IOM & Ireland trip 2022

[jstrube]

My wife and I are planning a trip to see the IOM TT this year. This is our first trip to IOM, and our second trip overseas.

My wife's mom is from Belfast, Northern Ireland and moved to the US as a child. My wife has never seen where her Mom was born, so we are planning our first stop after the TT to be Belfast.

After that, we want to tour around Ireland a bit. We will either rent a car, or take public transportation. We will not rent a motor bike on this trip.

We want to see the the house her mom was born in, the cemetery where her grandmother is buried, and I want to take a tour I heard about in Belfast, detailing The Troubles. After that, we are open.

We enjoy countryside, Irish Whiskey, and whatnot. I plan to go to Jameson's, Bushmill's, and Guinness... Also, might head to Cork, to visit where Red Breast is made...

What do we need to see & do? How about traveling the countryside? Anything in the middle we must visit? We usually stay 2 nights wherever we stay, but can visit places along the way.

I'd rather stay at smaller, non-chain places, and we did this in Italy a couple of years ago, with lots of success. Should we stay in the heart of the city at each locale?

Anything not to miss?

Thanks ahead!

John.

 

[jstrube]

Bump, anybody been to Ireland and/or the IOM TT?

 

[20774]

Here's a not too old thread about a UK and Ireland trip:

https://forums.bmwmoa.org/showthrea...ay-Motorcycle-Adventure-Around-UK-and-Ireland

 

[Visian]

Sorry I did not see your post earlier, I have some comments for you about the Isle of Man/TT... but I've never been to Ireland. You might contact fellow MOA member Eric Blume, who's a good friend that lives in Seattle and recently toured Ireland.

So... the first thing to know about the IOM TT is that it is exceptionally difficult to watch... and imo, the race is way better on TV.

The lap times are very long and watching the race consists of getting to an observation point, watching bikes fly past for about a minute, then 20+ minutes of boring nothing until you hear the helicopter in the distance, with cameras trained on the leaders.

There are lots of reference sources for the cool places to watch, unfortunately, everyone else knows them too. Ideally, you get up really early, get to the location you want to be at, find a parking spot and get yourself in place. You will be there *all day* because once the race starts, all the roads around it are closed until the race ends. You better not have to pee, and bring your lunch and beer. Every place is very, very crowded. All those cool jumps and crazy turns you see on TV? Everyone else knows about them, too and it's almost impossible to get a spot.

There are grandstands at the start/finish in Douglas, and there are a lot of hotels there. This place is *over the top* crowded, but you can get tickets with reserved seating. As long as you don't mind a total zoo, it is quite a show.

When we went, we were on a Beach's Tour, who looked after all the details, from moto-rental, to ferry from the UK, to our grandstand tickets and our hotel in Ramsey, which is at the north end of the island and a great place to stay, except it was unseasonably hot, and the bar had an extremely limited supply of ice. (This is my chronic complaint about the EU, no vodka tonics at the end of the day's ride! )

After a couple of days of struggling to watch the race, my wife and I decided to see the rest of the island (outside of the race course you can still get around), visit some really off-beat locations, return to the hotel and watch the day's racing on the TV. Trust me, this race is much better on TV than it is to watch live.

Getting on the ferry from the UK...

The company that runs the ferry...

A shot from Ramsey Hairpin, the closest we were ever going to get to the race course... if you want good photos of this race, you need a press pass.

Do not miss the Isle of Man Motor Museum!

You can take this train to a fairly OK viewing spot at The Bungalow on the mountain course.... it's the Snaefell Mountain Railway Depot

We waited in line for nearly two hours to get the train....

Do not miss the Manx Museum...

This is the parking lot next to the Ramsey Hotel... blessedly uncrowded.

To tell you the honest truth, we got sick of the crowds and traffic and went off on our own tour around the island, there is some wonderful natural beauty there!

There was a very cool vintage show, featuring lawnmowers!

And the food there, outside of the race course towns, was exceptional!

Hopefully some of this advice is useful, have a great time on your trip!

Ian

 

[jstrube]

Thanks Ian!

We are planning to get a grandstand ticket one day, and not the second. We are there for 2 race days, 6 days total. I am looking forward to seeing the island for a couple of days after the races.

 

[kbasa]

Bump, anybody been to Ireland and/or the IOM TT?

We went in 1999. For the Ireland part, when we went to IOM, we flew into Dublin and via the Irish airline, we rented a car and had a set of vouchers for BnB stays. They were all pretty wonderful and we almost always were able to walk to a pub. We really, really enjoyed it. We rented a small Volvo wagon and it was almost too big for the tiny little roads they have in Ireland. Also, I got a ticket booting it across the island to make our ferry via a GATSO, a speed camera, so watch for that.

For the IOM, you have to have lodging before you can buy a ferry ticket. We stayed on the Promenade in Douglas and it was perfect. Easy to walk the promenade and see all the bikes and it was an easy walk up the hill to the start/finish and, for use Ago's Leap and Governor's Bridge. When we went, we took our Kermit chairs and before we'd stake out a spot, we'd visit the Safeway grocery for beer and food. We liked to bring a roast chicken with us along with other snacks to enjoy during the racing.

We arrived on Sunday, which was kind of a mistake. You want to arrive on Saturday. Vintage day was Wednesday and the pits are at the high school, so I walked up there when I heard all the old bikes getting fired up and rolling out to the staging area. It was probably my favorite part of the entire week. Be ready for a bank holiday that Friday, if memory serves where a whole bunch of things will be closed.

But, get your lodging lined up, then get your ferry tickets. The crossing can be a bit choppy, so if you get seasick, you might want to prepare.

 

[kbasa]

Also, there's Mad Sunday where the island is closed down and the circuit is one way. There will be parades on the promenade in Douglas with the Purple Helmets likely showing up, the cops stopping traffic so riders can do burnouts and all manner of motorcycling silliness on display. That was probably our most favorite day on the promenade.

The racing is fun, but like Ian said, it's a time trial, so there isn't really any wheel to wheel racing. If that's not your thing, remember, there are a zillion riders there and you can definitely have a fun week of gawking at bikes and meeting riders from all across Europe. When I was there, I was boggled by the R7s, the NC35s, the RC30s and other exotic sporting tackle I rarely or never saw in the US. If you're not into sport bikes, that may be more tedious for you. But we say stacks of Ducatis, Bimotas, etc. as well as all manner of vintage bikes. A favorite memory was being outside a laundromat waiting for our laundry to run and hearing a whole bunch of racket coming down the street. A Norton Manx appeared and it just summed up the whole nature of the event. An ancient bike, ridden in and on an arena that it was specifically developed to dominate. When we were there, Honda was celebrating their 50th year at IOM or something and they brought half their museum.

 

[jstrube]

Great info!

We have lodging set up, the bell tents for Glamping, and are flying in and out. Should be fun!