Just a quick one. I have threatened before to take on some motovlogging and nothing ever really materialised.
Today I reiterate that intention and here is the 2017 audio & video setup I have opted for.
So coming this year… more videos and more audio.
See you soon!
As mentioned on my Isle of Man 2016 : Day 3 post I visited the Isle of Man Motor Museum. Quite simply this is an outstanding collection of motor vehicles that is well worth a visit the next time you are on the island.
The Museum was founded and funded by father and son team Denis and Darren Cunningham to act as the public home for their collection of over 130 vehicles. The Museum also hosts over 150 other vehicles on loan from other enthusiasts and collectors.
The Isle of Man was chosen as the location for the Museum due to the unique place the Island occupies in motoring and motorsports history. The Island is the motorcycle road racing capital of the world and has hosted the famous TT races on the public roads annually since 1907. The Southern 100 and the Festival of Motorcycling are also fantastic opportunities to see road racing here.
For 2016, the Museum is proud to host the Joey Dunlop Collection featuring many of his trophies, leathers and race machines. Joey is the most successful TT competitor of all time with 26 victories to his name earning him the title “King of The Mountain”.
Rallying and enduro are also a huge part of motorsport on the Isle of Man and the Museum features a Ford Zephyr which competed in the London-Sydney Marathon rally and World Enduro Championship winning KTMs from local hero David “Knighter” Knight OBE.
Another well rested and early start this morning and I meet up with the guys at a local pub for a bit of a breakfast fry up…
It’s hard to recommend places on your first visit, simply because you have been to so few but that won’t change the fact that if a place is good – it’s good, and this places was. A nice breakfast down the hatch and it was time to make a move.
The guys I was with were keen to hit the Mountain Road again and get some fast miles under their belt, I however decided to go off the path less travelled and explore the Island a little more.
(There is a path much less travelled element to the ISle of MAn, with hundreds of miles of green lanes all over, and you will see lots of guys on scramblers and enduros coming off the countryside. The path I travelled wasn’t their path although to be fair they looked like they were having an absolutely outstanding adventure!)
An early start after being well rested in my super comfortable hotel room!
A bit of breakfast down the hatch and the sun is already shining! The Start / Finish Line seems like the perfect meeting place…
To start of with a trip to one of the Island’s regular tourist attractions, The Laxey Wheel…
After the obligatory photo off we go to the mountain road.
This time however the road gets closed due to a collision. It actually happens twice today, 1 rider is unfortunately critically injured, 3 others are hurt coming off their bikes, and unluckily for them were only wearing tracksuits at the time!
Isle of Man Roads Policing Twitter Account : https://twitter.com/iomrpu
Isle of Man Police Twitter Account : https://twitter.com/iompolice
It is 29th May 2016 and the start of Practice Week for the 2016 Isle of Man TT Races.
It is also my first time over to the Isle of Man in many, many years, and actually my first time for any of the racing.
With it being my first time over I took some advice and went for Practice Week, actually four days of Practice Week. The reasons behind this are…
That totals up to £295 for the four days. That’s not too bad.
So I met up with a couple of lads and headed off to Dublin. Reaching the ferry without drama and boarding the ship worry free.
Here is where I meet my first (of few) difficulties.
With the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company releasing the final invoices for the 2017 TT the internet has been inundated with comments, discussions, crying sessions and temper tantrums. Some good, some bad, most of the bad being hilarious and some just plain stupid.
However one thing is for sure, the TT faithful are getting excited and so am I. I will be going back for the practice week, at a bargain £115 return on the ferry.
So just to wet some appetites even further I will be posting up my Day by Day Review of my 2016 Isle of Man Trip. I thought I had probably left any sort of posting a little late however seeing the frenzy that has been whipped up this week it seems like a good enough time to post up my take on things and let those looking forward to going wet their appetite a little bit more…
<Coming Soon>
Well now that the photo rally is over for another year, having met its deadline on 31st October 2016, I will post up my entries for each county. Just so you can see where I was at, and maybe add a few locations to your list of places to visit should you ever find yourself in Northern Ireland & the Republic of Ireland…
The bear that keeps featuring is the mascot of the charity that the Club were supporting this year : https://www.shinecharity.org.uk
Photo Rally Entry Gallery :
It’s better late than never, and this whole video editing lark is a lot harder and more time consuming that I initially would have anticipated, however after far too long a wait here is the footage from Day 1.
I literally had to trawl through hours of footage but the fact that it is over a year old is pretty irrelevant, the route itself is still very much there, it took 10,000s of years to for the earth to make the coast, hopefully it has millions more years left for us to enjoy, so once again apologies it took so long, and apologies for the fact I am a supreme novice when it comes to video editing, however hopefully you can enjoy the scenery, (and the soundtrack) and maybe even be inspired to pop over to Ireland to experience this epic route!
The remainder of the videos are coming and will be uploaded as soon as I can piece them together, if you want to make sure you get notifications when they are available make sure to follow this blog or me on Twitter or Facebook.
Thanks…
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AuZcDwwZYA]
Scotland’s North Coast 500 GPX Route File – NC500 GPX:
UPDATE : I have again completed this route in 2019 and have uploaded some videos recorded on the Hyperlapse (time-lapse) setting of the GoPro Hero 7 Black Edition.
These videos will hopefully give you a little taste of what to expect or something to wet your appetite with so you can start planning your NC500 adventure…
A link to the Ride Report is also included further down this page along with the direct link to the GPX file of the NC500 route.
UPDATE #2 : I have completed the NC500 again, this time in 2023, and this time in a car. If you are curious about fuel on the route, specifically E5 / Super Unleaded 97 Ron, then this is the post for you : https://tbni.blog/2023/09/16/nc500-super-unleaded-fuel/
I have now uploaded my galleries and Ride Report of my 2016 trip around the Scotland’s North Coast 500 (NC500). You can find them all here :
One thing I did notice (for example in comparison to the Irish Wild Atlantic Way) was the lack of signage. Unless you knew you were actually on the NC500 you probably wouldn’t know you were on it.
UPDATE : As of 2023, having completed this route again I can now confirm that the signage situation is now infinitely better. You will now see frequent signage and directions that include the NC500 markers. It is not quite as frequent as the WAW however there are far less deviations from the loop.
The GPX file is available from the official North Coast 500 site, along with a printable map however my Sat Nav (a Tom Tom Rider V) found it far too complex, there are thousands of way points on it, and the sat nav just just refused to load it. The printable map is nice, but let’s be honest an A4 map covering 500 miles isn’t an ideal solution either.
Thankfully there is a good solution. This GPX file is sat nav friendly and guides you perfectly around the route.
(This GPX file will not take into account local diversions, road closures etc etc. Use it for guidance, but ensure to follow all local laws and rules of the road. TBNI.Blog is not responsible for the accuracy of this GPX file, it has not been updated since 2016 and should be used as a tool to assist your navigation and no warranty or guarantee is made or implied by its use. The use of this GPX is entirely are your own risk.)
Enjoy
https://www.tbni.blog/downloads/North-Coast-500.gpx
(If you have any trouble downloading the file just Contact Me and I will email it to you.
If you found this file useful please consider a small voluntary donation to the site, which helps keep things online and up to date. Thanks.
Introduction :
My Castles of Ireland 2016 Tour is part of a larger UK & Ireland run Challenge as can be found on Adventure Bike Rider.
I will add the add the castles to this blog along with a little bit of their history to wet your appetite as to just another thing that Ireland and Northern Ireland has to capture your imagination and set your sights on. You can take in all of the castles on this island in on one trip of 676 miles, that according to Google will take you 14 hours 50 minutes. Of course that means no stops, food, leg stretches, or photo ops.
