Day 3 - Freshwater Bay to Bembridge

I successfully woke up at about 5.15am but it was a struggle. I had slept pretty well in my Blue Kazoo sleeping bag and fold-up sleeping mat (I had bought the fold up sleeping mat from Sports Direct the previous week for £10 and had not slept on it before). Thankfully it wasn't raining outside (rain had been forecast for today) but it was pretty cold so I was keen to get going to warm up. Tom got up a bit later at maybe 5.45. He hadn't slept as well and was pretty tired. After digesting a bit more of the starchy spaghetti (Tom threw his away) I had a quick wash-up in the toilets before packing up. We left at around 6.45am which wasn't too bad. We looked at the map and there was now a road that ran along the rest of the entire length of the south west coast of the island as well as the coastal path. We stayed on the coastal path for the early morning, enjoying some great cliff and beach views along the way. There were more dog walkers about including one guy who was sitting in his car smoking whilst the dogs ran about - he pointed us in the right direction at one point. Soon after this the rain started. It began with a light shower but within maybe 30 minutes had progressed into a proper downpour. After walking along the coastal path in the rain for a while we started to get cold (I didn't have waterproof trousers and Tom's battered old Pac-lite jacket was no longer waterproof, so we decided to switch to the road. The reason being the road would get us to the next town of Blackgang (which was still many miles away) quicker than the path. We had to maintain a decent, steady pace to keep warm enough. The road was very long and monotonous and talk began of what we would have for lunch when we got to Blackgang (which we kept getting confused with Blacksail which was a hostel from the Coast to Coast walk). Our energy levels were running low, so we put a High-5 electrolyte tablet into one of my small running belt bottles of water (normally I put half a tablet per bottle but we needed something strong). We shared this as this was the only water we had left between us - it helped a bit. Along the road we saw a couple of caravan sites and a duck swimming in a puddle, before a cyclist came along. We were looking at the map and he asked if we needed any help. We asked him how far it was to Blackgang - he looked on his phone and reckoned about 3 miles, which were happy about. His name was Shazad, he was very friendly and told us he was cycling around the island over the weekend. After a 10 minute chat he headed off slowly ahead of us with his laden mountain bike into the rain (which thankfully had eased off significantly for the last 30-45 minutes). We pushed on. Shortly we reached the village of Chale that was just before Blackgang. There was a nice-looking pub serving food we could see a short distance down a path. I asked Tom about stopping here but he wanted to make it to Blackgang and have lunch there. So we pushed on the last few miles to Blackgang into the rain (that had started to get heavier again). At one point we took a footpath that was more direct than the road - this was quite a steep uphill. We came out at the top of the hill and saw Shazad pushing his bike up the road hill. We were virtually at Blackgang so said we would all have lunch together when we got there. About 5 minutes later we arrived and made a beeline for the cafe. We got there between 11am and 11.30 so were doing well for time. Unsurprisingly there wasn't really anyone else around in this atrocious weather so we had the cafe to ourselves. The cafe staff smiled as we came in and didn't care that we hung all our wet stuff on chairs in front of the radiators and charged the devices, taking over one end of the place. I had taken most of my clothes off and was sat in my sleeping bag in my pants in the corner. This was always going to be a long break. The menu gave us a good choice of warm food - I was last to order due to faffing around getting undressed and hanging everything in front of the radiator. I went for jacket potatoes with chilli with beans and cheese on the side. Tom had burger and chips. Shazad was very talkative and was really interested in our previous trips. He had a marketing job in London, and doing this was his first cycling trip. He was very laid-back and was like us intending to get to Sandown by the end of the day. We exchanged phone numbers saying that we could potentially share a B&B there later. Eventually the food came. It was decent quality and portion sizes were reasonable so I was happy. Tom and Shazad were also satisfied with their food. After about an hour we started getting ready to go - this took probably 10 minutes with me getting dressed and slagging everything back in the bag. Tom was intending to pay for lunch but the card machine didn't work so I had to settle up with cash. I went over to pay and was seduced by some caramel flapjacks behind the counter so I got us one of these each. Altogether it came to just under £20 for the 2 of us, so pricey but well worth it. We did a quick video and photos with Shazad before leaving. The rain was still coming down but we were in better spirits. We now got back on the footpath (it wasn't clear whether or not this was the coastal path) but it didn't matter because we were going in the right general direction. There was a bit up-and-down initially but mostly we were high up on a hill overlooking houses below with the sea now in the distance. The rain became heavier again but the temperature felt warmer and I certainly wasn't as cold as I was in the morning downpour. Chris had phoned Tom and they had a very lengthy chat about what each other were doing at the time. After maybe an hour and a half we approached the next town of Ventnor. We were now starting to get cold so would have to stop here to warm up again. As we were walking down the slope into town we saw Shazad yet again coming from behind us. He had been delayed by some road closures or something hence why we got here at the same time. This time we only had a quick word with him reiterating about potentially sharing a B&B in Sandown later before he rode off. We went into town in search of somewhere warm to go. I was also on the lookout for a charity shop that I would be able to buy some cheap clothes to change into. As it was Sunday the charity shops were shut as were the cafe's. The only option was the pub. So we trapsed into the pub with the locals laughing at how wet we were. We claimed a table in the corner, I got undressed again/sat in my sleeping bag. Tom got me a hot chocolate, and coffee for himself. We again hung all our wet stuff over the backs of chairs. They had wifi so I checked the weather for the rest of the day. In a couple of hours the rain was due to stop so we decided to relax in the pub for a while before powering the remaining miles. We also looked on Google maps and saw that we really needed to go further than Sandown today as this would still leave us 22 miles tomorrow before having to ferry and cycle back to Reading. We agreed to stop in Bembridge (the town after Sandown), which would leave us 17 or 18 miles to cover tomorrow which would be hard but realistic. The pub was warm but there weren't any radiators so although my core temperature was more-or-less beck to normal my clothes remained wet. After maybe an hour and a half of sitting in the pub the rain had stopped and the sun came out so we packed up and got walking again. I saw a Premier supermarket just after leaving the pub so we picked up a couple of pies each for dinner, baguettes for breakfast and jaffa cakes for snacking. After this I set the pace knowing we had a very limited time to get to Bembridge before dark. After half an hour I had to remove one of my jackets as was getting hot and got the music out for the first time today which helped keep the pace up. Tom had another lengthy phonecall with Chris. The south-east coast of the island was far more built up than the west of the island with regular larger towns and houses everywhere. We passed through Shanklin which like Ventnor was a nice little town before reaching Sandown. At Sandown we walked down to the seafront - this was the first time we had seen the sea for a good few hours. It had the standard beachfront hotels and restaurants as well as a zoo. It was a nice long beach to walk down. It was now around 6.30pm so we had an hour and a half to cover maybe 5 miles to Bembridge. At the end of the beach we followed the road inland towards Bembridge. It was now countryside again and we enjoyed a really nice evening walk alongside the rabbits in the fields. Tom had another phonecall with Chris. We got to the Bembridge sign at 7.30pm. There was an isolated restaurant garden and an airfield in the distance. I was tempted with camping by the airfield but decided it would be best to push on as we still had some daylight left and was keen to get to the main bit in Bembridge. There was then a footpath signposted for 'Bembridge Town' so we followed this. It was through a wooded area which was quite muddy and involved a long uphill section. At the top of this hill there was a National Trust windmill with a small well-kept grass area around it. I said we should stop here. Tom was a little more reluctant as there was a house nearby and was worried we would be asked to leave. It didn't look like there was anyone in the house so I convinced him to camp here. I don't know exactly how far we had covered today as my Garmin watch had run out of battery, but I reckon we covered at least 28 miles. We jumped over the gate and found a flat, sheltered spot by a bush. We had set everything up and were eating our pies by 8.30pm (not having to cook anything saved a lot of time and effort), before going to sleep at 9, with the alarm set for 5.15am again tomorrow morning.