IOM – Isle of Man is a motorcycle racing enthusiasts place of pilgrimage for the annual TT race. We came in 2015, and Vern enjoyed it so much he wanted to duck across from Europe on this trip to attend another day at the races. I enjoyed it as much as a non enthusiast may – adding to the experience the beautiful large town of Douglas where they are held, the gorgeous countryside, and the most delicious icecream I sampled there. It is only a 35 minute flight from Liverpool with more time spent getting to altitude and descending than flying horizontal. From Douglas airport double decker buses run frequently to town, and then its a walk up the hill – depending where you hop off, to where the races are held. The bikers race through residential roads that are blocked off for the week.
Fortunately the weather was forecast for fine but cool with a maximum of 14 degrees, and the morning indicated it to be so. Our flights for the day were at 8am and 6:50pm so we had a full day ahead. We set the alarm early to get our boarding passes, then have breakfast and be through the security checks in time. The flight went well with a little fun movement on take off and landing with the still strong winds – albeit not gale force like yesterday.
At Douglas we took the bus to town, and alighted where recommended by a passenger who was familiar with the route and wandered up a street passing lovely terrace houses in pale creams, ochre and mint greens and through a suburban shopping precinct. We thought it a good idea to stop off and buy a picnic lunch as food is a bit pricey by the grandstand main area. Supermarket and service station sandwiches are generally very good over here and armed with waters, a tub of vegetarian salad, and egg and cress, and chicken and sweetcorn sandwiches we continued towards what we thought was the general right direction.
Now we are aware of the wisdom that just because a majority or a few are heading in one direction, doesn’t mean its the direction you should take. Nothwithstanding, sometimes it nice to throw caution to the wind and just set off on an adventure and follow someone to see where you end up. We did this, and instead of coming upon the familiar church and then grandstand area we went up hill, down hill and up hill through very pleasant residential streets to eventually arrive at a secret little spot at the end of a street with plenty of room right next to – and I mean right next to the road where the bikes passed by.
The screaming engine noise of the bikes is so loud it hurts your ears. As explained with our experience in 2015, by the time you hear the bikes coming they have flown past you at a rate of speed it is dizzying and impossible for the human eye to focus. Thankfully modern cameras have speed or sports mode, and I just played with hearing the approach, press the shutter and burst about 10 shots to hopefully get one or two that are in focus and well even have the bike in the frame! The rest of the day we continued to watch the various races from another secret street end by following someone else and spending time at the grandstand. At the grandstand we got two nice multi award winning Manx ice-cream and it was as good as I remembered the last cone in 2015 – I took my time to savor the silky creaminess with every swipe of my tongue – like a happy anteater! You may ask what is Manx ice-cream? I thought it may have been some breed of cow with short tails native to the island, but no – it is the name for someone or thing native to Isle of Man. So ice-cream made from happy cows on the island. They did mention their recipie was made from butter and cream and other natural flavourings.
There is a church called St. Ninians near the grandstand that provides a cafe with home baked goodies, very reasonable cups of tea and coffee, free wifi and ‘donation’ (you generally have to pay for toilets over here) toilets. They even have a stained glass window with racing pictures at a modern add on end. We spent some time there enjoying very much some almond poppy seed syrup cake and a sticky coffee cake with cream, the free wifi and clean toilets. The church like the community really embraces the races that have been held here for quite a few years. There is also motor car racing since the 60’s. As is natural habit for Vernon he quickly started chatting with a couple across the table we were sharing. The gentleman was 65 and still a rider himself. His wife was also keen on the races and they had been coming regularly for years. They mentioned that a few people had died due to the bad weather moving over the country at the moment. So clearly I was not exaggerating regarding the horrid weather yesterday. Ferries to the Isle of Man has also been cancelled this week.
Mum and Dad met on the Isle of Man at a town on the other side of the island. I had hoped if possible to visit Peel but without a car it was not possible to fit that in unfortunately – and the day was pretty full on. The weather had packed in about 3pm clouding over, and the wind getting up a little with a good chill. By the time we flew back to Liverpool the liquid ice had begun (rain) and we were too tired and cold to be bothered going to town for dinner – as we had another early start in the morning and needed two pre-pack. The hotel down the road a bit was reasonable last time, so we grabbed a cab and had dinner there. On the way back the cab driver did not want to go all the way into the airport so dropped us around the block. This was to save us 3 pounds in airport fee. Sounded good in theory but it was still raining and we didn’t have our umbrella with us. I felt very British pulling up my collar and putting best foot forward for the brisk, cold, wet, walk back to the hotel.
Travels with Valrock 