WhHay it's TT time again. As you will all be aware there is no
racing this year due to foot and mouth but the party is still
supposed to be on. We will see.
Lindsey and I set off about 10:00am in the sunshine determined to
take the fun roads to Heysham. Out through Bishop Auckland, then
to Barnard Castle, a wee bit of A66 and then more good stuff from
Brough via Sedburgh, Devils Bridge and eventually Heysham.
We all get disinfected before we're allowed on the Ben-Ma-Cree (or
however it's spelt), then are subjected to the Steam Rackets
comedy access route up and along a footpath then down a steel
ramp. Don't ask me why, I'm sure somebody somewhere has a good
reason for it, bet he doesn't have to ride a bike over it though.
The comedy access route. Apparently they only use this during TT week.
The crossing is unusually pleasant, we eat, chat to some old
guy and 3.5 pleasant hours later disembark for another spraying.
My bike has never been so clean.
The blatt from Douglas to Ramsey is great fun with my new front
tyre starting to get nicely settled in.
The evening was spent in a couple of pubs, first a wine bar with
the worst band imaginable (and believe me that's bad) then the
Mitre which was much better.
I was asleep before my head hit the pillow.
Ramsey harbour in the sunshine, and approaching beer drinking time if I'm not mistaken.
Woke up late(ish) to cloud and wind (and that was just Lindsey).
There been no breakfasty food in the house and Janice &
George having gone to work Lindsey and I took a walk into town.
Spent most of the morning chilling out then took a ride down to
Peel, nothing excitable just a pootle. Peel was deserted, even
the tumbleweeds had left so we had to entertain ourselves with
ice cream and watching the comedy parking display teams.
A pleasant evening was spent in the Brit watching a band called
Shy Talk, a sort of comedy cabaret due - you know the sort of
thing, 75% of the music is pre-recorded onto the keyboard. Did a
couple of good numbers but on the whole the initial
interpretation of the name says it all - Shite Hawk.
Despite best endeavours ended up drunk again - but not shitfaced.
Nice old GS1000 racer at the Jurby meeting
Cold, windy but fine so we all pootled out to Jurby to watch
some racing. Lindsey's bike refused to play due to a flat battery
thus leaving me to ride two up.
A usual the racing was cold and windy but there where plenty of
bikes about - nowt much else to do I suppose except go round and
round the course.
Come evening time Lindsey and me rode through to Douglas to watch
the Fun Lovin' Criminals. Good gig and mention must go to Quill,
the support band, who where excellent.
The ride back was cold but fun, it's amazing how fast 50mph feels
at night on roads you don't know too well.
Very tasty street fighter spotted at the Jurby do.
A beautiful sunny day greeted me so I went for the obligatory
lap on my own. All was going well till I stopped at Creg-Ny-Baa
and, with great incompetence, managed to reverse into someone's
VFR. Over it went in an expense of screen, clutch levers and
other minor, but no doubt expensive, damage. Tit, bum, fucking
arsehole!!!!
Details where exchanged and we will see how poverty stricken I'm
going to be.
The remainer of the lap was fun but somewhat muted by this
escapade.
By this time everyone else was ready, the plan to visit one of
J&G's mates in hospital (no, not bike crash related) then to
wander about Dougie (that's Douglas, not some fat lad) before
going to the Van Morrison concert.
So over the mountain we went mixing it with all the other loonies,
I even managed to deck the pegs at the Waterworks - scared he
life out of me I tell you.
That speck in the middle of the dark bit in the distance
is Van Morrison
The amount of bald and grey heads is a reminder of the fact we're
all getting old and crotchety.
Janice had forgotten the tickets (or was this all planned?) so
we continued for a full lap, had some lunch then over the
mountain again. Even faster this time, god knows what this is
doing to my oil leak, and into Douglas with time to spare.
Van the Man was brilliant, cool and laid back with a tight brass
section backing him. The only downer was him finishing quiet
early so he could fly out (no I don't understand it either), but
on the plus side this left us time to thrash along the coast road
and be back in time for beers and a Chinese.
Another fine day but I missed half of cos I was sleeping off a
hangover.
Still we eventually got going and headed for the south of the
island, Cregneash in particular. What an incredible village, it
is kept as it was, thatched roofs, heavy horses and a working
farm using traditional methods. There is also a cafe doing a
farmers boot, this turns out to be a stonking sandwich with
fillings of your choice.
Cregneash, very pretty, thatched cottages and green telephone boxes.
A short walk from here took us to the chasms, a natural rock
formation. Damn good.
An interesting thrap back to Ramsey followed. Lindsey and Janice
(ST Sprint and VFR750) complained about how bumpy some of the
back roads are, George and I (KLE500 and Tiger) wondered what all
the fuss was about.
Janice drove (as in oh-my-god-we're-all-going-to-die) us to the
Sulby Glen pub in her new car. The reasoning behind this death
defying mission to watch Still Crazy doing their stuff.
And are they good or what, really tight driving rhythms covering
a whole range of music, why they where not asked to support FLC
and Van Morrison in Douglas is beyond me. Possibly cos they would
have blown them off-stage.
All this resulted in me getting very drunk and even dancing at
one point in the evening, Fishermans Blues always does that to me.
So if your planning a rally somewhere and you don't want to
subject your audience to yet another let-pretend-we're... band
try and coax them over.
Our heroes at the chasms.
Another late and slightly hung over day presented itself, and
I was at last prised from my bed.
This been Tuesday it was Ramsey Sprint day when the boys that don't
go roundy round go bloody fast in a straight line.
Do not adjust your set, it is a V8 Kwak.
The star of the show however was quietly parked up in a
corners gradually attracting attention to itself. At first glance
it appeared to a rather tidy Kawasaki if the Z1 variety. Until
that is the words "1600 V8" on the side panels swam
into focus thus confirming I was not suffering double vision in
the engine department. The frame had been slightly altered to fit
the engine but the running gear seemed standard which, although
in keeping with the looks, might be a bit of a nightmare over the
mountain. The handling on these things was, let us say notorious,
in standard form but with the extra potential of a 1600 V8
punting things along...
Later we headed into Douglas to spend the evening watching the
madness outside Bushy's. Stunt shows, street theatre and kart
racing provided the main show before the firework finarly over
the bay. Top fun followed by a night blast back down the coast
road, I kept slowing down to let the others get ahead on the
straights then playing catch up on the twisties.
The gentle sound of rain sets the tone for the day, the bikes
are not going to see much action today. So we take the tram to
Ballajora and then walk back, once clear of civilisation the
gentle drizzle gets it's act together and becomes proper Manx
rain.
That leaves the Brit to provide the location, Casablanca to
provide the entertainment and beer to provide the lubrication.
Bloody good band now Casablanca.
Another fine day, we rode over to Douglas for a pasty, any
excuse is a good excuse to ride a bike, and to decide what to do
with the rest of the day.
Castletown was the conclusion, the town square was full of
gorgeous old bikes which kept me happily slavering for a while.
Quite possibly THE most yummy Ducati on the island this year.
This was followed by a meander up various back roads,
sometimes we scratched and sometimes I just bimbled along looking
at the views.
The final leg back to Ramsey saw us all separated and me going
off up and over the mountain again. If you can force yourself to
slow down enough the views from up there are incredible, I would
have taken some pics but due to the F&M scare all the
stopping places are closed off.
The evening was to be a bit of a pub crawl but Still Crazy
hijacked us with another cracking set in the Iron Pier. Well
worth it, they ended with Psycho Killer to rapturous applause but
the highlight was without doubt a version of Alright Now that
left me gasping for superlatives.
Still Crazy at the Iron Pier
Sorry about the crap photo boys, guess it's my fault for using a
cheapskate digital camera.
It was arranged the previous evening, or so I'm told, that we
would go out to a good pub for lunch.
A quick thrap over the mountain then Lindsey and I where back at
Ramsey just in time to meet up with Janice2 (Benelli) and Mad
Mick on his rather tasty racing Jota.
By the time we got to the pub a rather nervous Janice2 reported
that her speedo cable had snapped and that the milo was stuck on
666.
Girl on the left "Eee, me bike is possessed by evil
spirits"
Man on the left "There is only one way"
Girl in the middle "What do you call a deer with no eyes?"
Man on the right "Oh, Just a small Jamesons then"
Girl on the right "What speed limit?"
A ride round dome back roads saw us back in Ramsey in time for tea and then more live music, Casablanca this time, in the Brit. I failed to remain sober and had a thoroughly good night - it ain't a good night without a traffic cone.
It's amazing, 50,000 years if evolution for this
Kinda makes you want to give and go back to the trees.
Time to go home. The Seacat leaves on time and provides a
smooth a pleasant crossing to Liverpool where someone else has
parked their boat in our berth, end result we are 30 minutes late
getting off.
The remainder of the ride back is quite pleasant and we're no
sooner in our house when the heavens open and it pisses it down.
Another TT over. We will be back in 2002.
So thanks yet again to Janice and George for putting up with
us.
The first year I went over it was to see the racing and Janice
& George where just the people who we would be staying with,
yet now it's these wonderful people I look forward to partying
with, the racing and everything else is just a backdrop to that.
Can't wait to see you again next year.
H & L. xxx