Saturday 7 June
This was my first ever visit to the TT on the Isle of Man and what a fantastic week! I took the ferry from Heysham to Douglas last Friday to be on the Isle of Man for the first race day, which was Saturday. Checked into the Clag Moar B&B, where my brother Stuart stays when he goes to the IOM for an Enduro weekend. So with my gear un-packed and bike parked up, I walked round to the Baltic Inn for a pint or two of the local brew and a meal and meet up with a couple of friends, Stuart and Paula from Tingley.

Saturday is race day so it's up early for breakfast to meet Stuart and Paula 15 miles away up the TT course at Ginger Hall. Then we rode to Creg-ny-Baa on the Mountain section of the TT course before the roads closed at 11.00am. We rode up the Mountain section which is one-way for TT week and ride at whatever speed we like as there is no national speed limit, between towns, on the IOM. And in brilliant sunshine we watch a great day's racing.

Racing is every other day, so on non-race days I toured the island and saw some really picturesque places such as Peel, Laxey, Ramsey and Douglas. During the race week, Bruce Anstey (NZ) won the first Junior TT race but was disqualified later for an illegal exhaust camshaft fitted to his bike, which had been wrongly labelled by the supplier. So I suppose that fired him up enough to win on a later day the second Junior TT race by 30+ seconds having been fifth away from the grid. The TT course is just over 37 miles a lap and 6 laps therefore giving a total of 228 miles per race. The highest speed on the circuit is at Sulby Straight where the bikes reach 191 mph; John McGuiness holds the lap record at 130 mph average.

Then, all too soon, the week is over but I have seen some great racing action from Creg-ny-Baa, Braddon Bridge, Ginger Hall and the Start/Finish area. Then today we all met up at Mike and Enid's (from Doncaster) accommodation in Port Erin for a BBQ lunch before we return to Douglas for the ferry home.