IoM Day 4

After last night's downpour, my final day dawned clear and sunny. I needed to pack all my stuff away and be on the outside of the circuit before roads closed at 12.30, ready for the afternoon practice session, and then to be at the ferry terminal in good time for the sailing at 4.15.

So I had a nice lazy morning, with a couple of coffee brews while the tent dried out in the sun and then a nice long chat with Roy, who had arrived yesterday on the other Crusader.

 

Pretty reluctantly, I packed everything away and loaded Anna up again, ready for the journey home.

We headed up to the TT Paddock and had another look around; a coffee and cake in the Manx GP Supporters Club tent and then I went and got a spec in the grandstand to watch the 2 practice sessions from there.

In between the 2 sessions, I wandered down to the paddock and saw this beautifully prepared Enfield 500 Classic Senior bike being pushed into scrutineering. I hadn't seen any Royal Enfields in the programme and it turned out to be a late entry, being ridden by Adam McLean, who went on to get a great 5th position in the race on Saturday.

And then all too soon, I had to head off back down to the ferry terminal for the journey home.

The crossing was very much smoother than on the way out! Anna behaved impeccably on the journey home, in fact felt super smooth (relatively!) keeping up with the traffic on the journey through the Birkenhead Tunnel and home down the A41. As we got home her trip meter ticked onto 377 miles, so our adventure had added another 220 miles of running in. 

There are definitely some bits to attend to now - a good service and torque the head back down; adjust the pushrods after bedding in and seal the valve cover properly - hopefully that lot will sort out the oil weeping from the top end. And then I've noticed that the steering head stem has slackened off a bit, which was causing the front end to shudder under heavy braking - not nice! I also want to have a look at the front brake - I think I need to get the brake shoes relined with a more modern compound and may even need to get the brake drum skimmed, as the braking performance from the front is a bit iffy to say the least.

All in all though, I'm super pleased that we got this adventure under our belts with no big dramas and look forward to our next one once she's had some TLC. 

Postscript: I had a message from Roy on the day after I arrived back to say that his bike had blown a hole in the piston on the way up the mountain. He wasn't sure if it was running too lean or if he'd overdone the mix in his "special" fuel concoction. I'm still not sure if he was joking or not....

IoM Day 3

I needed to check-in for marshalling at 12 today - an extra “contingency” session had been added to make up for the Monday evening cancellation and red flag last night.

But I had time in hand to do another lap of the circuit, this time in beautiful sunny conditions. Anna was running beautifully but the climb up the mountain was relentless and I was in 3rd gear for a lot of it to prevent the engine flogging up in 4th. So the sight of the Victory cafe at the top was welcome to give her a break. 

Before I had my helmet off and ear plugs out, I was accosted by a madly enthusiastic guy whose first motorbike in the late 70s had been a Crusader. He kept me chatting for ages, which was very nice but meant I didn’t have time for my planned coffee and cake! 

Setting off for the final small climb before the long descent back to Douglas, Anna felt in her element - she actually seems to respond pretty well to a gentle thrashing 😳. What Rob would call “an Italian decoke” 🙂 I particularly loved the gentle popping on the over-run as we came down the long incline to the Creg-ny-Baa Hotel, where a policeman with radar gun awaited us!

I signed on for the afternoon session and was at Transmann again, this time with a lovely guy from the Lake District called Alan. What an interesting life he had lead, including spells as a welder, shipwright, Army reservist, mayor (twice!) and theatre nurse. 

The session ran in perfect conditions until the last 5 minutes when there was just a very slight hint of rain. By the time we had packed up and I was walking back to the campsite, it was full blown rain and the evening session had been cancelled. I can’t say I was disappointed, as I was pretty knackered by then!

As I arrived back, a group were arriving from Galway, including a well used motor home, which subsequently disgorged 2 motorbikes from within(!!), one of which was a '61 Crusader. Roy, the owner, and I spent lots of time over the next couple of days comparing notes on our restorations. He had done a video blog of his, which is way over my head! Watch it here.

I particularly liked his tool store that he'd made out of an old crash helmet, to go on his rack!

With the evening session cancelled, after cooking some tea I headed for a big walk into Douglas and along the prom, returning after dark. Then settled down in the warm evening with a beer to read a book.

IoM Day 2

I did something a bit different from my previous visits to the Island today and decided to do a gentle bimble around the Island keeping pretty much as close to the coast as I could, so that I was mainly on quiet lanes and B roads. Basically, I started at the ferry terminal at Douglas and kept the sea over my left shoulder.

Very soon I was on country lanes heading out towards Castletown.

I took a break at Port St Mary to let Anna cool down. I have to keep reminding myself that I’m still running the engine in, but she’s in her element on these lanes.

Next stop Peel harbour and a delicious early lunch of locally caught Queenies (small scallops) and bacon roll. Lots of other bikes were gathered at the harbour including a group of 4 or 5 riding MZs. Considered as very ugly ducklings when new but kind of cool now!

I realised shortly after leaving Peel that my phone battery needed charging so I stopped off at the Motor Museum at Jurby so I could charge it while I walked. A very interesting and quite eclectic collection of cars, bikes and general paraphernalia! I particularly liked this Charabanc - always seems to evoke a spirit of a “grand day out”!

From Jurby it was a fairly short hop up to Point of Ayre, the most northerly point on the island. I think the fog horn and lighthouse look great here - so forlorn that you can just imagine them belting out a wailing noise in a thick fog!

And then I followed a well trodden path back down the eastern side of the island, taking the coast road from Ramsey to Douglas, but with some diversions off down the tiny lanes hugging the coast. As we got towards Laxey, I was feeling sorry for poor Anna, who’d dealt with some very steep hills on that stretch, so I took the main road back.  But this is still a very picturesque route as it runs parallel to and criss-crosses the Electric Tramway down onto Douglas prom. 

All told we did about 85 miles and it was such a lovely journey - perfect for this kind of bike. 

I got back in time to stroll up to the gathering point for my marshalling sector, at Braddan Church and spent a couple of hours at TransMann on the exit from Braddan. It was all fairly uneventful for us, though sadly the second session was red flagged not far into it and no further practice took place. It was announced the following day that one of the riders, Ian Bainbridge, had died following an accident at Kirk Michael. 

It always makes me doubt why I support road racing when there is a fatality. I don’t even particularly get much from the racing itself per se; it’s the atmosphere of lots of bikes and passionate motorcyclists on such wonderful roads that I like.

IoM day 1

Well we successfully achieved the first objective, to get through the Mersey Tunnel to the ferry terminal. It was only a 45 minute journey but I’ve broken down twice in the tunnel (many years ago now) and I still have the heebie jeebies going through there on an old bike! 

I’ve still got a bit of a clutch drag issue when she’s warm but I’m managing to ride around it for now.

It was a pretty rough crossing and we arrived a little later than scheduled just before midnight, but by 12.30 I had my tent up and turned in for a decent kip. It was pretty windy though.

The following morning, I got the tent sorted properly and headed up to the grandstand to take the customary photo in pit lane and then signed on as a marshal.

Rather disconcertingly, I found I had a big oil leak from the oil filter cover. Of course, this happened in front of a couple of Swiss guys admiring the bike! I didn’t want to just wrench it down tight in case I stripped a thread but when I looked at it properly it had indeed just shaken loose a touch and was fine once I cinched it down tight.

It will be my first time marshalling - hoping to get my 3 “novice” sessions done this visit so I can make a fuller contribution if I come again in the future. I must say that I was very impressed with the goodie bag 🙂.

In the afternoon, the wind was still very gusty so I vouched not to put a lap in over the mountain but stayed low and sheltered. I headed out to Murray’s Motor Museum for the umpteenth time! What a fabulously chaotic place to spend an hour. Nice to see a couple of Crusaders there.

Then I carried on to Fairy Bridge to pay my respects, say hello and ensure safe passage round the Island. Not that I’m superstitious or anything…

In the evening I wandered up to Braddan to sign on for marshalling but 5 minutes later the session was cancelled due to poor visibility for the helicopter over the mountain.

So I headed back to the campsite and, as the wind had died down a bit, thought I’d try and get a lap of the circuit in. It was very windy and pretty foggy over the top but good fun and another nice milestone to tick off. 

We also passed 200 miles since the rebuild and 30,000 total miles on that lap, so it ended up being quite significant 🙂 She does feel like she’s starting to free up a bit. But also there is a fair amount of oil leaking from the head / valve cover area so definitely looking forward to doing an oil change and re-torquing of everything sometime soon.

Settled back at the campsite for the evening, I made something to eat and then headed over to the bar for a pint and a bit of a natter with my neighbours - a young couple on an AJS 650.

Anna P’s first trip to the Isle of Man

We now have 139 running in miles under Anna’s wheels and (touch wood) she continues to run nicely. I’ve done a couple of fettling bits to her over the past couple of weeks; most notably adjusted the gear change to hopefully improve selecting first and neutral when I come to a stop and I also fixed a small oil leak that was due to a small bolt having partially stripped its thread. A helicoil and copper washer seem so have cured that.

Anyway, now for the BIG TEST. Once I had some confidence in her, I wanted to take her over to the Isle of Man, just because I love being over there on a bike. When I looked at booking a ticket for a few days, it only cost me about an extra tenner to go during the Manx GP practice week. Well, it would have been rude not to …! So I’m on the evening ferry from Liverpool this evening (Sunday) and come back on Thursday evening. I have volunteered to marshal for the 4 practice sessions I’m there for, which is a new thing for me, but mostly I’m just looking forward to getting plenty of miles in around motorcycling heaven.

All ready for the off - I don’t travel light!

Wild Camping in the Lake District

At around the same time as I got the new Classic 350, my son started a new job up in the Lake District, so I'd been planning a journey up there for some time. It's a good few years since I've taken a bike up there but I love the little back roads in the National Park - exactly the sort of place where the Classic is in its element.

We decided to do a spot of wild camping while I was there, so the bike was well loaded up with both camping and walking gear.

I set the satnav for a "fun" route and looked forward to a full day's ride. 

After a couple of hours, we left the urban sprawl behind, heading through Garstang and Lancaster and then the hills of the Lakes started to come into view.

Another couple of hours saw us in Ambleside, where I stopped for a break and some water. 

We left the tourist areas behind, heading out into the small lanes towards Buttermere, but hadn't been going long before I came on a Road Closed sign and a diversion that immediately petered out to nothing! So began a very pleasant 45 minute ramble "following my nose" which was lovely riding but not very effective in terms of making ground! We covered some great forestry roads around the Langdales and Elterwater, before eventually picking up the route again at Grasmere.

From Grasmere we picked up the A591 along the shore of Thirlmere to Keswick before turning along the Derwentwater shore to Borrowdale and then over the very beautiful Honister Pass to my campsite at Syke Farm, Buttermere.

What a lovely site. The car park is separated from the camping area by a stream, giving the camping area a really nice calm atmosphere. This is no regimented flat field, but has tents perched on rocky outcrops and tucked away in little dips. Beautiful.

As I was going to be carting all my camping gear up a mountain the following day, I took my little 1 man "cycle-camping" tent. It cost me £20 from Argos years ago in an end of season sale and has seen me through many adventures. But it was VERY cramped with all of my gear in there!

There was such a nice view over the fells from the site.

Once Andy had finished work for the week, we met up for a meal and a couple of beers at the local pub, before an early night to prepare for the next day's hike.

The weather the next morning was perfect, with a good sunny couple of days arriving bang on cue. We sorted bits in the morning and then set off from Andy's during the afternoon, with our packs feeling very heavy!

From Buttermere we took a steep path up Whiteless Breast to the summit of Whiteless Pike and then continued along a ridge before climbing to the summit of Wandhope. The next climb was to the summit of Crag Hill from where there were amazing views all round us. We then followed the col between Crag Hill and finally climbed the path to the summit of Grasmoor. 

Altogether it took about 3 hours. As we crested Grasmoor, a fantastic panorama opened out in front of us: the Western Lakes; Isle of Man; Solway Forth and Scotland beyond and then the main Lakeland fells.

There was a pretty cold wind up there, but it died down to help with getting the tents erected and we soon had a brew on the go and a big pot of pasta for tea.

As the evening settled, it really got quite cloudy up there, and with that the temperature went down a good few degrees. We ended up in big coats, trying to stay warm. It really felt like the cloud was settled in for the night but then, about 20 minutes or so before sunset, it all lifted and we were treated to the most beautiful sunset that I have seen for a very long time - the photos really don't do it justice at all.

We sat around for a while noshing on some snacks, but then headed for shelter from the cold night and set alarms for just after 5am to try and catch a hopefully equally stunning sunrise. Sadly that was not to be - we glimpsed it through a very brief break in the clouds but then it all settled in again, so we headed back into our tents for another couple of hours sleep.

After a quick brew and some breakfast snack bars, we packed up and were just loading our packs onto our backs as the first of the day's walkers appeared on the horizon. Off we went on the journey back down, leaving not a trace of our presence. That was the first time that I have properly wild camped. It was a very magical experience up there and one I felt privileged to have shared with my son.

The journey down was equally hard in it's own way, trying to maintain control with heavy packs fighting gravity, but a little over 2 hours later we were sat in the cafe at Buttermere with coffee and cake.

After a shower back at Andy's, I headed back to the campsite and pitched my tent there again. Being a creature of habit, I opted for almost exactly the same spot! Being gluttons for punishment, after a late lunch we did a short (flat!) walk over to Crummock Water and skimmed stones in the sun while we put the world to rights for a couple of hours.

On the way back we stopped in at the pub for a couple of well earned pints and again had a fairly early night to recover from our exertions.

And so the next morning I headed for home, after such a lovely couple of days. The weather was amazing - if anything a bit too hot! I headed across Newlands Pass to Keswick and then followed the more direct route back to Ambleside, where I stopped off at the Youth Hostel there to catch up with my nephew over a coffee and bacon barm :-).

Then I started following my nose for a slightly more direct route home, but actually ended up going a bit too direct so that I unintentionally ended up on the motorway for a short while before I came off at Carnforth and picked up the A6.

(I had to reset things at Lancaster as the route wasn't coming up properly.)

I stopped at Glasson Dock for lunch - a place that I had often fancied seeing - and I was delighted to find that there was a gathering of bikes there so had a nice natter with a few like-minded souls over a cup of tea.

And from there, I just cruised home at a gentle pace, arriving back late afternoon.

All in all, a lovely mini-adventure. Great company; lots of magical experiences and memories with my boy; some amazing roads to ride on through the Lakes. What more could I ask for?