Yarmouth, Isle of Wight
Distance 18.7km (11.6 miles) Climbing 320m (1,050ft) Time 1hr to 2hrs
ROUTE SUMMARY An easy off-road spin around the western point of the island, offering some great views and a nice introduction to the riding on the Isle of Wight
START/FINISH Yarmouth car park, Rover Road (grid ref SZ 354/895, postcode PO41 0NU)
1 Exit the ferry, go over the large roundabout (‘Ryde’) and look for the blue ‘Round Island Cycle Route’ signs. Follow the road left by the car park, then turn right at a crossroads by a school, onto Mill Road. Keep ahead as this becomes a tra c-free cycle path alongside the water. At the path junction, turn sharp left.
2 At the B3401, go right. After 0.8km, turn o left on Thorley Street (still the B3401, signposted to Wellow). Pass Thorley village. As you enter Wellow, turn right, just past a bus shelter, following the blue cycle signs. After the road bears left, take the obvious bridleway on the right (‘S19’).
3 Climb gradually and cross a minor road, in a dogleg, to stay on the bridleway and then go across a busier road. Continue uphill, then turn left at the track crossing by the woods. At a farm track T-junction, turn right onto another bridleway. Cross the road and climb for 0.5km. Go through a gate, bear right at a fork and keep going uphill, to a junction with a wide track.
4 Turn sharp right and follow the bridleway through the woods. Keep right, go through a gate and down a wide grassy track, bearing left to a road. Cross the road onto a track opposite and bear left to some gates, then keep right at the fork to climb steeply up a chalk track.
5 Continue ahead. Go downhill through the golf course and bear right at the path junction near the bottom, past the last hole. Follow this trail left, down towards the clubhouse, but turn o right to the storage shed instead. Go left across the grass, to a bridleway in the lower left corner.
6 Follow this track (Freshwater Way) across the fields, bearing slightly right to a road. Turn left, then immediately right on another road (The Causeway). Just before the bridge, turn right onto the cycle path. Follow this back to where you joined it earlier, and turn left to retrace your tracks to the start.