Mereside Hotel - Guest House 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 ...

... through Castletown (which, funnily enough is named so because of the castle in the middle of it - quite clever really). Port Erin is a small town on the south west end of the island, and it has a lot of old buildings and a nice sheltered beach and wharf.<br><br>After a slightly different bus route back, which went over part of the Billown Circuit (where some sprints were held over the TT race period), it was back to Douglas.<br><br>That evening, Chris and Sam kindly ...

... big teams had huge trucks with awnings off the sides, and the teams were made up of about as many mechanics and other people as you'd see for touring car teams.<br><br>While walking around I saw a few of the bigger names there, such as John McGuinness (the most successful current rider), Guy Martin, Bruce Anstey (a New Zealander who I think has 6 or 7 wins to his name), Steve Plater and former World Superbike rider Aaron Slight.<br><br>It was back down to Bray Hill for the start of the ...

... problems around two thirds of the way through the final lap.<br><br>After that race I walked to the Ramsey Sprints, some single pass 1/8th mile drags along the promenade. There was a few interesting bikes, including a couple of turbocharged Hayabusas, one of the electric TTXP bikes and a dedicated drag bike.<br><br>That afternoon the Red Arrows aerobatic team were performing over Ramsey, and they ...

... left 30 minutes later, I was now going to be boarded on the slow boat, meaning I'd arrive at Douglas a couple of hours later.<br><br>Lesson learned (the hard way) : It's better to be an hour early, than one minute late.<br><br>I met Sam (who I was staying with) at the terminal, and she took me back to her house on the outskirts of Douglas where I met her husband Chris and two of their ...

... visited Pune, in India for the Commonwealth Youth Games. So what have I planned? When I finish my A-levels, I'm flying out to a Finnish island, called Aaland for the Island Games, representing the Isle of Man. When I return from this trip (hopefully with a medal or two) I have a couple of weeks on home soil before I leave again, this time for South Africa on a charity trip. My high school, Ballakermeen have set up a charity, called ...

After my last entry in Liverpool, I went back to the hostel for dinner, where I met Rachel (from Wales) and Melissa (from New Zealand) - two girls who had met a month ago while travelling. They were super friendly and invited me to have a drink and play pool with them, which we did! During a fresh air / cigarette break, we were standing outside the hostel when an obviously drunk man with a beer under his arm approached us. He introduced himself as George and ...

... voyage tire sur sa fin! Le 14, retour a Glasgow pour que je reparte le 15 vers Ottawa. Etant donne que Zoom airlines a fait kaput, j'ai du me racheter un autre billet et c'etait le moins cher. Heureusement que mes parents se sont ennuyes assez pour accepter de venir me chercher a 2h30 de route. Merci:) Hamish ne revient que le 19 parce qu'il doit retourner chercher son passeport (si tout se passe bien il aura alors son visa de residence permanente).

... of the boat where there was an apparent chunder-fest going on, and the staff were having a whale of a time trying to clean it all up. Bleuuuurrrrrrgh, never again on the ferry to the Isle of Man! And I wasn't the only one... when we finally arrived in Liverpool - 10pm maybe ...