Up, breakfasted, packed and on the road by 9am. We wanted to get a ferry across to the Isle of Wight from Portsmouth, and decided the easiest way to get there would be to cycle down to the bottom of Hayling Island, where you can get a little ferry across to Portsmouth, avoiding much of the city traffic. Having crossed the long bridge to
Hayling Island the heavens began to open so we ducked into a garage forecourt and grabbed a few snacks. A police cyclist turned up looking for cover as well and he told us that there was a pretty decent cycle path that ran right down to the south of the Island, so when the rain eased we took a pleasant ride down to South Hayling, and before long found to our pleasure that the ferry landed right next to a pub, so we ordered a pint of ale (half a bitter top for Kez) and sat down to wait.
The ferry captain was a pleasant chap who took interest in our adventure and told of his own cycling exploits across germany before landing the boat and jumping on his own bike to whizz off for lunch.
The wind was against us again as we slogged our way along Porstmouth seafront, looking for signs to the Ferry 
terminals, and we were both a bit weary when we got there. We took a couple of snaps of the spinnacker tower and caught the Seacat to Ryde. The comfy arm chairs, gentle rocking and low hum of the Seacat had us nodding off almost instantly and it seemed a shame to have to get off so quickly.
Our camp site was some miles west of Ride, and once we’d hauled ourselves up the steep hills out of the town we were pleased to find a huge empty green site with washing machine and tumble drying
facilities. We’d arranged to meet friends Mike and Michelle in the New Forest the next day, and we weren’t sure how hard the ride across the Isle would be, so after doing a load of washing and stuffing ourselves with egg, bacon and tomato rolls washed down with a bottle of JP Chenet we retired for an early night.