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Greg and Kerrie's travels
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Location Date Oceania 1498604400 North America 1476226800 Europe 
1443826800 Asia 1428274800 -
Location Date UK
1443826800 Netherlands 1440284400 Poland 1440198000 Germany 1439766000 France 1437865200 Italy 1436828400 Greece 1428534000 Czech Republic 1371942000 Slovakia 1371682800 Austria 1371596400 Slovenia 1371250800 Turkey 1310079600 Belgium 1309129200 Isle Of Man 1306623600 Spain 1304550000 Andorra 1304290800 Switzerland 1303686000 -
Location Date London 1443826800 Blackpool 1443394800 Wakefield 1443308400 Cardiff 1442790000 Lincoln 1442358000 Coventry 1442185200 Southampton 1442012400 Hockley Heath 1441839600 Warrington 1441494000 Great Yarmouth 1441148400 Milton Keynes 1440716400 Kingston-Upon-Hull 1439420400 Antrim 1438988400 East Kilbride 1438815600 Edgbaston 1438124400 Glasgow 1434754800 Morecambe 1433372400 Solihull 1432854000 Ballycastle 1369004400 Isle Of Wight 1309561200 Felixstowe 1309474800 Folkestone 1309215600 Whitby 1308351600 Morpeth 1308265200 Stirling 1308178800 John O'groats 1308092400 Inverness 1308006000 Kirkcaldy 1307919600 Carlisle
1307833200 Colby 1306710000 Batley 1306537200 Llandudno 1306450800 Chester 1306450800 Birmingham 1306364400 Aberystwyth 1306364400 Land's End 1306191600 Bath 1306191600
Sunday 13.06.2011 - we packed up and bid farewell at 6.45 am to our home for the last two weeks, Honeysuckle Cottage and made our way to Douglas and the ferry terminal for the voyage to Heysham, England.
The usual suspects were queued up; Fabulous Phil ARNOLD and Dangerous Darren GUTHRIE, Lou and Eric, Mark and Kate. All of us heading in different directions when we reach England. Phil & Darren to Aragon in Spain for the next round of Superbikes then to Assen for the MotoGP. Lou & Eric were off to see friends in the south of England and then to Assen in the Netherlands for the MotoGP. Mark & Kate - well with three weeks remaining they could prpobably get to Siberia and back the way the put the miles behind them. Us - north to the Land of the Jocks (Scotland) to ride to John O' Groats. Then Greg & Kerrie to Yorkshire and then to Assen for the MotoGP and Chris to Ireland to catch up on his family history.
After a relatively short wait we were called forward onto the ferry where we secured our bikes.
We then found ouir way upstairs and into the lounge where we avoided a hearty English breakfast of grease on toast aka a full English breakfast, and settled for toast & jam for Greg and eggs on toast for Kerrie. We sat opposite a man and his wife who lived at Heysham where the ferry docks. The guy Phil, had been on the IOM for two weeks working a pit crew for Michael RUTTER, one of the higher profile riders to compete in the TT. RUTTER rode a Ducati and the Phil said its engine was only good for 10 laps of the TT ie 380 odd miles and the required a complete rebuild at 10,000 pounds per go. RUTTER took six engines to the TT and used the lot. Expensive hobby!
Phil said he knows the King of the Mountain John McGUINESS (17 TT wins) very well and lives around the corner from him and at one time was a member of his pit crew. He said he was also in Guy MARTIN's pit crew for two years but found our Guy hard work. By this time we started to think Phil was a name dropper and ******** artist. Greg decided he needed a pit stop to escape. When he returned he noticed John McGUINESS talking to people at a table a few up from ours. All excited he rushed back to where Kerrie & Chris were sitting with Phil & his missus eager to pass the word and grab the camera only to be told by Kerrie that John McGUINESS had stopped and spoken to Phil and his missus as old friends. b***** Greg missed it.
Ferry trips are notoriously boring and Greg (and Kerrie) both grabbed 40 winks. Luckily for us the Silverstone MotoGP was beinbg shown live on TV so we managed to convince the steward to change the TV channel. Since 95% of the passengers were bikers he didn't have much choice! It was pouring at Silverstone and we thought of our friends Mike and Jo HANNAN who had left the IOM several days before so the could watch the race live. Poor b*****s (it was ******* down). Lucky b*****s (they were there)! We managed to watch 5 laps of the race with Casey STONER in front before we had to disembark. We didn't find out until we reached Carlisle that Casey had won.
Once off the ferry, we stopped in the carpark and put on our wet weather gear because it was raining cats and dogs here too. We decided that we would just put our heads down and bums up and get to our digs at Carlisle as quick as we could. So that's what we did.
The TV guide in the paper said the MotoGP was being replayed at 3.30 pm so we should get there in time. We did only to discover our hotel didn't have the sports channel. b*****, b*****, b*****.
The usual suspects were queued up; Fabulous Phil ARNOLD and Dangerous Darren GUTHRIE, Lou and Eric, Mark and Kate. All of us heading in different directions when we reach England. Phil & Darren to Aragon in Spain for the next round of Superbikes then to Assen for the MotoGP. Lou & Eric were off to see friends in the south of England and then to Assen in the Netherlands for the MotoGP. Mark & Kate - well with three weeks remaining they could prpobably get to Siberia and back the way the put the miles behind them. Us - north to the Land of the Jocks (Scotland) to ride to John O' Groats. Then Greg & Kerrie to Yorkshire and then to Assen for the MotoGP and Chris to Ireland to catch up on his family history.
After a relatively short wait we were called forward onto the ferry where we secured our bikes.
We then found ouir way upstairs and into the lounge where we avoided a hearty English breakfast of grease on toast aka a full English breakfast, and settled for toast & jam for Greg and eggs on toast for Kerrie. We sat opposite a man and his wife who lived at Heysham where the ferry docks. The guy Phil, had been on the IOM for two weeks working a pit crew for Michael RUTTER, one of the higher profile riders to compete in the TT. RUTTER rode a Ducati and the Phil said its engine was only good for 10 laps of the TT ie 380 odd miles and the required a complete rebuild at 10,000 pounds per go. RUTTER took six engines to the TT and used the lot. Expensive hobby!
Phil said he knows the King of the Mountain John McGUINESS (17 TT wins) very well and lives around the corner from him and at one time was a member of his pit crew. He said he was also in Guy MARTIN's pit crew for two years but found our Guy hard work. By this time we started to think Phil was a name dropper and ******** artist. Greg decided he needed a pit stop to escape. When he returned he noticed John McGUINESS talking to people at a table a few up from ours. All excited he rushed back to where Kerrie & Chris were sitting with Phil & his missus eager to pass the word and grab the camera only to be told by Kerrie that John McGUINESS had stopped and spoken to Phil and his missus as old friends. b***** Greg missed it.
Ferry trips are notoriously boring and Greg (and Kerrie) both grabbed 40 winks. Luckily for us the Silverstone MotoGP was beinbg shown live on TV so we managed to convince the steward to change the TV channel. Since 95% of the passengers were bikers he didn't have much choice! It was pouring at Silverstone and we thought of our friends Mike and Jo HANNAN who had left the IOM several days before so the could watch the race live. Poor b*****s (it was ******* down). Lucky b*****s (they were there)! We managed to watch 5 laps of the race with Casey STONER in front before we had to disembark. We didn't find out until we reached Carlisle that Casey had won.
Once off the ferry, we stopped in the carpark and put on our wet weather gear because it was raining cats and dogs here too. We decided that we would just put our heads down and bums up and get to our digs at Carlisle as quick as we could. So that's what we did.
The TV guide in the paper said the MotoGP was being replayed at 3.30 pm so we should get there in time. We did only to discover our hotel didn't have the sports channel. b*****, b*****, b*****.
- comments
Mike and Jo Hi Guys, Silverstone was "as wet as an otters cloak room" and freezing. The traffic control was so hopeless it took hours in the rain to get out of the car park. The crowd were anti-Casey. In fact, they were anti any one not Rossi. We had good seats undercover which saved the day. General admission would have been awful. It was a good one to miss so don't feel too bad about staying on the Island and just look for a replay. Mike and Jo
Sandra wow - can't wait to hear about Assen, with the amount of celebrity power you guys are getting, you may meet Casey Stoner - however sorry to tell you but we would prefer Rossi too!!! Casey sure is riding amazingly well though. Happy travels. PS: It's freezing cold here!