Isle of Wight trip August 2018

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Leiba
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Rides:: Red C90.
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Isle of Wight trip August 2018

Post by Leiba » Mon Sep 03, 2018 7:14 pm

It wasn’t planned but for the last few months or so I just knew I had to get out of town, away from the pollution and hassle of London. So, at 3pm on Friday (17th) I booked a ferry and a B&B in Sandown, IoW, then packed a bag with just a change of clothes and toiletries and phoned Hub to let him know that I was buggering off for a week. At 4pm I waved him goodbye. There had been no preparation on Ruby, no oil change or adjustments, nothing, I took only an adjustable spanner and a spare innertube. Then, after one kick I got astride Ruby and rode off.
This time I didn’t get lost in Sth London as I usually do and was approaching Petersfield a couple of hours later where I had to turn off the A3 to find Southampton. I’d actually been able to use the Southern Softies code for my ticket despite not being able to book a return journey the following Friday. Apparently, they (Red Funnel) were fully booked from Thursday until late Saturday. Fully booked? No room for a little Honda? Why was there this mass exodus from The IoW on the bank holiday weekend? I could understand it heading for the island, the scooter festival would make it very busy, but going the other way?
Anyway, back to my journey and you won’t be surprised that I got a little bit lost. Try getting to these places without using motorways. My quick departure had meant that I hadn’t worked out a route from Petersfield to Southampton and was just going on what I could remember from previous (lost explorations) trips down that way. As it happens my route was just about right but I wasn’t sure, so I had quite a few stops to check my map or ask the way. I must have done right because I only saw one sign for the motorway whereas the previous two trips we’d kept coming up on them.
But it was a slow journey and by the time I got into Southampton it was beginning to get dark.
I couldn’t find the ferry terminal. I knew I was on the right quay side but where was it? There was this big white dome thing that I passed three times going up and down the road looking for the terminal, but no terminal. By now it was dark. I stopped opposite the white thing and just over from it could faintly see what looked like Red Funnel. So I scooted over there and it was, the passenger entrance to the dock. I rode round the ticket office on the pavement and there was the ferry! At last. I gave the girl my ticket mumbling that I was a little bit late and was ushered straight onto the ferry where me and Ruby joined the eleven cars and one truck on the deck. It was 9pm and nearly an hours ferry ride ahead of me. Still, it was nice to sit in a chair with a back and to be able to stretch my legs out in front of me.
I rang the B&B place to let them know that I was on my way. Check-in was until 10pm, I’d only be getting off the ferry at that time, but they said no problem, that they’d wait up for me. I had my IoW A-Z so that I could study the map to see exactly where I should go when I got into Sandown. But no! I’d lost it. When I’d parked on the ferry I’d swapped my mainland map for the IoW one, I must have dropped it on the way up to the lounge. My stupid smart phone wasn’t so smart and the map bit wasn’t of any help to me.
We docked in Cowes and the guys opened the door just enough for me to get through. “Go. Get a head start on the others” So I went and after leaving town I was driving along pitch black roads, some with no cats eyes, with C90 headlights. I got to Sandown and even found the street I needed but where was the B&B? I rang them again and she told me to go to the top of the hill where she would flag me down. Low and behold there she was in the middle of the street waving her arms about like a mad woman. It was 10.57 when I checked in. I unloaded my bag, (and there was my ’lost’ map on top of it) and put it in my room (ground floor en-suite) and went into the lounge to relax in a deep soft armchair. Total mileage that day from home to digs was 120 miles.
Full English breakfast – double sausage, double bacon, tomato, mushrooms, egg and hash brown. You don’t need a photo.
*Saturday I aimed to catch up with the Southern Softies crowd at Kite Hill, Wooton and join in the bimble but I missed them by a couple of minutes apparently. Not knowing which way they’d gone I rambled around and into Ryde Image Image and ended up sitting on the seafront watching the world, hovercraft and catamaran go by. Later I went back to the campsite when they’d all got back. As I drove in they all just sat and looked at me. Finally, Wightegi came over and I got one of the IoW 2018 stickers from him. I managed to cadge a cup of coffee, had a quick chat with two of the guys then waved goodbye and left them to their devices. Image Image
*My plans for Sunday were to have Sunday lunch at the Culver Haven Inn, the pub at the top of Culver Down. But Sunday’s weather was not so good. I went out to a carboot sale in the morning in St Helens which was quite good. London ones tend to sell junk, expensive bric-a-brac and brand new stuff. Each one tends to be the same so they’re not worth going to. When I got back to where I’d parked Ruby, he wasn’t quite in the same place. Then I noticed the wing mirrors. Ruby had fallen over and some kind person had picked him up for me. It was my own fault. I’d parked on a slope on the side stand. Ruby had obviously rolled backwards in a semi-circle and at the bottom of the circle had gone over. It had broken one of the hinges on my topbox which now also had a little slit in the rim. The legshields had been pushed onto the exhaust probably because I hadn’t put the engine bolt back the last time I‘d had the legshields off but thinking about it, if that bolt had been there then it would probably have sheared off where it bolts into the engine so that’s a bit of a bright side way to look at it. But, being Ruby he still started first kick.
From there I set off to visit Keith in the Palm Court Hotel in Shanklin. I rang the bell and a young woman answered. I said “I’ve come to see Keith for my cup of tea, C90 club.” “Oh yes, come in. I’ll go and get him.” I spent about an hour there chatting with him about the club and bikes in general and I got my cup of tea. He told me that the Southern Softies group had stopped by the day before on the Saturday but that he was too busy with his guests to spend any time with them. He had said just that on the club website.
This day there was a low, moisturising mist and it was quite blustery so not so good for driving up to the top of a cliff, Culver Down, for my lunch. The wind plus wetness limited any view and put paid to that idea. I was feeling quite damp by now, (been touring a bit earlier) and decided to look for something to eat. My Sunday lunch was a beef burger and chips. I finished my day, as usual, sitting on the bench in Sandown watching the late swimmers, (tide beginning to come in now) and a kid burying himself in the sand.
*Monday I thought I’d cut my losses and still have a dinner up on Culver Down. Their roast dinner that I’d had on a previous visit was lovely and though I knew it wouldn’t be a roast this day, I was hoping for a nice meal anyway. I went for a ride around stopping at Bembridge by the lifeboat station and a couple more secluded little places then made my way up to Culver Down. There were still a couple of blustery winds but at least it was clear and not wet. I went into the pub and noticed that they stopped serving food at 2.30, it was 2.20. I waited while the barman ignored me then asked for a menu. “We stop serving at 2.30”. Well yes, but it was now 2.25, I think he was disappointed that I still wanted to be fed. I ordered a steak and ale pie with veg and new potatoes and took my rock marker (a rock with a number painted on it) and sat at one of the outside tables.Image It was sheltered from the wind and still quite warm. Dinner arrived and looked quite nice. I didn’t like the veggies though and the pastry tasted as though it had been cooked next to a cake (sweet tasting) but it was still nice. I put a couple of the new potatoes in a serviette to munch on later. While I was eating my dinner I had a little wasp crawling around the table. It didn’t bother me, I just made sure that it wasn’t on my food before I put it in my mouth. Then a fly came along and tried to land on my plate. I swiped at it with my fork and managed to drop a piece of food right onto the poor wasp. I dug it out and it seemed none the worse for wear and happily continued it’s trundling across the table. As I left the pub I noticed that they shut for the day at 4.30. Odd that for a pub. Mind you, I wouldn’t like to stagger out of there at night and drunk. Image Image
*Tuesday it was raining and I felt tired and a little unwell so after breakfast I went back to bed until lunchtime when I got up. The weather was a bit better and after a bit of essential shopping I decided to drive over to Freshwater Bay. On the way I stopped at a bike shop in Ventnor and got them to pump up my rear tyre. I asked about driving up to the highest point on the island, St Boniface Down, and he told me that it was a very, very steep hill. I decided not to put Ruby through that and he agreed saying something about C90 gear boxes. He also said he’d seen a band of C90 reprobates go past on the Saturday.
It was still low cloud, not raining but moist, and you really needed windscreen wipers. I don’t have any. I stopped for a bit and looked towards where I was aiming for and I would have to drive over Bonchurch DownImage to get there and there was no sign of it clearing up so I gave up and drove through the centre of the island to Fishbourne to book my ferry home. This would be a Wightlink ferry but I could still get a discount using my Blue Badge. £18.20 it cost for the one way journey as opposed to £22.75. I stopped at Wooten for a while Image Image then headed back towards Sandown and went a casual route, as in, I just pointed Ruby into roughly the right direction and toured some of the central roads, towns and then seasides. That passed a couple of hours but it wasn’t much good for photo opportunities being so overcast and dreary. I ended up back in Sandown where there was a chippy at the end of my road so I went in there for some fish and chips. Two fish on offer, cod and haddock. I chose the haddock and took my little bundle to my usual place by the pier to eat whilst watching the few people around frolic on the beach. Yuk. Soggy batter, soggy chips and I believe it was cooked in beef dripping or something like that as everything tasted beefy. That cost me £7.50 too.
Just a note here. If you intend to go on a family holiday to the seaside take note of the tide times before you go. High tide that day was around 5.30am and again around 6pm. So for the whole day the beach was almost deserted as the tide was out, a long way out as it’s a very flat beach.
*Wednesday. Tuesday night I’d read in one of the tourist magazines about a boat trip out to the Needles. This one though went from Alum bay, down 200 steps or via the chair lift. Neither of these were an option for me. So I looked on the internet to see if there were any others. I found one in Yarmouth called Black Rock Cruises. I was a bit worried as to how I’d be able to get on and off the boat so decided that instead of ringing them to book I’d go and have a look. When I got there they were fully booked until the following week. But she pointed over to the lifeboat Image (cruise boat not there in the photo) and told me about the ‘Coral Star’ moored behind it that did the same trip and was due to go out at 2pm. Back on Ruby to drive round to the main harbour carpark. There was the access to the ferry from there as well. It was a P&D carpark but I didn’t see any M/C bays but found a place right by the quay next to the coned off bit of ferry parking and car parking bays and almost beside the trip boat . People were already boarding the boat and I could see that I’d be able to get on and off with not too much trouble so I went down and asked how much it would be. Then I thought I’d better check that he was going out to the Needles. He wasn’t. This was a short cruise to Hurst Castle on the mainland, the Needles cruise was indeed at 2pm. It was 1.15pm so I went and sat on a bench next to the dock with Ruby parked behind me and watched harbour life for a while. While I was there a guy came up and commented on my parking place. (he was admiring the idea) It wasn’t in a marked bay and wasn’t blocking anything so in that way it was alright albeit on double yellow lines. There was a M/C bay, way over there behind…. whatever. I’ll take a chance where I was parked. Image
The cruise boat came back, disembarked those passengers and I was the first one on for the Needles tour. £15! Wow, cheap. There was a small cabin area forward where the helmsman stood on its roof to steer the boat. He’d have no weather protection up there, but a great view I’ll bet. We all had to stay down below. I sat at the stern on the port side so that I’d have a good view of the shore line. There were about 20 passengers on board.
And we were away. Out of the harbour and heading westwards along the coast. We passed Fort VictoriaImage
Image , Fort Albert,Image (private flats now) an old pier, various beaches, Image Colwell and Totland Bay, where a restaurant would send out a small boat to any boats anchored in the bay and bring them ashore for their dinner. Image Past a landslide, Image then around Hatherwood Point and into Alum Bay, Image the home of the IoWs famous coloured sands, with its 200 steps or chair lift to gain access. From here we could clearly see the Needles. Image
Our captain took us way up as close to the rocks as he could, it was a sight to behold. You could see their jaggedness (at least above water){ Image and how sharp they areImage At one point we had to skirt around a wreck of a ship that had got too close to the Needles, and I mean really close. Above on the cliff top is the Needles Old Battery Image and set in the cliff face below are some gun ports long abandoned. {Image The lighthouse is of course at the very tip of the ‘above’ water rocks where the Solent meets the English ChannelImage . Our captain, (who was giving us a commentary as we cruised along) said the two waters of the English Channel and the Solent, argued here over right of way and making it even more dangerous. The tide was right, the weather good so he took us around to the other side of the rocks so that we had Alum Bay in the background behind the Needles. Image Again we got really close to the lighthouse. I could almost read the sign on it. It probably says something like “If you’re reading this, then your boat is on the rocks and doomed.” Image
We rounded back around the lighthouse into Alum Bay and along the coast a bit. As I was on the port side I was now also on the seaward side, Those sitting opposite me now had a clear views of the IoW coast as I’d had when we’d travelled up. Our captain was enjoying himself and said “It’s a lovely day, let’s go and have a look at Hurst Castle.” So off to the other side of the Solent to the castle on the mainland, (remember, I’m on the port side so got an uninterrupted view again) Image Image then back to Yarmouth Harbour where Ruby was waiting for me.{Image We’d been out for nearly two hours. It was brilliant and I’d highly recommend it to anyone.
After the boat trip it was just a few miles down the coast to Fort Victoria Image . The commercial attractions there are not for me, £5 to go in the reptilarium, only a small place under an arch with terrapins and lizards. I love these creatures but didn’t think they’d have much of a selection in such a small place. I went outside the fort and sat watching a man picking his way along the rocks on the shore. The tide runs very fast and deep here, good for fishing but definitely not for bathing.
It was chicken and chips for my Sandown seafront take-away that evening Image
*Thursday and my last day on the island. I decided to dedicate it to a bit of shopping. I was specifically looking for a place I’d visited on a previous island stay, where different people sold their things, second hand things, a bit like a carboot sale only this was a barn ‘boot’ sale. The sellers weren’t there, instead the items had different coloured price tickets on them for each different seller and one or two people would take the money on their behalf and log the takings in a book. I didn’t find it. I went around various farms and barns but no luck.
Time was getting on and most of those venues were now shut. Time for my last bit of coastal viewing, mostly the east coast. Bembridge, Image and Seaview Image Image Image and another un-named place that I found near Bembridge/Seaview. Image It was now early evening and time to think about food again. As I rode out of Seaview, I think it was, I saw a sign for fish and chips so I stopped to have a look. Three fish options! Cod, Plaice and Rock. I love rock, haven’t been able to get any for about twenty years now. All my local shops are kebab or Chinese that will do you a piece of fish, presumed to be cod, and chips. It’s just not the same though. This shop was a surprise, it was Chinese too. The staff were Chinese and so were the decorations but the only things Chinese on the menu were spring rolls. I opted for the large Rock and chips, he gave me two pieces as he thought they were a little small, (I didn’t) and I then drove back to Sandown to my bench by the pier to eat it. It was lovely, crispy batter and slightly crispy fat chips even after a 20min journey ‘home’. Cheaper than the other place at £6.40. Just the way to finish off my IoW trip though I never did get over to Freshwater Bay.
*Friday, home day. I was booked onto the 9am ferry and had to get there half an hour before. My hosts had agreed to give me my breakfast early so I managed to leave around 8am. A nice little run up to Fishbourne and into the ferry yard just before 8.30. I was hoping to film the scooters as they disembarked but I’d either missed them or there weren’t any on the ferry in the first place. I certainly didn’t pass any on the way in although I had passed a red C90 heading for Sandown at about 8.10am. I handed in my ticket and was ushered onto the ferry almost straight away. It seems I was now going to be on the 8.30 ferry and not the 9am one. Daft ferry captain, when we got out of the port he did a 180 turn around meaning that we were going backwards. The view from the sundeck was now where we’d been, Image not where we were going. Image Image
Now the last two times that I’d tried to get out of Portsmouth I kept getting lost trying to avoid those damn motorways again. This time Barker was meeting me from the ferry to guide me out of town, then we’d stop somewhere for a brew and a chinwag before he set me off onto the A3 towards home. But I’m on an earlier ferry. As it happened Barker was early too so he was there waiting for me when I came off the ferry. He showed me his home made map then we set off out of the ferry terminal. Suddenly there was something wrong with my eyesight. Everything was blurred. Then about three hundred yards down the road I realised what was wrong, I still had my reading glasses on instead of my bike glassses. I quickly took them off and stuffed them into my pocket but had to wait for the next set of red traffic lights to fish my bike glasses out of my other pocket. We drove through the maze that was Portsmouth and out onto Portsdown, a viewpoint overlooking Portsmouth Harbour where we sat on a bench and had a brew and a natter. (I forgot to take a photo) Then we left to find the A3 at Horndean (I recognised the place from my ‘lost’ episode on my first ever Southern Softies.) and we stopped at a bus stop to say our goodbyes. Image Thank you Barker.
Now on the A3, (10.45am) and Ruby fairly hurtled along mostly at 45-50mph. The miles just sped by and by noon I was approaching the outskirts of London, south London which is one of my ‘getting lost’ places. I did my best to keep to the A3 aiming for the Elephant and Castle and Blackfriars Bridge. Almost every traffic light on the route was red. We’d see the next lights at green while we waited for ours to go from red to green then as soon as we got near the next lights they’d turn red. This was happening all the way in with an added traffic jam near Battersea as well. We’d stopped for fuel just before I left Barker and I stopped again in London (just in case I got lost) but didn’t really need that second fuel stop in the end. Finally, I got to the Elephant and Castle and managed to take the wrong road. The first road off the junction just had a congestion charge big C on it, no destination so I took the next road. Now I was going up a bus lane (the right way) which was running alongside a one-way road coming the other way. Oops. I did a U-turn and went back to the first road with the C. That was it, Blackfriars Bridge. Now I knew where I was and the way home, I could have driven home blindfolded from there.
I pulled up outside my front door at around 1.45pm. I’d made it! I didn’t get lost! I was feeling so proud of myself too. Again, thanks to Barker for getting me out of Portsmouth avoiding the motorway. It would have taken me a lot longer without that.
Outward journey mileage – 120 miles
Home journey mileage -91 miles.
IoW miles – 235 miles
Total mileage 446 miles

Costs, not including the B&B
Ferries £16.88 (Red Funnel) = £18.20 (Wightlink) = £35.08
Petrol - (including the last one in London that I didn’t really need) = £14.76
Food - £20.40 + £15.75 pub meal that Hub paid for
Sundries – (boat trip, museum shopping) - £23
Total = £93.21

PS Image

The rest of the gallery here:- https://postimg.cc/gallery/un2060w4/

barker
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Re: Isle of Wight trip August 2018

Post by barker » Mon Sep 03, 2018 8:15 pm

nice write up , wot ever made you up sticks and rush off to the I o w all of a sudden

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Capitano
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Re: Isle of Wight trip August 2018

Post by Capitano » Mon Sep 03, 2018 8:46 pm

Excellent account.

I really missed not going to the Isle of Wightie this year, so reading this was the next best thing.

8-)

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wightegi
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Re: Isle of Wight trip August 2018

Post by wightegi » Mon Sep 03, 2018 8:57 pm

It looks nice there... the last photo of the Needles has my watch tower to the right of the lighthouse on the cliff top.1/2 of a mile from the lighthouse.
Those ships ..full of new British cars being exported from Southampton.

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Re: Isle of Wight trip August 2018

Post by PhilB » Mon Sep 03, 2018 9:26 pm

Lovely job :mrgreen:

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wightegi
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Re: Isle of Wight trip August 2018

Post by wightegi » Mon Sep 03, 2018 10:15 pm

HMS Warrior ;) and the ferry is one ended so has to turn to go forwards ;)

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Geoff from Preston
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Re: Isle of Wight trip August 2018

Post by Geoff from Preston » Tue Sep 04, 2018 6:37 am

Very interesting write up. Good photos I would have liked to have gone but it's a bit too far. Your bike looks very good, is Ruby the same bike that you went to Rhayader on in 2010?

Leiba
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Re: Isle of Wight trip August 2018

Post by Leiba » Tue Sep 04, 2018 10:43 am

Geoff from Preston wrote:
Tue Sep 04, 2018 6:37 am
Your bike looks very good, is Ruby the same bike that you went to Rhayader on in 2010?
Yes he is. Old faithful and reliable. As I said at the beginning I didn't prep him for the trip. Usually I would have changed the oil, adjusted the clutch, brakes and chain, (with a little bit of lubricating) but didn't do any of that. :roll: But he never missed a beat. I think he needed a break from the London roads and the stop/go traffic as much as I did.

Leiba
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Re: Isle of Wight trip August 2018

Post by Leiba » Tue Sep 04, 2018 10:52 am

barker wrote:
Mon Sep 03, 2018 8:15 pm
nice write up , wot ever made you up sticks and rush off to the I o w all of a sudden
I just needed to get away from it all. The noise, pollution, neighbour hassles and Hub. Saying that, he would phone me about every two hours even when I was driving. I'd have to find somewhere to stop to answer the phone. "Where are you?" I'd tell him. "Where's that?" Pointless conversations, geez. In the end I'd switch the phone off while I was driving and only switch it back on when I stopped for a while. (told him it was draining the battery, which it was, (now have a new phone)
So I still couldn't entirely get away from the hassles of home life. :( Comes with being the head of the household I suppose.

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Re: Isle of Wight trip August 2018

Post by barker » Tue Sep 04, 2018 5:07 pm

was,nt to see the boys on there 90s then

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