For anyone looking to stay in the IOW to support the 150 MND team please see the annotated map below which shows the eastern side of the island. If you want to stay near the walkers and the finishing venue, I suggest you stay in the red corridor.

The Island is a lot bigger than first time visitors often appreciate and can take the best part of an hour to travel from one side of the island to the other.The main form of transport is the Vectis buses. These are good and I have used them extensively while out walking. They are currently continuing the nationally expired scheme of £2 per trip, so are cheap as well. On most routes they tend to run approximately every hour.

If you stay in the red corridor the number 8 bus enters at the top of the corridor from Ryde and exits at the small left-hand bulge heading to Newport. It does not stop right outside the brewery, but the Amazon World stop is only a short walk. The timetable is currently showing the last bus back in the direction of Ryde as 23:56 hrs. One final word on the buses, if you are coming down by train as a foot passenger, the train stops right alongside the Wight Link Catamaran terminal at Portsmouth Harbour.

This takes 22 minutes to Ryde Pier Head, and you can then walk down the pier and get the Number 8 bus to come into this red corridor area. Book your ticket through to Ryde Pier Head from your starting point as it is cheaper. There is one train on the island (Steam train aside) that runs from the Pier Head (you can get this from the Catamaran if you don’t want to walk the pier, in which case
book your ticket through to Ryde bus depot) that goes to Sandown & Shanklin if you are staying there.

If you are driving over, the best route when coming from the Kent area is the Wight Link Portsmouth to Fishbourne route (44 mins). It generally takes just under 2 hours from Tonbridge or south London to Portsmouth straight down the A3. Fishbourne is marginally west of Ryde and it is slightly quicker than the Southampton route but also places you on the correct side of the island for the corridor on the map.

The other main route by car is The Red Funnel route from Southampton to Cowes. This takes slightly longer to get to on the mainland (M3) and will require you to do more driving once on the island, but that said Cowes is a buzzing little town. There is also the Red Jet passenger catamaran on this route (20 mins) for pedestrians.

There is one other car route from Lymington to Yarmouth (45 mins). Yarmouth is a great village but is very distant from the red corridor on the map and takes a lot longer to get to on the mainland. That said Lymington is a great stop over point when travelling and is on the very edge of the most picturesque (for my money) part of the New Forest.

Finally, if you want to try something different as a foot passenger, there is the Hoverspeed hovercraft service from Southsea (Complimentary bus link from Portsmouth and Southsea station to the hovercraft terminal). Then see as per Wight Link Catamaran above.

Below is the map then some hotels that you may wish to try. Please note some have offered discount so please mention 150 MND which you call up.