NW200

[jasonbc]

Well i've been waiting for this trip for a long time, Tuesday 3 of us left down here and rode up to North wales through Brecon and over the mountains and stayed in Caernarfon. We got up and caught the Super cat into Dun Laoghaire


We were sat at the back of th eboat in the sun and were asked to come in by staff, the RAF were doing a training exercise on the ferry one of there flight school helicopters landed on the ferry and took off then lowered somebody onto the ferry and winched them up again



After the ferry docked were rode up to Belfast where we were staying via the Mourne mountains. In the evening we caught the train into Coleraine to see what that was all about and where the course would be. Thursday we rode upto Portrush and Portstewart to watch the practise day and the 2 races in the evening. Conditions were really bad and wet for most of the day but the Ducati ( or AUDI now) in the wet set a fastest time in the wet it was either 202 or 208mph can't remeber which. When the roads opened again we rode the course that the riders would ride and with the bad weather and volume of traffic it took us around 25 mins. In the evening the course dried up and most rider were knocking around 35 seconds off there time quickest was 4mins 34 secs













Evening races





Friday was basically a spare day so we took in the Dunlop museum which was a very nice tribute and i didn't realise he had so many titles under his belt. Then we went and looked at the Giants Causeway which i really couldn't see what all the fuss was about. But it must have taken those paddys a while getting all those rocks the same size with a hammer and chisel





Race day on Sturday was glorious weather with some seriously impressive and talented riding, enjoyed all of it







The racing finish around 6.30 and we then left Portrush again and headed for Dublin to catch the 0215 ferry which got us back into Holyhead at 0615 this morning we then rode back down through the mountains again stopped for coffee and red bull a few times as we only had 2 hours sleep on the boat and we arrived home at 1530hrs this afternoon. I now have a bomb site for a house and a bike that needs cleaning, checking and 2 new tyres. Tomorrow will be a tidying and cleaning and downloading day me thinks. Over the last few days we rode 1450ish miles . What an experience it is watching those guy do that on open roads, 195mph through 40mph zones fantastic