Back in the UK, again! This time we have dropped our bike at the Triumph Dealer in Ipswich to get the 'glitch' repaired. We have hired a Ford Focus for the next three weeks. We took the panniers to Felixstowe, packed them in their boxes and picked up our suitcases. We then headed off to Milton Keynes for the next three nights. Our hotel is about 30km from the track at Silverstone so that we can attend the British MotoGP.

After picking up our tickets and paying for our car parking (motor bikes are free) we set out to do our usual MotoGP Friday activities - buy our t-shirt, find a sticker for the bike, suss out the best viewing spots and check out the food outlets. We also visited every trade stand available. We have decided that this MotoGP is probably the best organised we have attended - even better than Assen. The whole area of the track is surrounded by camping areas with free transport to and from the track in tractor pulled trailers. Car parking is right beside the entrance gates and is cordoned off with ropes and painted marks on the ground to show you where to stop. There are double decker buses on a 10 minute schedule to take spectators from one part of the track to another. Every grandstand is catered for with food outlets, merchandising stands and constantly cleaned toilet facilities. You could buy all your riding gear at the track if you decided to with a large selection of helmets, gloves, jackets, riding suits and kevlar pants. There is plenty of seating near the food outlets who sell everything from Mexican to Indian, fish and chips, coffee and ice-cream. Of course there are plenty of outlets selling beer as well but no-one seems to be intoxicated. There are even tents where you can get a massage! The weather has been kind to us and the Brits are really behind their riders and that always makes for enthusiastic spectators.

We arrived at the track on Saturday just in time for MotoGP Free Practice 3. We have purchased seats in one of the Grandstands for Sunday but we could sit anywhere we liked for Friday and Saturday. We chose the grandstand at Club Corner for Saturday's viewing - covered with a good view of approaching bikes in to a slower corner and then off up the straight. Most of the day was spent watching from this location as there was also a TV screen opposite us. All of the British riders qualified well much to the delight of the crowd. Danny Kent is leading the Moto3 championship and Sam Lowes qualified 1st in Moto2. Bradley Smith, Cal Crutchlow, and Scott Reading all qualified on the first 3 rows of the grid. Of course the usual suspects of Marc Marcquez, Jorge Lorenzo, Danny Pedrosa and Valentine Rossi were the top 4 qualifiers for the MotoGP.

Upon returning to our hotel, we discovered there was a wedding taking place. There was one here on Friday night as well and the staff tell us yet another will be here tomorrow night. I really can't fault couples for choosing this venue as it is picture perfect - surrounded by open green spaces and groves of trees. The hotel itself looks like an old manor house that has been beautifully restored and tastefully added to. The rooms are spacious and well equipped. We ate at the hotel restaurant surrounded by guests from the wedding.

Sunday started off overcast and we were glad we had a grandstand with a cover. We parked in a paddock not far from our grandstand but still caught the shuttle bus around to our seats. Becketts grandstand turned out to be a good choice for viewing. We could see several areas of the track and had a screen opposite our seats.

Moto2 was up first and declared a wet race although the riders had to contend with a rapidly drying track by the end of their 18 laps. Ant West rode extremely well and finished 7th. The race was won by Frenchman Johann Zarco by a country mile followed by Rins and Rabat.

The big boys came out next. MotoGP was declared a dry race! The riders went out on slicks to do their sighting lap and then every rider returned to the pits to change bikes. Mayhem reigned as all bikes would now have to start from Pit Lane - first ready would get the front spot. Apparently this has never happened before. Some quick thinking by the race organisers and an even quicker change of plans had the race red flagged and all riders returned to the grid to start again on wet set up, just as well because the rain continued steadily for the entire race. At one stage Jack Miller was in 8th position but he then clashed with team mate Cal Crutchlow and they were both out. A good race between Marc Marquez and Rossi followed but Marquez made an error and crashed out in the 13th lap and Rossi was never challenged from then on. Finishing in second, for his first podium ever, was Danilo Petrucci on a satellite Ducati, followed Andre Dovizioso on a factory Ducati. From the reaction of the crowd to Rossi's win one could be forgiven for thinking that he was British and not Italian. The weather was quite miserable by this time and many people started to leave - after all, they had seen what they had come for - Rossi victorious once again!

Moto3 was also declared a wet race. The race started with 35 riders on the grid. The wet conditions saw many riders crash out. Danny Kent won this race by 8.5 seconds and continues his domination of Moto3. Second was Jakub Kornfeil with Niccolo Antonelli third.

By the time this race finished we were dry but cold. We lined up for the shuttle bus back to our parking area and then trudged through the now very wet grass back to our car. Traffic wasn't too bad but it still took us 35 minutes to get away from the track and on to the road to Northampton - our destination for the next 3 nights.