Adelphi Hotel Douglas

Apologies. We won't be counting this as part of our total mileage but I just wanted to see what the red line looked like on the tour map. Back to the UK and the Isle of Man for the goldfish handover to Malcolm and Isobel and my interview. Castletown reminds me of Scottish northeast towns (buildings, links, seagulls). However, there are a lot more South Africans here than ...

After staying up until about 11:30 last night packing it was time for bed...but not for long, as I was catching the ferry which left at the slighty-too-early 3:30am. Desperate to not repeat my late ferry check in antics, I had to get a taxi at 2:15am, meaning that my nights sleep came to not much more than 2 hours. Excellent.<br><br>I was happy to arrive at the terminal on time, and once on the boat I attempted to get more sleep, but didn't have much luck. I did ...

Today was more about sightseeing, as there wasn't much on in the way of racing or practices.<br><br>I decided to walk down to Douglas and along the promenade, and the weather was pretty good. A lot of the buildings along the waterfront in Douglas look very similar, and many of them are bed and breakfasts or lodges etc, which much do a roaring trade at this time of year. The population of the Isle of Man is around 75,000, but during TT week an additional 45,000 people ...

... It was a historic race win for Michael Dunlop, who's uncle was the most successful IoM TT racer in history, and who's father is also a past winner.<br><br>Later in the afternoon I watched the start of the sidecar race from Quarterbridge, about a 20 minute walk from where I was staying. The race was cut short however, as on the opening lap one of the sidecars crashed on a pretty fast part of the track. At first it was a worrying time, as the race was red flagged, and it was some time ...

... quite a sight! The nine planes did some formation flying then some stunts (for want of a better term...but that's really what they are) in smaller groups. It's hard to desribe what it's like seeing them, but it was certainly very impressive!<br><br>In the evening Chris and I went down to the Braddan Bridge grandstand and got some good shots of the riders leaning right over through the corners.<br>

... That evening we went down to some pubs near the waterfront where I tried some of the local brew, O'kells. Considering I normally drink lager, this was pretty good. It was a good evening out, and Chris and Sam were very kind and gave me dinner and bought me some beers too.<br><br>Eventually I hit the hay at about 1:30, and I was asleep before my head hit the pillow as I was that knackered.<br>

... a company based in Portugal which organise trips specifically for warm weather training for athletics, who said for information on 2010 bookings, check back in April. I have also e-mailed the Kenyan National Park in Nairobi inquiring about volunteer work, but I'm yet to hear back from them. Well thats all I've got so far, I'll update whenever something new happens, probably not much likely to be happening over the next few months though

... Katie's friend Anthea for a cup of tea, and headed to her parents' house for tea (which is actually dinner...it gets quite confusing! haha). Her mom cooked us a delicious lamb casserole, and we ate the apple pie for dessert. Back at Katie's, we watched 'The Chorus' which is an excellent film! It was great to have Katie show me around the island - I feel like I got a real sense of what it's like. It felt like home, especially because I was in the good ...

L'ile du Man, mon troisieme voyage dans cette petite place! Comme j'ai pratiquement tout vu ce qu'il y a a voir a l'ile du Man, nous avons profite de notre sejour chez les parents de Hamish pour surtout marcher. Une journee nous avons pris l'autobus pour aller visiter un village pittoresque (Gregneash a la genre village d'antan de Drummonville). Sinon, temps de rattraper le temps perdu avec les amis de H, passer du temps avec sa mere... et ouf ...

... me more was the extremely curious "Spanish Embassy", a classy looking joint placed somewhat conspicuously on a side road - why here??? One for the Famous Five, I feel. Which, is what we were, minus two - cavaleering around this island looking for mysterious items. Just as we were about to throw the towel in and ...