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.
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.
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