Isle of Man TT (Thick Twat!) Day 1

 Miles: driven 90, ferry, 64 miles, bike, 10ish, walk 4.9

I was umming and arring about doing the blog for this little trip, mainly because I’m missing all my partners in crime and just on my todd and also cos it’s only a couple of days actually cycling. However as there is a ferry involved as everyone loves to point out, there is endless opportunities for me to f-it up!

With a couple of days holiday left to take before April I thought it would be a good idea to continue the quest to try and cycle round all the islands of the British Isles after the huge success of the trip along the Hebridean Way last autumn. With one of the other many quests (I do love ticking things of lists!) still ongoing, that of completing the second 100 climbs, also containing 3 climbs on the Isle of Man,

my love of motorbikes and the fact I’ve never been to see the mountain course the destination was chosen. 

Obviously I did ask the other muppets to come with me, but as they all told me I was mad to go in March and they wouldn’t be joining me (although fair play to Frankie who showed a tiny bit of interest before saying no) the ferry was booked (£46 return for me and the bike) and although the initial plan was to camp, sense prevailed and some (very!) cheap accommodation was booked.

Having checked the weather forecast from about 2 weeks out it was obvious the weather was going to be grim, and so with high winds forecast and a rough crossing predicted, and with the weather getting worse on Thursday, it was with a heavy heart that I packed the bike into the car this morning. The original plan was to drive up to Heysham in Jean, but with the cars covered in snow and ice this morning and loads of salt on the roads I couldn’t bring myself to put her through it, so it was cramming everything into the Alfa and off just after 9. I’d had a look at the ferry port to see if I could leave the car there, and I could, but it would cost more than the ferry! 

As the first time we’d ever been on a bike trip together was the Coast to Coast ride from Morecambe to Scarborough some 18 years ago, I thought it would be apt to park up just North of Morecambe and cycle down to Heysham along the prom and try to find the roughest pub I’d ever been in all those years ago and get a picture for old times sake. Sure enough the Palatine, unbelievably, was still there and fortunately not open! Quick picture and one of the bike next to Eric and it was an easy 8 miles down to the ferry port.

There is something special about getting on a ferry with your bike, and to add to the excitement there was a load of classic rally cars queuing up ready to catch the ferry as well. It gave me something to look at as they made me wait outside in the pissing rain while all the foot passengers baggage was thrown into a van to be driven on the ferry and then I had to dodge the cars as I walked the bike about a mile to the hold. Obvs I was the only cyclist and one of the loading guys tightly tied the bike up as the crossing, he told me with some glee, was likely to be rough…course it was, it’s chuffin March!

Making myself as comfortable as I could I managed to blank out the seasickness by finally starting Slow Horses which I’d downloaded for the trip and 4 episodes later we were rocking into Douglas! Just time to get lost trying to get out of the ferry port into the torrential rain and although I had planned to have a quick spin around Douglas to get my bearings, by the time I’d done a couple of miles I was soaked! Finding the hotel then being quietly insistent that they must have somewhere they could store my bike undercover (they did eventually) it was time for a walk along the prom, then up to the TT grandstand and down Bray Hill. It was now bouncing down, but when you’re wet you’re wet! It felt a bit weird walking down a road I knew every kerb and lamppost on when I’d never actually been there before and shocked at how short the distance is from the start line to the bottom of Bray Hill where the best TT riders are already doing over 160mph…(google it if you’ve never seen it!) 

Back to the hotel for the most mediocre tea and to try and dry things out for tomorrow. It was going to be a big day tomorrow in the bike (90 miles plus) but the weather looks truly horrendous between 8-10am. I’m going to play it by ear, but I do need to get the lap of the mountain course in which includes one of the 3 climbs in full. I’ve then got a choice whether to do the second one, go over to Peel and then back to Castletown where I’m staying tomorrow night or just head straight to Castletown. Wish me luck!