Isle of Wight?

[Fats25]

This weekend me and the Mrs are heading down to the New Forest area on our motorbikes.

Will both be riding (from Kent) on our own bikes - the biggest bike trip for Mrs to date - on Friday, and we have a hotel booked for Friday and Saturday night - managed to get a good deal on a place not too far from Lymington. Plan is then to take our time and ride back on the Sunday, and still have Monday to ourselves.

We are thinking about heading over to the Isle of Wight on the Saturday day as Mrs has never been before, and I have not been since before I could walk. The question is - do we go as foot passengers? Or do we take one on the bikes and have an explore?

Lymington Ferry goes into Yarmouth, and the ferries are strict on the boarding times (I think minimum £25 change for a crossing). We don't want to be stuck in one place drinking all day, as we can do that at home. We could go exploring by public transport, but would be concerned about the time of the return crossing.

So will we bored if going as foot passengers? If we go by bike is there enough to see and keep us busy (no beer involved in this option!)?

I have no idea how big the Isle of Wight is, or how long it would take to get around. Thoughts from anyone that has been? Or perhaps lives there?

[Cpt Stirling]

Have a look at this, hope it helps, http://www.islandbuses.info/. The ferries go about one an hour from Lymington/Yarmouth (not specifically on the hour on the return). Not enough in Yarmouth to spend a day there. The bus company do a 'rover ticket' - I think it's a 'hop on, hop off' type of affair - that will get you around the island but somethings you might want to see/visit may be some way from a stop. It's quite costly to take a car on the ferry but will be cheaper with a bike, http://www.wightlink.co.uk/. Your suggestion of one bike would be the option I'd take. The island is about 27x13 miles.

[cslgirl]

We are going over there for a week's holiday on Monday - can't wait !!

There are some lovely places to visit - nice coastal roads. Some roads are a bit bumpy in places but if it were me, I would take the bikes! The Military Road in West Wight has some good view points to stop off at and some parts of that road have some great bends!

Edited by cslgirl on Tuesday 28th April 13:44

[Fats25]

Thanks for the responses so far.

I am thinking the bike option is the best strategy..... will give us 7 hours to explore the island and grab a bite to eat. Should be enough time - and if we see anything we like we can head back over for a longer stay another time.

For interest (for the crossings we want) price works out as follows:-

2 x passengers = £27.20
1 x motorbike (including 2 passengers) = £42.80
2 x motorbikes (2 x passengers) = £63.20
1 x car (including passengers) = £95.90

It is a no brainer really to take the bike - I can stay off the beer for a day.

Now to pursuade Mrs how comfy it will be on the Gixxer rather than the Bandit!! (Joking - if she is reading this!)

[Northern Chimp]

We are taking the Bandit - end of story :-)

[Fats25]

All booked on the bike an after shopping around - I got it for £38 for 1 x bike and 2 x passengers.

Looking forward to it.

[Kozy]

Beware of the Military Road on a weekend, there will be unmarked BiB all over the place. They HATE motorcyclists. The roads are not from this century or the last one either, beware.

Edited by Kozy on Tuesday 28th April 18:46

[Cpt Stirling]

As Kozy says, the road surface in places is truely shocking - so many of the bikers tell me

Edited by Cpt Stirling on Tuesday 28th April 18:54

[Fats25]

Kozy said:

Beware of the Military Road on a weekend, there will be unmarked BiB all over the place. They HATE motorcyclists. The roads are not from this century or the last one either, beware.

Cpt Stirling said:

As Kozy says, the road surface in places is truely shocking - so many of the bikers tell me

Thanks for the info - I was not expecting an Isle of Man type experience - I will just be out for a bit of a sightseeing bimble along so it should all be ok!

[clive f]

take the bikes you`ll love it, but as said before beware of the roads.

go right around the island and take in the scenery, a non stop circuit would only take about an hour and a half in traffic, so you`ll have plenty of time to do whatever you like.

also with bikes you don`t need to book, just turn up, you can always go back via fishbourne to portsmouth if you want a different route, on the same ticket.

[magic torch]

Another option would be to get the fastcat from Portsmouth.

Buses are horrifically expensive and slow, but the train is cheap and stops at some 'nice' places.

It's really the place for a hoon (not saying that's what you'll be doing).

[cslgirl]

Kozy said:

Beware of the Military Road on a weekend, there will be unmarked BiB all over the place. They HATE motorcyclists. The roads are not from this century or the last one either, beware.

Edited by Kozy on Tuesday 28th April 18:46

Any heads up on where they are most likely to be parked up?

[clive f]

they are so sneaky they could be anywhere, car hidden in field, mr plod in hiding in hedge with camera, I`m sure you get the idea.

[Fats25]

Got back on Sunday and had a great time on IOW for the day. Thanks for the advice from those that posted.

The roads are certainly not perfect, but no worse than I have come across in other places - they were like a race track compared to some of the roads I have been on in India (not on the bike admittedly!).

I don't know why but I thought the IOW would be a bit chavvy - no idea why I thought this, but I was completely wrong. Stopped in some lovely towns on the anticlockwise route from Yarmouth, and the West side was certainly better than the East side, but all was very enjoyable and very friendly. Saw lots of bikes out for the day and only one police car, and again no trouble directed towards bikers from what I saw.

Saw this as well - http://www.monkeyrun.co.uk/ - which looked great fun!

Only complaint we had was that we could not find a fish and chip shop in Cowes by the sea! Also we ran out of time, except to do a quick lap of Newport - but it looked like a nice town.

Looked in a few estate agent windows whilst there and was suprised at how cheap the property was compared to the mainland (we were in Lymington) - if you had a work from home job I know where I would be buying in that area!

[Kozy]

cslgirl said:

Kozy said:

Beware of the Military Road on a weekend, there will be unmarked BiB all over the place. They HATE motorcyclists. The roads are not from this century or the last one either, beware.

Edited by Kozy on Tuesday 28th April 18:46

Any heads up on where they are most likely to be parked up?

Isle of Wight Pearl is a favourite for them to park up in, but of late I hear they will hide literally anywhere. There are quite a few laybys and small lanes coming off the the Milly, and you can't be sure that any of them WON'T have a BiB sat in it.

But in all honesty, the road is actually shocking, I would not bother with it. Try the road from Carisbrooke out towards Shorwell instead, much better.

Edited by Kozy on Monday 1st June 22:53

[cslgirl]

Kozy said:

cslgirl said:

Kozy said:

Beware of the Military Road on a weekend, there will be unmarked BiB all over the place. They HATE motorcyclists. The roads are not from this century or the last one either, beware.

Edited by Kozy on Tuesday 28th April 18:46

Any heads up on where they are most likely to be parked up?

Isle of Wight Pearl is a favourite for them to park up in, but of late I hear they will hide literally anywhere. There are quite a few laybys and small lanes coming off the the Milly, and you can't be sure that any of them WON'T have a BiB sat in it.

But in all honesty, the road is actually shocking, I would not bother with it. Try the road from Carisbrooke out towards Shorwell instead, much better.

Edited by Kozy on Monday 1st June 22:53

Cheers. We saw them parked up on the Military Road. The road has really deteriorated since we were last over there in 2007 - it is, as you say, shocking! Hope to get to know the roads a lot more as we made an offer on a house there