UK Trip Part III

Instead of staying at a hotel or B&B as Grant had previously on the Isle of Man, we were fortunate to find private accommodation. When we lived in Kenya, our neighbour, who heard that we were struggling to find reasonable accommodation, told us he knew someone in South Africa who had children living on the island and regularly rented out their house for the TT week. We wrote to the family in SA, who gave us their son/daughter's e-mail address. I contacted these people who agreed that we could rent their house for the period. A few days later the young lady wrote to me and said they had to retract their offer of their home, but that her best friend, Tracy and her husband, Richard was willing to let us stay in their home. I duly wrote to Tracy who replied immediately and gave us a reasonable quote for the nine days we'd be staying. A few weeks later, Tracy wrote to me and said she and Richard were taking their two young sons to Disneyland for the same week and we'd have their large house to ourselves. Which we did. (More about this later)


On that first day when we arrived at Tracy's home (poor girl, we arrived before 8am; she was still in her nightgown getting the children ready for Pre-primary school and Richard was upstairs getting ready for work!) she made us feel most welcome. After a hot cup of coffee in her homely kitchen, we were shown upstairs and left to unpack and settle in. Then we left the house and walked to the vehicle rental agency where we picked up the little runabout we'd hired for the week.

After collecting our friends, Kevin and Clive at their modest B&B, where Grant and I subsequently enjoyed delicious breakfasts with them every day, we drove to the race starting point and the pits. In a normal race, such as the Motor GP, spectators and enthusiasts are not able to get inside the pits. At the TT, you can wander around and watch the teams working on their racing machines and even get to speak to some of the riders.

The marquee tent/workshop of the Norton team

There are also stalls selling all manner of Isle of Man curios and memorabilia, Christian literature, bike accessories, clothing. In between there are caravans and kiosks selling hot and cold drinks, take-away foods and sweet treats like doughnuts and ice-creams! 

Tables and chairs on the lawns near the food and drink kiosks in and around the pit area

I walked around with my camera and photographed the many dogs on leads (more about these later), and when I could do so surreptitiously, I snapped unusual sights.

A suave-looking Scotchman and his girl

Out in the street again, I continued to snap photos of the bikes and came across one from Australia. As I took the photo, I thought of my blogger-friend, Diane who lives in Brisbane and has a very interesting blog, Adventure before Dementia. Diane has just celebrated a milestone birthday, and if you've never visited her blog, do pop over there, wish her and read all about her travels with her husband. 

 A bike from Down Under

I'm linking this post  to Our World, Tuesday where you can see posts of other people's worlds if you click here

Have a great day everybody!