Bongo Fury

22 June, Mrs M and I went to the Isle of Man (Ellen Vannin). Came back 1 July. Last minute decision, having planned to go down to Cornwall about now, to see basking sharks, but not yet ready for long drives, post-surgery. Doone's daughter Amy kindly made us aware that the Isle of Man, just a short drive for us to the ferry from Liverpool, is also a basking shark hot spot.

VERDICT: MAGIC AND THEN SOME

Basking sharks and some of the other abundant wildlife we saw, are written up in several posts from here: http://www.igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum/ ... 73#p424321

No parking charges, traffic jams, advertising hoardings, boarded up shops, unemployment, tax at 10% Self sufficient in main foodstuffs, with low food mileages and 100% traceability, therefore great quality. Good tourism facilities but not in your face, and no rip offs that we found. Ultra friendly people. Downside - property expensive.

Superb scenery. This is a sector of the panoramic view from The Sound Visitor Centre and Cafe, at the southern tip of the main island, looking across to the Calf of Man - bird observatory, and masses of Atlantic Grey Seals. Manx National Heritage: http://www.gov.im/mnh/. Boat trips from Port Erin.



A sample basking shark, photographed during an evening boat trip from Peel. http://www.manxseaquest.com. Big specimens, as this one was, are typically 11m long, and they can grow to nearly 14 m - the world's second largest fish. More pix at: http://www.igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum/ ... 73#p425465



This seal followed our boat back into Peel Harbour:



Fleshwick Bay, as we had it all afternoon - until school finished for the day, and nine students kayaked 10 miles down the coast from Peel, as below:



Teachers from QE2 High School in Peel and attendant seal, delivering nine 16-17 year olds into Fleshwick Bay to leave them to camp rough overnight - preparation for Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme kayaking up the east coast of Greenland. Hopefully, polar bears and killer whales will not take the same interest in them as the seal did in their teachers. Parting shot from PE teacher - "No toilet paper in the wilderness. Find sponges or use seaweed tonight, and dispose of them between the tide lines"



The island was crawling with new life, such as this herring gull chick:



Mrs M looking for some more of it:



As part of the Armed Forces Weekend, this Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Dakota did a fly-past on the Sunday, past the memorial parade in Douglas. Met the pilot and navigator killing time in the little Manx Aviation Museum http://www.maps.iofm.net/, and had a natter. I used to work on T1154/R1155 HF radio rigs, like the now unused example apparently still carried in the BBMF Lancaster they also fly, so I was able to answer techie questions for them



Sunset over Derby Haven and Ronaldsway Airport, from a favourite place, St Michael's Island - great walking on springy turf, with a Henry VIII fort complete with a full set of cannon, and an 11th/12th century early Christian chapel. Particularly evocative out there, when sea fog rolls in. Masses of bird life (and all over the main island) - Manx Wildlife Trust http://manxwt.org.uk/



This is the real mother of parliaments - Tynwald Hill, where the Manx governement has met (nowadays only once a year) since Viking times, more than a thousand years ago. Great idea - put all the politicians on a grass mound where the voters can see them.



Paul -the only remaining traditional Manx kipper curer, who still smokes them over an open oak fire, as shown. They are delicious. http://www.manxkippers.com:



TT follows....

....now, the TT and a summary:

Twenty nine cars (all pre-1918) from the Veteran Car Club of Great Britain were on the island with us, recreating the original 1905 Tourist Trophy race - for cars, not bikes. It was held on the island in 1905, as road racing was banned in mainland Britain. They later moved to Ulster, and bikes took over the TT on the Isle of Man, in 1911. This veteran car broke down as we were following it. Wouldn't accept help, and I later heard that they got going OK. One of the others broke a crankshaft though, and was towed onto our ferry back to Liverpool. We think we have spares problems!!



No broken crankshafts here, unless you count the photographer:



What's that? You want to see the car they were in? Oh, you petrolheads!

Here it is then, a very rare 1912 (I think) Bedford Buick - an imported Buick chassis, with prestige UK coachbuilt body. Very up market at the time.



Many more in this great video of an earlier VCC of GB event, in the Huntingdon/Grafham Water area. Watch it without a smile, if you can!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_zFVeia310

_____________________________________________________

The bike TT Races, 1911 on:

This man was apparently a former TT rider, "a biker since 1953" - anybody know who he is? His garden is full of biker figures, honouring friends, including dead ones. He says the "ghost" I photographed though was his wife on her moped







Don't know about that but two TT riders were killed just before we arrived (229 deaths since 1911 in TT and Manx Grand Prix accidents), and one of these (no coffin) was also on our ferry back Believe it was on TV for one of the funerals, so you might have seen it then:



_____________________________________________________________

Drove the fabulous TT mountain course in our TT Bongo, and can well understand the bikers' sometimes fatal fascination with it. The Bongo did very well

Because of my post-op state and Mrs M needing some spoiling, we stayed in a hotel, and just used the Bongo as the brilliant day van it is. Checked out a couple of good campsites for future ref though. If anybody wants the info, please PM me. Similarly for details of probably the only LPG Autogas supply on the island.

Obviously, we caught the weather just right, and being in the middle of the Irish Sea, it can be wet and windy there - so best advice is probably to go there if like us (retired) you can pick your moment, and go at short notice. Outside of school holidays, you should have no problems.

So, new sticker on the Bongo, then back to the real world - bowled over by the Isle of Man though, and much refreshed as a result :



http://www.visitisleofman.com

Thank you. Excellent write up and pics. Thoroughly enjoyed this.

Glad you enjoyed it jg, t and p. It was a pleasure to write it. As you might gather, I'm very hooked Manx Radio is now on a pre-select button on my bedside internet radio, and am listening to it on my laptop as I tap away now, for that matter http://www.manxradio.com/

A few "supplementaries" which came to mind in the bath, this morning :

Tynwald Day, when all the politicians and bigwigs have to sit on that grassy mound, is actually tomorrow, Monday 5 July. Public holiday, of course, and much visiting by Norwegians, Icelanders and Faroese, due to their similar Norse parliamentary roots. Info interspersed with the music in Moghrey Jedonee's ("morrie jedoonie's") Manx Radio morning show, on now.

Although the weather can be chancy there for family holidays, it is a very temperate climate - cooler (as it blissfully was last week) in summer, and warmer in winter, than in the UK. There's plenty to do there on the odd wet and windy day, if you do get caught out - the award winning Manx Museum (and good cafe/restaurant) in Douglas, is free and worth a visit at any time, with loads there (Vikings to TT Suzukis, via brilliant interactive wildlife displays) for everybody, including kids. It prepares you to visit Manx Heritage and other attractions around the island - take your National Trust card if you're a member (reciprocal arrangements).

http://www.gov.im/mnh/heritage/museums/manxmuseum.xml and good heritage video at http://www.gov.im/mnh/media/storyofmann.xml.

Another weather factor is that the bad stuff seems to clear through very quickly - some ferries are delayed by gales this morning but a quiet sunny afternoon is forecast, for instance. I would (will) go there in any weather - need to go back this winter, to see Europe's biggest winter roost of up to 30 pairs of hen harriers.

Even in Douglas, the capital, there's plenty of free on-street disc parking but don't try the public multi-storeys with an AFT - 1.87m is the maximum height allowed (and vehicles longer than 4m are not technically accepted as "cars"). We got our AFT (on 215/70/R15s all round) into (and out of!) the M & S multi-storey but only by the skin of its teeth - best bet is to disc park on the promenade, and walk up one block.

Close to the Tynwald grass mound, there's an up market (clothes, gifts, food, etc.) shopping centre (Tynwald Mills) in the woods. Middle of the island, and great for a bit of holiday retail therapy http://www.tynwaldmills.com/

Ron Miel wrote:....now, the TT and a summary:

Twenty nine cars (all pre-1918) from the Veteran Car Club of Great Britain were on the island with us, recreating the original 1905 Tourist Trophy race - for cars, not bikes. It was held on the island in 1905, as road racing was banned in mainland Britain. They later moved to Ulster, and bikes took over the TT on the Isle of Man, in 1911....
>
>
Don't know about that but two TT riders were killed just before we arrived (229 deaths since 1911 in TT and Manx Grand Prix accidents)........
>
>

Correction. Was watching some of this year's TT on Discovery Turbo this afternoon, and the presenter referred to motorcycle TT races in 1907. Sure 'nuff, 1907 apparently was when the bikes began IoM racing. 1911 must have been when the fatalities began - or began being recorded, anyway.

EDIT
Oh! Another thing: the original 1905 car racing on the IoM was the "Gordon Bennett Trials", which became the Tourist Trophy.

Ron Miel wrote:..........I'm very hooked
>
>
........Info interspersed with the music in Moghrey Jedonee's ("morrie jedoonie's") Manx Radio morning show, on now.
>
>

Sunday again, Moghrey's on again, I'm listening again - so I must still be hooked

He mentioned GPS today, reminding me of something I forgot to mention previously. My Garmin satnav was pretty unreliable on the Isle of Man, although it only once reported weak satellite signals.

Often thought we were on other roads, albeit usually close to the ones we actually were on, and despite also showing the correct roads on its screen. Its selection of fastest routes was particularly iffy - once sending us miles off route on narow single lane tracks and over a ford, instead of down a dead straight main road, directly a to b.

Possibly, the mapping used by Garmin has not been properly aligned with island coordinates, so if you go there, don't rely on it and also buy the O.S. Landranger series IoM map.

Subject correction by me: Ellan Vannin, not Ellen Vannin