Empress Isle of Man

... are in the Montrose/Arbroath/Carnoustie metropolis.

Why has Lou-Anne not updated from Munich? Maybe following Lucys advice about beer und soft men?

By the way, what is with the German men and their mullets. I haven't see hair that flamboyant since my brother in law pitched up at the Binnies wedding (circa early 90s) looking like a Bay City Rollers tribute band.

... to see the sun rise over the Irish Sea...but I think i would have appreciated the sleep more!

It was off the boat at Liverpool, where I had 3 1/2 hours to get to the bus station. It took me about 45 minutes to get there (including a stop for a cornish pasty for breakfast) but i was so knackered that I couldn't be ***** looking around, so I just killed the time in the bus station. 5 1/2 hours on the bus, then about 50 minutes on the tube and I was back home!

... br>
-The Isle of Man is home to the oldest continuous parliament in the world, having been in the same place since 979AD

-The Isle of Man is home to the Manx Cat, a breed of domestic cat which typically has no tail (or sometimes just a shorter stubbier tale). I didn't manage to see any though!

-The Isle of Man has a native 4 horned sheep, called the Loaghtan...didn't see any of those either!

-The Beegees were born in the Isle of Man

... 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.

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!

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.

Today it was over to the Isle of Man for the Tourist Trophy races, something which I've wanted to go to for a long time.

I began with an early-ish morning, then beginning the drive up to Heysham, a bit north of Liverpool, where I was to catch the Ferry. Mum and Nan were off to spend a few nights up north somewhere (which ended up being at Morecambe) and dropped me off at Heysham on ...

... 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

... shopping. Back at the ferry terminal, more and more delays were piling up, and people were getting agitated. When they finally announced we could board, the massive flock of people that had gathered by the gates, eager to get a decent seat, had to be screened in single file to ...

... across Peel Bay, and out across the sea into the horizon. After a pleasant 40 minutes in the sunshine and no word from Joey (no phone, obviously), we headed across the bay and out in the direction we thought would lead to Ramsey, approximately 18 miles away. Rather immediately we were faced with a large hill, and ...

... and a spot of slippery rock climbing which saw Joey lose his footing on several occasions - mwahahah. Walking back across the beach, the mist was descending and it was all getting a bit grim! We went up to the point ...