside was at 'The Best Dressed Crab' which whilst on the expensive side proved very tasty and met with great approval from us all. This was most fortuitous as it was the first time that we were able to find it open on our ride in 6 years.

A very tasty lunch was followed by the climb out of Bembridge and the sun starting to really put in an appearance. The climb culminated with a brief stop at the NT Bembridge Windmill then the rather tortuous descent down a dry but washed-out very deep rutted track to join the B3395 main road. I for one took this track at a very slow pace but still managed to fall off twice, luckily into dense foliage cushioning the landing🙃😁. My excuse being the sole rider not on a MTB or a bike with wider tyres! 🤔😉. On past the Bembridge 'International' Airport (joke, joke) with the final climb of the day up to Yaverland and the uplifting downhill ride into the outskirts of Sandown.

We terminated our ride with a 'free' putting pairs competition on the 'Brown's Family Golf' links. I say free as the building was closed for the day meaning we couldn't pay but we availed ourselves of the left out putters and golf balls, perhaps from previous players🤔! Having stopped cycling, the cold wind was now starting to take its toll! It was a good decision to finish after only 9 holes  and retire to our hotel to warm up! I must relate that the winning pair was Andy and myself. I suspect the others readily agreed to just succumb to the biting wind!

Having settled into our hotel a quick recce around the town confirmed our dinner venue was the hotel itself despite the usual Premier Inn combined breakfast and dinner offer, now no longer available. Richard made the award for the days Wooden Spoon and managed to relate "minor' discretions for all of us! But Russ just had to accept the spoon for his late arrival at Hayling that morning!! His award gave him the opportunity for 'revenge' as he then had the pleasure of awarding the Wooden Spoon the following day. A quiet evening was had by all given that we were all pretty tired after our ride. I say quiet, for the few of us who ventured out for a visit to our normal 'friendly' pub 'The Old Comical' for a nightcap turned into a minor disaster. The 'deafening music' accompanied by the karaoke voices of the other half dozen drinkers in the pub meant we quickly downed our drinks and strolled back to our beds for an early night!

Tuesday dawned fine again with a little less wind and the promise of more sunshine.  After a hearty breakfast we departed on time at 9am ascending out of Sandown through the town to join the lovely 'Red Squirrel Trail' following the long defunct railway line to Newport. Sadly, no squirrels nor WhiteTailed Eagles made a showing this year which was disappointing.  However, the trail was mostly dry and after entering Newport we were soon descending down to Gurnard and Prince's Promenade for our favourite coffee stop at 'The Cabin on the Green' with its amazing views across the Solent to Calshot and Southampton Water. On into Cowes with the leisurely walking of our bikes through the quaint town centre to join the East Cowes chain ferry across the River Medina. Another steep incline out of Cowes saw us passing Osborne House , Queen Victoria's summer abode and final place of residence after the passing of her Prince Albert. From Cowes our route was largely through pleasant quiet streets before we rejoined the main road through Wootton Bridge and even managed to arrive at the Fishbourne ferry terminal in adequate time to enjoy our lunch at The Fishbourne pub/restaurant.  Our return ferry had to make a detour to the east of the 'Solent Forts' due to very low tide which meant an extra 15 minutes on the journey back to Portsmouth.

A majority decision was made enroute to return to Hayling the way we came, a distance of 8 miles rather than going around Langstone Harbour, a distance of circa 13 miles. We must all be feel

our advancing years as the decision was an easy one😅. Another uneventful ride back to the pedestrian ferry against the now much colder NE wind. However, we arrived sooner than expected and  were able to enjoy a welcome cuppa before boarding the ferry. The stop gave Russ the chance to make his award of the Wooden Spoon. It went to Andy for forgetting to hand in his plastic room passkey that morning.. at the hotel. Our safe and quite prompt arrival back at John's soon arrived and we parted our separate ways home. But not before giving Richard a very well deserved thankyou for yet again fully organising and leading our ride which has now become another highlight in the Seavets calendar. Looking forward to next year and the 8^th 🤗🥳.