Sightseeing around the southern part of the island
Trip Start
May 01, 2009
1
13
44
Trip End
Ongoing
Port Erin,
Isle of Man,
United Kingdom
Thursday, June 11, 2009
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 flood the island! It must bring a massive amount of money into the economy each year, and there are also other similar events such as the Manx Grand Prix, which is also very popular with the bikers around Europe.
I walked up to the pits around lunchtime for a bit of a look around, then it was back down to the waterfront to walk across to the main bus station where I hopped on a bus to Port Erin
Beer tent
. It was another scenic bus ride which went along the south-east coast 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.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.
That evening, Chris and Sam kindly drove me for a lap of the TT circuit...and in doing so made me realise how mad some of the riders really are! Most of the 37.73 miles of track were good condition roads, but there are some parts where there are some pretty hefty bumps...which felt pretty hefty at around 30mph, so who knows what it must feel like on a bike at race speed! Whilst there were some safety measures in place, like padding around some of the light poles, and the odd bank of hay bales, there are still lots of places to get yourself killed...such as on the stone walls, trees and hedges that the riders shoot past at over 200mph...
My lap of the track was really cool, but the best part of all was the Mountain Road section
Looking out to sea
. When it is open to the public during the two week TT period, it operates as a one way road, meaning you can take some fast lines...whilst obeying the speed limit of course!The views from Snaefell mountain out over Douglas towards the UK were incredible, particularly as the weather was so nice and as it was later on in the evening.
Apparently the Mountain Road section of the track was closed 5 or 6 times the other day when open to the public, due to crashes...and it doesn't really surprise me when you see how some of the people ride around the roads here - they just go nuts! On the lap of the track, we saw a few cases of people driving ridiculously, such as overtaking all the way over the other side of the road, with a passenger on board, coming up to a blind corner...
It was really cool to see the whole track, and it's not hard to see why it's so popular with both cars and bikes, as the roads are great - a mix of high speed sweeping corners, long straights and tight hairpins, with plenty of elevation change thrown in.
Back at the house I had to pack my stuff into my bags, ready for the early morning ferry the next day.
Isle of Man trivia:
-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
