Day 6: Friday

We were up promptly this morning to pack up and head off. It was drizzling on and off, the kind that can soak through so everyone was dressed in waterproofs for the first time this holiday. The wind had definitely picked up from the previous few days, but nothing in comparison to what is being forecast for Saturday. We loaded the bikes with the panniers and then had breakfast before sending the children off to the games room to stay dry while we finished packing up. We left the campsite at around 9am having made the decision to take the shorter route north rather than the diversion east to see the Bembridge windmill.

Waterproofs for cycling in today

The first few miles were on the bike path and then it was minor roads and lanes for the remainder of the journey. There was a fair bit of traffic about on some of the roads today but nothing compared to the A-roads we were consciously avoiding. There were some heavy downpours on our way and one rather large hill which we all admitted defeat to and walked up, but we were then rewarded with some spectacular views from the top and a lovely long descent where I got to go up front for a change and left the others behind enjoying not having to keep my brakes on the whole way down behind little people! 

Views from the top of the hill

Further on we were lucky to see a hunt dog pack being exercised and we pulled to the side of the lane to let them all go past - the children loved it and the dogs were very well behaved and under control.

Two cycle incidents today - the first crash of the tour from Emily. Picture the Rio Olympic road races and it was something similar but heading up hill slightly rather than a steep descent. We were on a newly tarmaced road with a camber/drop-off onto mud and grass, I shouted up to warn of an overtaking car and rather than just keeping her line, Emily moved towards the edge of the road - I could see what was going to happen before it did and shouted out again, but it was too late and the bike had gone from underneath her... She was fine, just shaken and had in fact done quite a good job of getting out of the way of the bike on its way down. After a quick check for injuries (there were none thankfully) and cleaning of glasses we headed off again.

The second incident was our first puncture which came from Adrian - we were about a km away from the ferry and we were loath to stop. Adrian felt it had enough air to get him to the ferry despite pulling the trailer so we carried on. While waiting to load the ferry he gave it a quick pump up and it lasted until the car on the other side - the full repair will have to wait until we are back home.

We made surprisingly good time considering the hills and rain and arrived at the ferry and were on our way to Portsmouth by 11.45am. We were able to stand up on deck as the skies had cleared by then and the journey wasn't too rough. A lot of holiday makers were also leaving a day early to avoid the storms.

Waiting to board 

All boarded and ready to set sail!

The Killicks on tour!

Bye bye IOW 

A short cycle through Portsmouth and we found our car parked safely on the driveway where we left it. We loaded the car and I did a swift clothes change behind some dustbins and we were back in the comfort of the car. We stopped at the Harvester on the way out of Portsmouth for lunch and the children loved the salad bar (I remember these from my youth - stopping with my family and my twin brother, Andrew and me going up for seconds). By now it was raining really hard and stayed that way for the next few hours!

The car journey back to Bristol was pretty tedious with quite a number of motorway queues, eventually arriving back home having stopped off for milk at 6.30pm. Now for all the washing and packing away. I hope the weather improves so I can dry the tent at some point!

11 miles cycled today