Cycle from Hampshire round the Isle of Wight and back

Inspired by ebikes hired on our ride from Vienna to Budapest we purchased our own back home, which makes any journey far more pleasurable if you are not regular lycra clad cyclists, which we are not! Having packed our kit into paniers and a couple of rucksacks. Our trip starts from our home, Bentley, GU10, we cycled the Shipwrights Way to Petersfield. This is a very beautiful ride starting at Alice Holt and links villages and towns in East Hampshire through some beautiful countryside. The name of this trail reflects the journey of oak grown at Alice Holt to the dockyard in Portsmouth for medieval shipbuilding, in all around 50 miles. https://www.forestryengland.uk/alice-holt-forest/shipwrights-way-trail-alice-holt So, letting the train take the strain at Petersfield, we travelled to Portsmouth Harbour where we caught the ferry to Fishbourne, 45 minutes later we were back on the bikes. Our aim is Shanklin on the south east coast, where we are meeting friends for dinner. Getting into holiday mode we stopped for an ice cream from The Dell Café in Puckpool before 13km on to Shanklin. Our friends met us at The Hideaway on Shanklin Beach, https://hideaway-shanklin.co.uk/ An outstanding restaurant and bar! Our journey continued the next day to Ventnor, 7km. We hugged to coast where we could and were blessed with great weather every day. Bonchurch is particularly pretty. At Ventnor we visited the Botanic Gardens and were very impressed with their Cactus and succulents. Our overnight accommodation was a Shepherds Hut in Shorwell, very bijou! Lovely chiminea for toasting marshmallows… yummy and very welcome after 17km ride. Our ride from Shorwell along the south coast to the west of the island is stunning. The beaches are any to rival the Mediterranean! After 18km we reached The Needles. We found a very busy tourist area, which was not our cup of tea, so we peddled on to lunch at The Hut. This is THE place to go on the island. Stunning views on the coast at Colwell Bay, delicious food and drinks. I would come to the Isle of Wight, just to go to The Hut https://thehutcolwell.co.uk/ Our journey took us next across the island via busy Newport to Seaview and The Seaview Hotel, https://www.seaviewhotel.co.uk/the-hotel. Seaview is a lovely place - we had delicious fish and chips, washed down with a large gin and tonic, from The Old Fort which we ate sitting on the sea wall while reflecting on a super few days, touring the island. Our ferry the next day was from Fishbourne so we cycled into Cowes for lunch in the harbour watching the sail boats come and go, before heading home. Ferry to Portsmouth, train to Petersfield and cycle to Bentley. We ate like royalty, kept fit, enjoyed beautiful scenery, saw friends and would highly recommend this trip, or similar, to anyone.