The typical CCC Social rides are quite shortish, around 25 miles at around 12mph, so how amazing to find out they were doing an IoW tour.

There were 13 riders supported by 4 drivers.

Day 1, Cranleigh to Winchester.
The group had booked up months earlier — I (Mike) tagged along reasonably last minute! — everyone showed up to set off from Cranleigh Leisure Centre, not riding a mere 20 or 25 miles, but 50 miles!!! There were stops: No. 1 for tea & cake at Selborne, then stop No. 2 for lunch at the Bush Inn, Ovington, where 2 of the support vehicles also joined us, before the final leg to Winchester, arriving at around 4PM, where a luxurious hotel, food & much pampering awaited.

Day 2, Winchester to Ventnor via Lymington.
We set off quite early, heading off to the New Forest & tea stop No. 1, apparently the second home for the infamous Lloyd family, being Rhinefield House Hotel. This was another luxurious hotel with a pretty scant cake selection 😕
Luckily the support vehicles unloaded their very welcome supplies. Another stop at Lymington for obvious reasons and a chance to grab some more food,before we boarded the ferry to the Isle of Wight. Two riders opted to grab a lift from Yarmouth while another rider & a 3rd support vehicle joined us for the IOW leg to Ventnor, ending up with 63 miles on the clock. The accommodation was two lovely properties on the sea front & the food was sorted at local restaurants. I left them at this point to strike for home, didn’t quite make it though!

Day 3. Ventnor to Chichester.
Only 40 miles via Ryde, Portsmouth & Hayling Island, lunch was at Bosham. I think all the money had run out by this stage as a Premier Inn had been booked, God knows if they even ate that night? 😁

Day4. Back to Cranleigh.
Only about 30 miles to get home, but after a sleepless & hungry night (apparently the hotel was fine & somehow there was plenty of good food to be found in Chichester). The tea stop was at Lurgashall &
I met them outside the Onslow when they got back to Cranleigh around 2pm & they all looked fresh & were full of laughter.

Sadly Richard who was one of the main instigaters for the trip was ill with a virus, so he couldn’t ride with us, but he & Sophie were driving one of the support vehicles.

One near fatal crash when Mike B crashed at 5mph, they pronounced him 100% OK at the scene, but he’s been heard grumbling about it ever since, probably because of the frequency with which the rest of the group mention it 😁

A massive thanks to all the people who helped organise the trip & a special thanks to the support drivers, the trip would not have been possible without your help.