Stats

Just one or two.

Allowing for the schoolboy error of not filling Ginny up when I got back home, she had 6 tanks full of fuel for the entire trip. We covered a total of 1243 miles door to door, at an average of 51.91 miles per gallon. The most Ginny covered before refuelling was 230.1 miles. I estimate, that she has a range of close to 300 miles, when cruising at 70mph. At one point, range and miles travelled was equal to 317 miles. I can't see myself stretching things that far, least not intentionally.

Whilst away;

• I engaged reverse gear 5 times. 😀
• I spent 12 hours in motion, on a ferry. ⛴😒
• I drank approximately 🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺 pints of beer. 
• I ate a wheelbarrow full of junk food/chips. 😋
• I watched 8 fabulous/exciting road races. 
• I/we took a wrong turn about 5 or 6 times.
• Grizzly had cod, chips and mushy peas for dinner 3 times!

My first trip away on Ginny was great. I'm still getting used to her, the bite of the clutch, the technology but that will come with each passing mile and trip I undertake.

So what's next for me and my Bavarian beauty?

In June/July, we are off to Assen in Holland, for the Dutch TT MotoGP weekend, with my brother and his Rocket III.

No sooner are we back from that, then the following weekend we are going on the Allied Memorial Remembrance Ride to Madingley American Cemetery near Cambridge.

Finally for now, in August Ginny and I will be travelling up country to take on the NC500 route, a circular ride around the highlands/coastline of bonnie Scotland. For those of you who like these blogs, you'll be pleased to know there is one for the NC500. You can view and sign-up for updates using the link below;

www.ndnc500.blogspot.com

Longer term, Grizzly and I will be terrorising the Iberian peninsular in June 2019. That though, is all for now.

Once again, I thank all of you for taking the time to follow my/our adventures and look forward to having you along for the next. Don't forget to sign up for the NC500 blog and please remember, it's good to talk, so any comments you have on any of my posts are more than welcome, even rude ones!

Take care all.

Woody

Pictures added

Hi y'all. I've added pictures to some of the log entries and also to the album on Flickr.

For the album, just click on the photo of the NW200 road art and that should take you to my Flickr album.

Enjoy.

NW200 Log D11.2

After that short stop at Toddington I was back on the road, arriving home at 14:10. Having had my say about the driving on the M1, the Prick of the Day Award surely goes the the guy in the Prius in the outside lane of the M25, who would brake at every gantry showing a speed camera sign, despite only travelling at 70mph! Needless to say, there were a number of unhappy punters behind him, who eventually undertook him, as he also refused to move into any of the other lanes.

A couple of times the traffic almost came to a standstill and I encountered the usual whilst filtering, despite having the fog lights on besides the halos. Never ceases to amaze me how a massive juggernaut can find room to let you pass but a small family hatchback takes up nearly the entire lane. Hey ho! 

The weather was very good for almost the entire journey, until I got within about 15 miles of home, when I encountered a few spots of rain. Big drops but too few to make much difference. All in all, the weather on the trip has been first class, always a bonus on two wheels.

And so, after 10 days, my NW200 trip is over. I'll post some stats, soon as I have them collated and hopefully get some photos added too. Unfortunately, the blogger app doesn't seem to recognise photos from the phone's gallery only those taken as you write the post, hence the lack of any pics during these logs. Maybe it's the app, maybe it's just me. I'll try and sort it in time for my NC500 trip in August.

NW200 Log D11.1

Pat is the perfect host. Like a proper b&b, with a bottle of water by the bed and my own bathroom.

This morning she has made me coffee and breakfast. What more could I ask for?

On the road at 10:30 (actually 10:32 Catherine), fuelled up at the local Tesco and have now stopped for a comfort break at Toddington services on the M1. About 80 miles to home.

M1 has been a bit of a nightmare. So many arseholes who just don't know how to drive properly in traffic, at speed. Was a tad frustrated at first but soon chilled out. I still have the M25 to negotiate yet though.

NW200 Log D10.5

As suspected, we bikes were last to disembark, simply because they had put us in the lower hold and shut the lid!

When it came to getting out, some of us had to back up. Time for that little R button to come into play 

Bit of an adventure exiting the docks but once we did it was pretty much motorway all the way to Stoke.

Pat has kindly let me put Ginny in her garage for the night, which will be a treat for her, as she's been outside for the last 9 days.

Liverpooool, eh?, eh?, eh?

NW200 Log D10.4

Yes, I'm still on this bloody ferry.  About 45 minutes to go. I'd definitely look at alternatives next time. I would have gone to Dublin and got the fast ferry if it hadn't have been fully booked. Might not have been much different time wise but more interesting, certainly. Next year we are looking at a 24 hour crossing to Santander. I'm not sure I can take that.

At least it is dry and warmish this end, for my 2 hour ride to Stoke. This time tomorrow I'll be home and this particular adventure will be over.

NW200 Log D10.3

Spoke too soon. About 35 minutes late leaving Belfast. Not so good Stena. Captain reckons he'll make up 20 or so.

NW200 Log D10.2

Loaded up by 9am. Never been on a ferry like this, where the floor opens up to swallow all the bikes. Means we will be last off though. Straps and protective foam a plenty, so well done Stena. Nabbed a small table in the cafeteria. With free wifi on board what more can you ask for? Hoping it's fine when we reach Liverpool.

NW200 Log D10.1

On the way home. Up at 6am and on the road just after 7. Arrived Stena Belfast about an hour later. Waterproofs on, as it had rained overnight. Bit drizzly on the way but not too bad. The screen on the bike deflects most of it. Brightened up at the port so waterproofs off. Started to rain again. DOH!

NW200 Log D9 3

Sod's law, after 4 incident free races, the final race was red flagged. Rider, believed to be a lady not seriously injured though and we had a full rerun.

Another great race brought to an end a brilliant week. If I never come back, this trip will live long in the memory.

I have an early start tomorrow, with a ferry to Liverpool at 10:30. Tomorrow evening I'm staying with my lady friend Pat in Stoke.

Double Superbike Race Winner, Glenn Irwin

NW200 Log D9.2

Four cracking races done. Podium presentation for Superstock underway. Final Superbike race to come. Having watched this event on TV for many years and witnessed all weather conditions, I am having to pinch myself that I am actually here to witness it first hand and in glorious weather conditions.

Earlier Jonathon Rea did a demo lap on the Kawasaki H2R, then stopped in front of us and threw his gloves into the stand. Unfortunately they sailed well over our heads!

If you are/have watched on TV, you'll see Foggy is also here.

7 laps of another race to go. Fingers crossed it's as good as all the others and everyone ends the day safe.

Phillip McCallen and Carl Foggarty

Johnny Rae, after his demo lap

NW200 Log D9.1

Up early, breakfasted and on the road before 8am. Reccy yesterday was worth the effort, as we got parked up on a tarmac area just 100m or so from the grandstand. Worth a fiver in anyone's money, even the funny stuff they have here. Paper tenners, really?

We are in the startline grandstand, row D and couldn't really have a better view of the front row or the podium. The sun is shining again and it promises to be one hell of a great day for racing. Hoping that's exactly what we get and that all these guys/gals come home safely.

The view from our seats

Game on!

NW200 Log D8.3

We had a nice ride back to Portstewart. Along the way we saw a guy who had decided to park his BMW 5 on the towbar of a Landrover. Needless to say there was lots of pieces of German plastic on the road.

Parking along a heaving coast road, we popped into the paddock. A few of the riders were around, Michael Dunlop, Gary Johnson,  Maria Costello and James Hillier. Machines were in various stages of  prep. My favourite livery is Michael Rutter's  Bathams BMW, black, red and gold.

Grizzly rested his little legs whilst I went to check out the parking. On the way I met our marshall friend and had a chat. We watched Glen Irwin drive by in his Nissan GTR. Many of the riders had been to a meet the riders session in Coleraine.

Back at our digs, we are ready for dinner and some cold beers

Tomorrow is race day. I for one can't wait.

Alistair Seeley's BMW Superbike and Superstocker

Rutter's Beautiful BMW

NW200 Log D8.2

Having completed about two thirds of the city walls, we detoured down into the Bogside area, Republican stronghold and scene of the infamous Bloody Sunday incident in 1972. The murals that commemorate the troubles are striking. I couldn't help but feel a bit apprehensive though, a Brit entering Free Derry. Best not open your mouth said Grizzly. There were some shady looking characters on one street corner. I was happy to walk passed them fairly quickly.

Lunching now before the ride back to Coleraine.  We need too check out where we will park tomorrow.  There is supposed to be a bike park on the coast road but I'm not sure exactly where it is. Tomorrow will be busy, so best to know where we are going. Our bums will be parked in some pretty decent grandstand seats, so really looking forward to it.

You have been warned!

NW200 Log D8.1

So here we are in Londonderry or Derry, whichever you prefer.  Found a space in a  riverside car park, free for bikes and have got a map of the town from tourist information. Having a quick comfort break before touring the city walls.

Weather is fine again and pretty warm. Have remembered the sunscreen this time!

NW200 Log D7.2

What a great day of bike racing. Practice till 15:00, when the roads re-opened, then 3 races from 17:00, Supersport, Superstock and Supertwin. All very good races and action packed. Superstock finish was brilliant.

The screen opposite the grandstand took some getting used to, as it was about 10 seconds behind real time, so as they went through the start on screen, they were actually coming into view and bearing down towards the York hairpin.

We decided to stay put in the grandstand all day. It was a beautiful day and as a result my head looks like a tomato! Doh! Stands are free if you already have a seat booked for Saturday but if not, a tenner. Unfortunately for a lot of people, they paid only to find no seats, as they clearly weren't keeping tabs on how many people had gone in.  Mind you, some people only stayed a short while. I would have asked for my tenner back if I'd had to sit on the steps like some were.

Tomorrow is another rest day. We'll be heading to Derry, so more then.

NW200 Log D7.1

Lovely day for practice and racing today. Saturday, main race day, promises to be the same. If I never come back at least I can look back with happy memories. There's nothing worse than watching bike racing in the rain, except for actually doing it, both of which I have experienced.

Today we have rested our arses in the York corner grandstand. This is most probably the slowest part of the course. From 150mph down to about 30. Sure to be some carnage from the mass start.

Supersports at York Corner

NW200 Log D6.3

Got back and decided we'd join  the Robert Dunlop memorial ride around the circuit. Several hundreds of bikes turned up and we all set off for a lap  of the circuit. Some of us kept to the speed limit but many chose not to. TBH, it could have been better organised.  At the end of the lap, I ducked out of the queue to get back into the car park, missing out on my commemorative certificate in the process.  Grizzly got his.

Tomorrow is practice and race day. We're hoping to be able to get in the stand at York corner for practice but we shall see.

NW200 Log D6.2

From Ballycastle we continued our day out with a spin around the Armoy race circuit and a visit to the Dark Hedges. Game of Thrones fans would no doubt recognise this tunnel of poplar trees, though I don't recall them. From there we took ourselves off to Ballymoney, for a visit to the Dunlop memorial gardens, where the statues for Joey and Robert reside. Just down the hill is Joey's bar. We went in and had a drink (coffee), sitting alongside Joey's Honda Britain superbike and leathers. It must be motorcycle mecca for this part of the country.

Well worth a visit

NW200 Log D6.1

Non race day, so we've headed up to Dunluce Castle. There are only ruins now but very impressive, perched as it is, on the cliff edge. In fact, some of it fell into the sea back in the 1800s. Stavros Parrish's M4 BM was outside the cottage cafe as we returned to the bikes but we didn't see him.

Stopped at Ballycastle again for coffee. Seems I'm not the only one in these parts with 6 cylinders, as there are a couple of CBXs parked up.

Dunluce Castle

NW200 Log D5.5

Took a trip to York corner and then up to check out our grandstand seat for Saturday. Got chatting with one of the marshalls from Magherbouy. Whilst there, old Stavros Parrish came out of the paddock and climbed into an M4 BMW. Little Lee Johnston walked by too, so we said hello. Rude not too.

No racing tommorrow, se we shall either head out to Derry or on a circular route, taking in the Dunlop memorial garden in Ballymoney.

NW200 Log D5.4

Supertwins out next. Rain moved in again, so the session was curtailed. We decided we'd had enough of the cold and rain, so curtailed our watching. Forecast for the rest of the week is better, so when it really matters it should be dry. Might pop out later for another reccy. There are practice sessions again Thursday AND races, so it would be good to have some sort of plan.

NW200 Log D5.3

More iffy conditions for superbikes. Red flagged due to incident at University corner.  Popped over  for a coffee but wasn't sure I'd get back across the road before the next session.  In the end was all ok. Grizzly would have died without his caffeine!

NW200 Log D5.2

Supersport practice over. Didn't need the commentator to tell us who topped the leaderboard, we could tell by the way he came through the chicane. I'll leave you to guess. His brother was second quickest. As it's the 10th anniversary today of their father's death, I expect they both have something to prove. Bit of light rain at the end of the session. Passing over now. Superbikes next.

Magherabuoy Chicane

NW200 Log D5.1

We decided we'd watch practice from Magherbouy chicane. We are parked in the hotel car park.  Having spoken with the guy yesterday, he waved us through this morning without us having to pay. We bunged him a fiver anyway.

Weather is dry but very grey and quite chilly. Practice is now underway with the newcomers. Following a guy on a road bike, they are shown the way around the circuit. One guy has broken down in front of us but all very steady.

NW200 Log D4.3

We finished our run down the coast and then headed back to Coleraine, stopping at McDs for a coffee and a spot of lunch.  Seems tech has taken over, as you can't actually ask someone for what you want.  Instead you order on a screen, tell them where you are sitting and they bring it over! Progress? Fuelled up just outside Coleraine at Sainsburys, the cheapest around at 118.9p per litre. Off to the Courthouse for dinner shortly. Tomorrow is the first practice day.  Roads close 09:15 so we'll have to look lively at breakfast.

NW200 Log D4.2

As the toilets weren't open ay Ballycastle, we had to carry on and look for somewhere else. Ballygally came to our rescue. There are a lot of Ballys around here. The coast road is brilliant. Better this way (down) than the last time I did it in 2012. Heavy cloud, chilly and a few tiny spots of rain but nothing too serious. I have my heated grips though ;-)

NW200 Log D4.1

Got talking with an old chap at breakfast, who owns a Fireblade and has been to the NW a few times before. Suggested a couple of places we could watch from. We've been to check a few out and also stopped off to get our paddock passes. Now on our antrim coast tour and stopped in Ballycastle for coffee.

Vintage car run through Ballycastle

NW200 Log D3.4

With the pleasantries exchanged and room sorted, we went down the road to The Old Courthouse, as recommended by our new found Scottish chum at the B&B. Here we had some dinner and a few beers, whilst being entertained by some local lad singer. At one point, one of the locals asked us if we could dance, I think she wanted to but none of her friends wanted to. We claimed to having two left feet, so got off the hook.

We had a quick look around the town, coming across the statue of Bertie Peacock, a rather famous local footballer/manager (google him) and also witnessing some under age vapers! How times have changed. In my day it was smoking! Vaping behind the bike sheds doesn't sound quite the same.

Not decided on tomorrow's plan yet. Weather should be fine. One thing we must do is get our grandstand tickets and paddock passes. First practice is Tuesday. Can't wait.

NW200 Log D3.3

Fancy this in 2019 bro'?

NW200 Log D3.2

Relieved to be relieved, we were on the road again. Detouring on the way, we have done a lap of the Dundrod curcuit, home of the Ulster Grand Prix, the fastest road race in the world. Needless to say we took our circuit at a more sedate pace than the racers. Having watched on tv, I was surprised by the elevation  changes as we went round. Not at all obvious on the telly.  We encountered some more uk bikers at this point but lost them again on the way up to Coleraine. Arrived about 15:30. Bedroom set for a double bed, so the chap had to make up two singles. All sorted now. Grizzly having his caffeine fix before we head out for a look around and to find somewhere to eat/drink.

Ulster Grand Prix Race Control

NW200 Log D3.1

Wouldn't be a tour without taking a wrong turn. Had only been going about 10 mins. Grizzly took over, till he went wrong. Back in UK now. Stopped for fuel and coffee after a couple of hours. Shock, no toilets! Had to divert to shopping centre in Newry, skipping the car park barrier in the process, as it wouldn't open. Security man collared us but agreed we probably weren't heavy enough to register. Suitably relieved will be back on the road shortly.

NW200 Log D2.3

4 hours on a ferry can be pretty boring. Snoozed a bit, wandered a bit and had some food, ribs and chips. Offloaded about 18:50. Tomtom had me heading back to check-in at one point but I eventually found my way out of the docks and on the road. Weather was glorious. Has its down side though, as I had the lowering sun right in my eyes the entire journey. Arrived in Portlaoise about 20:50 to an empty house. Landlord was out. All sorted now and just off out with Grizzly to see the sights. Probably a pub.

NW200 Log D2.2

Left Jen's at 11:32. Weather fine, though not especially warm. Ginny did her thing and got to petrol stop still showing range of 30 miles, after covering 227. At the docks now, 13:30. First in line, one other bike with me. 5 hours from now I should be in Ireland.

NW200 Log D2.1

A bright sunny but very chilly start to the day. About to have some breakfast. Ferry sails 14:45, so I'll aim to leave about 11:30. I had planned another fuel stop nearby but Ginny tells me she can go another 130 miles on what she has in her tank. It's only 100 miles to Pembroke. I still need to get a handle on consumption. She's no binge drinker though.

NW200 Log D1.3

Rained on and off all the way to Jen's place. Arrived about 19:15, a little later than anticipated. Roadworks and a broken down tanker on the M4 didn't help, nor more anti filtering mongs. Pee'd down whilst unloading the luggage. Welcome to Wales!

NW200 Log D1.2

Was 66 degrees when I left home. Stopped at Leigh Delamere services coz I was feeling cold. Was going to put jumper on but might just put waterproofs on instead, as Jen says it's raining in Wales and has just started here.

NW200 Log D1.1

Left home about 15:15. Stopped at Bracknell to fuel up. Managed to squeeze just over a tenner in, for 117 miles. Apart from tin can mongs not wanting to let me filter quite uneventful.

T minus 13 hours

Will be even less by the time you all read this.

By this time tomorrow, I should be all packed and ready to go. Best laid plans and all that though. I was planning on leaving for my daughter's place at 14:00 but instead, I have to go to the dentist to have a repair done on one of my teeth, after a piece broke off! Still, I'm anticipating I'll still be on the road by about 15:30. That makes my eta in Wales around about 19:00.

As things stand, I have a load of clothes piled up on the bed and 1 pannier bag. Let down by BMW, I shall have the other pannier bag this afternoon but not the top box bag, so my faithful old rucksack will need to fill that space. It's an inconvenience but I'm trying to get some compo, in the form of a refund on the cost of the bag. Even with 2 bags and a rucksack, I'm not sure all the stuff I've got out to take will fit. I guess it depends how many times I want to turn my pants inside out 😉 I'm sure I'll get everything I want/need in.

Ginny has been serviced, so I'll be good to engage warp speed on the trip across to Wales, if necessary. I expect she'll need a fill up on the way, so I'll make a slight detour through Bracknell to Sainsburys to avoid getting stung by the thieves at the motorway service stations. Mind you, every time I go past a petrol station these days, the price has gone up a penny!

Waiting for me, hopefully, when I arrive at Jen's, will be some dinner. Jen swears by Chris's cooking, so I'm looking forward to whatever he cooks up.

Saturday I have a fairly leisurely 2 hour ride to Pembroke, followed by another 2 hour ride the other side, to Portlaoise. Sandwiched in between is a 4 hour ferry trip.

Looking at the weather forecast, it's not looking great, getting worse the further west I go. I'll probably be in waterproofs when I arrive in Wales and again when I hit Irish soil in Rosslare. Grizzly was going to ride down to meet me but I think he'll prefer to stay at home if it's going to be peeing down. I can't blame him. Sunday still looks a bit iffy but if we are lucky, we'll escape the showers. Then it's fingers crossed for race week.

As from tomorrow, I'll try and do a 'captain's log' type update, such as I did last year. Makes life a bit easier for me,  keeping  up to date with what's happening during the day, rather than writing deep into the night.

That's all for now.

A Good Test

Finally, it looks like Spring has sprung. One weekend it's about 10 degrees down on the seasonal norm, next, it is the hottest April day for 70 odd years! That then was the cue for me to get my gear on and take a short road trip.

With time running out for me to get 600+ miles up on Ginny before my trip to Ireland, I'd penciled in a ride to my friend Jo in Wincanton and a ride out with my friend Helen and her husband David (Vid). The former I was doing whatever, the latter may have been cancelled if the weather had been inclement. As it turned out though, it was warm and sunny the entire trip, bar about 5 minutes of light rain when I left Wincanton.

With a mixture of motorway and back roads, to aid the running in process, I was in the saddle for about 3.5 hours on the run down. It's a worry whenever you buy a new bike about how comfortable it will be but I have to say, Ginny proved she's more than capable of cushioning my backside for miles on end. Sure, I had to move about a bit, the longer the journey went but it wasn't excruciatingly uncomfortable. As I said, I was in the saddle non stop for 3.5 hours. Normally on tour, I/we would be stopping after 90 mins or so, as Grizzly has to keep his caffeine levels topped up! So I'm well pleased with the comfort, especially as  I've got used to the Sprint's gel seat.

With a run down to Selsey Bill with Helen & Vid, Helen on her brand new Honda NC750 collected that morning, my round trip clocked up the best part of 360 miles, so I'm just a short dash away form the magic 600 and first service.

I fuelled Ginny up twice on the trip, to the tune of almost 37 litres and £46. That's the first fuel I've put in her since new. MPG was about 45 for the original tankful and 63 for the second, which included the motorway stints on cruise control. If 63 is indicative of cruising mpg, then I'll be well pleased with that. I'd get something similar from the Sprint on a run, with half the cylinders and two thirds the CCs.

With 18 days left until I leave for Ireland, my main focus now is on getting all the paperwork together and creating my daily tomtom itineraries.

That's all for now.

All Change

or should I say, Alles verändern?

 With just 37 days to go until I leave home on this trip, there's little new to report, with the exception of one major item. You see, Michael Dunlop isn't the only one switching manufacturers for the North West. Both he and I have taken the decision to move across to the BMW camp, he with Tyco BMW race team, me with the purchase of a beautiful K1600 GT SE.

I have been toying with the idea for well over a year and postponed the idea for last year's Scandinavia trip due to uncertainty at work. With that side of things clearer, i.e. I'll be jobless in August, I decided now was the time to take the plunge. My beautiful baby girl, Ginny, was born on 17th March and weighs in at a healthy 334kg.

I've decided to keep the Sprint for now, as I don't really want to commute on Ginny, so given that and the crap weather we've had so far this year, there's a slight time pressure on me, to get 600 miles covered AND Ginny serviced, before I set off for Ireland. So far, she's just over the 150 mark. I've got  a couple of friends I can visit over the next few weeks and one of them is a biker, so I'm hoping we'll get to ride out together. Ginny is already booked in for her first checkup on the 8th May, so my fingers are crossed that springtime arrives really soon.

The Sprint has been a great servant and I'd not hesitate to buy another, IF it came with shaft drive. Unfortunately, the chain adjustment on the Sprint is the most difficult you'll ever come across and that, together with the mess a chain creates, was a big factor in me wanting to go for a shaft. She'll still be ideal for nipping through the London traffic over the next few months though, so she's not being consigned to the scrap heap just yet. It'll be like having a wife and a mistress at the same time. On the one hand, the pretty, petite, reliable British girl, on the other, the glamorous, buxom, exciting fraulein.  Lucky me! 😉   

Both my GT SEs

Is it safe?

I'm wondering if it is even safe to head into the North, with a fellow from the Republic, let alone try to plan days out with him. Maybe I should just smuggle him into our hotel and leave it at that? Nobody seemed to mind last time though.

So, I've been having a look at things we can do on the non race days and I've come up with a few ideas.

I definitely have us down for a trip around the east/north Antrim coast. Maybe this time I'll take it a little slower though and look at the scenery. Back in 2012 I remember being delighted to have such a fantastic piece of road to ride and took off on my own, stopping every so often to let the 'uprighters' catch up. Bikes are meant to be leant into bends! But that's another story, so I'll say no more.

As we are in this part of the world to watch road racing and with Ballymoney only 10 miles from our hotel, it would be plain wrong NOT to pay a visit to the Joey & Robert Dunlop Memorial gardens, so that's another thing on the to do list, maybe with a visit to Joey's Bar too, to toast their memory. I expect it gets quite busy at North West time though, with biking pilgrims.

I've looked at going into Belfast to the Titanic exhibition but I think that could be a lot of walking and reading, plus it's quite expensive. There's also the feeling that that is something I could come back and do with Catherine, as she's a massive Titanic fan, if fan is the right word.

What has caught my eye though, to the west, is Derry or Londonderry. My only knowledge of the place is from the news back in the day, during the troubles but I have discovered it is an ancient walled city, with the walls still intact and is a place steeped in history, not just from the late 60's onwards. It sounds interesting and I'm quite fancying a guided walk. Now walking isn't high on Grizzly's list of must dos but I may be able to bargain with him, coz I know he loves murals and there are quite a number of fairly famous ones for him to line up in his viewfinder. We'll see. It won't be much fun doing either if the weather's bad.

One other thing I fancy doing, is riding the Ulster Grand Prix course. I can already here Grizzly, "you sad bastard Woody". It's not far from the outskirts of Belfast, so probably not worth a special ride down but I might be able to build it into the Antrim coast road ride somehow.

If anyone has any suggestions of things to do, I'm open to them. For now though, that's it. I've got a few things to sort out over the next 60 odd days, so I'd best crack on.

1001 Things to do in Waterproofs

I kinda like the idea that some biker somewhere would have taken the trouble to write a book about things one can do in your waterproofs. If they have though, Google hasn't found it yet. Such a book might be useful, as I look to plan what Grizzly and I can do, when we're not watching practice or the races.

The schedule for the event is below.

Tuesday 15th May      Practice                                  9.15am – 3.00pm

Thursday 17th May    Practice                                   9.15am – 3.00pm

Thursday 17th May    Evening Racing                       5.00pm – 9.00pm

Saturday 19th May     Race Day                                9.15am – 7.00pm

We arrive on the Sunday, 13th, probably fairly late in the afternoon, so I expect all we'll be doing then, is finding somewhere to eat and sink a few pints. Monday, Wednesday and Friday, we're going to need something to keep us busy. If we're lucky, the weather will be fine and we can ride out somewhere but where?

We've been round these parts before, when we stayed in Balintoy back in 2012, see http://wildhogsuk.blogspot.co.uk/, so we've done the Giant's Causeway and the Carrick-a-rede rope bridge. No need to do them again. I'd love to ride that Antrim coastal road again though, so that might account for one half day. The others I'm still thinking about. I'm a Game of Thrones fan, so maybe a trip to some of the film sites could be in order. Not sure Grizzly will be up for that, though he's usually happy just to get his leg over! There's the Bushmills Distillery I suppose but we did the Ben Nevis one back in 2012 too, so do we really want to do another? I'll have to get my finger out though and come up with some ideas, as it's not much more than 10 weeks away.

Aside from the  'rest' days, I also need to give thought to what we'll do on the practice and race days, i.e. where we will view the action from. Saturday, main race day, is sorted. I've bought us 2 seats in the Grandstand but for the other days, I've not really given it much thought. The website gives all the information on places to watch from, so I'll just have to pick one or two with facilities and work out how we get there. I'd love to watch from alongside one of the fast straights, just to get the rush, as the bikes flash by, side by side, at over 200mph.

Anyway, that's all I've got to say at the moment. I'll be back when I have more pieces of the jigsaw in place.

Welcome

Welcome all, on board another travel blog from yours truly.

It was a little under 4 months since the Wild Hogs had returned from the Scandinavian adventure in July of last year and my feet were starting to itch. Winter is a great time for bikers to sit and contemplate what they shall do once the winter has moved over the horizon and I'm no exception. I had already given some thought to the Wild Hogs' next tour and mapped out a couple of rough routes but that won't be until 2019 and I wanted something to do in 2018 as well.

I had made up my mind that I would try and get to more race meetings this year, MotoGP and World Superbike mainly but decided to resurrect an idea my brother and I had a few years back now, to go to the North West 200 Road Races in Northern Ireland. For one reason or another, it never happened and we instead went to MotoGP at Le Mans, where we spent almost the entire trip getting wet through (in our waterprooofs , of course). The irony of that, is that it nearly always rains in Ireland for the NW200 but that year they had glorious sunshine! C'est la vie!

As with the Isle of Man TT, finding accommodation for the NW200 can be very difficult. If you can't find anywhere to stay, then the trip is off, so accommodation is always the first thing to look for. Having a look on Booking.com, I was lucky to find a place (Breezemount Manor) still available and at not too exorbitant a rate, not far from the southernmost tip of the 'circuit', in Coleraine. I booked it.

Next up, came the route planning. How was I going to get across to Northern Ireland? There are several options but all are a fair ride away, so in the end, I settled on going via Wales, cadging an overnight stop with my daughter Jen, catching the ferry from Pembroke and up through Ireland. At this point it occurred to me that I could drop in on Grizzly but not only that, I could also see if he wanted to tag along for the races too, on a mini Hogs trip. Well, there's nothing Grizzly likes more than getting his leg over his bike and travelling with his Wild Hog chum, so he had no hesitation is accepting my offer.  With that agreed, it meant I could get serious about the planning and booking phase of the trip.

Check back soon to find out how, what, when, where, etc.

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