Friday morning we made our way down to breakfast to be greeted by a feast. Not one to complain and being the polite chap that I am I decided to eat everything that was on offer except the dreaded tomato.Bad news was not far away, the reason for the cancelled practice that a rider had died on the track. Robert Dunlop, a 40+ year old local guy had fallen off and then the rider behind had run over him. The poor guy's luck had finally run out. Both he and his older brother Joey Dunlop both died whilst racing, something the both enjoyed. R.I.P.

So slightly subdued we made our way to the pit area, did the usual, we stuck our camera in every garage took some pictures in the pits, saw a few riders including Michel Rutter, relaxed, old 'B u g g e r Grips' himself Guy Martin, but didn't think to get them to sign anything. Once we had bought the obligatory t-shirts we decided to walk into Portstewart itself.On the prom there were some great bikes including the 6 cylinder Binelli (see album). As we walked further we saw that as a mark of respect all that evenings entertainments were to be cancelled, including the fireworks. We decided to walk on further, in-fact we walked miles around the coast to the 3 mile long beach, part of a 12 mile stretch of seafront. Alas motorcycle boots are not made for walking in and Amanda and I both got sore feet and blisters.

The day sort of petered out, so we retired for the early start the day after.