Freewheeling in isle of charms

If I had been able to sleep on the ten-hour overnight flight, it might have been a good plan. But I didn't, which left me riding a motorcycle on the wrong side of the road in the rain while jet-lagged with no idea where I was going.

My destination was the Isle of Man, a tiny island in the middle of the Irish Sea off the northwest coast of England.

It's best known for two things: its status as a tax haven and a 102-year-old motorcycle race called the TT, which is run on real roads by unsung racers who whiz, at speeds approaching 200mph, within inches of stone walls and spectators.

I planned to catch the tail end of the legendary TT and enjoy the island in its natural state — that is, not overrun by motorcycles.

I just had to get there, which meant flying to London, renting a motorcycle, biking 250 miles across England and taking a three-and-a-half-hour ferry ride to the port town of Douglas. It was quite the slog but worth it.

Revered sport
The Isle of Man, a British crown possession, is a mythological place, especially for motorcyclists, who revere its embrace of man's need for speed and the talented risk-takers who live for it.

Nowhere else does the government shut down 37.73 miles of its roads for two weeks to host a gruelling race that probably will result in death; 224 racers have died on the course.

Its fans swarm the island every year in late May and early June, loading their sport bikes like pack mules to sprint around the island imitating their idols.

When I arrived in Douglas in June, the island was in full TT swing. The pavements were jammed shoulder to shoulder with bikers, who hadn't bothered to change out of their leathers and race boots as they strolled the cobblestones while eating ice-cream — one of the specialities on this largely agricultural island.

I felt among my tribe. But I was also exhausted. I squeezed my Honda ST1300 into one of the few remaining vacant parking spaces and checked in to the Admiral House, the first in a long line of inns along the city's main drag.

This being the TT fortnight, I paid about $350 (Dh1,285) a night instead of the usual $175 (Dh642). Still, I felt grateful, having booked my trip eight weeks earlier. The best accommodations start to sell out 10 months before the TT.

Safe crowd

Manx is the name for the 81,000 people who inhabit this island nation. About half of the people who live there are from the Isle of Man; the rest are so-called “comeovers'' from nearby England, Scotland and Ireland who came there because it is safer than their native countries.

At the refreshments tent, I met a non-biker from Scotland who lived on the island and worked in banking, the island's main industry.

Our chat was cut short by the Red Arrows, a stunt show by the Royal Air Force Display Team, a pair of bi-wing planes doing callisthenics over Douglas Bay.

Such displays aren't the usual Wednesday-night fare in Douglas, the island's capital and only real city. It was part of the TT-week entertainment, along with performances by the band Whitesnake and Celtic-flavoured cover acts.

The entertainment pickings were less than slim, so I chose to stroll. At 8pm on a weeknight any other time of year, all of the shops would be closed but not during the TT.

Shops for the cool

Walking along the Loch Promenade, I stopped for a “whippy with a flake'' — a towering, extra-creamy, vanilla soft serve ice-cream with a candy bar shoved in its side — at Davison's Manx Dairy Ice-Cream Parlour and wandered in the island's main shopping district, where many of the windows of shops displayed motorcycles along with their usual merchandise.

In celebration of the TT, Sayle Gallery had an Ace Café mods-and-rockers exhibit and pieces from a local named Adam Berry.

I bought three of his prints, which blend speeding motorcycles with TT racecourse checkpoints such as Black Dub, Ramsey Hairpin and Glen Duff.

To non-race fans, these names are charmingly Celtic although meaningless but to the thousands of people who come to the TT each year, they're the places where racers test their mettle, speeding through tight switchbacks and catching air.

I rented a bike for this trip to experience the course up close, although at distinctly lower speeds. I started my trip in Douglas because it's home to the course starting gate, which was a mile from my hotel and, unnervingly, next to the town cemetery.

For an island that embraces motorcycling, it's odd that motorcycles are not rented on the isle itself. Neither of the two motorcycle shops rents bikes because of high insurance rates.

A bike isn't necessary, of course. The island has excellent public transportation or you can rent a car or a bicycle. But I wanted to experience the island on a motorcycle.

Radio commentary

I was on the island for the last few days of the races, which I viewed from the grandstand. There weren't any big screens to show what was happening in real time, just Manx Radio, which was giving the play-by-play.

The races were over by the time I wheeled my bike around the island course. I didn't know where I was going but the course is marked with enormous orange signs and arrows.

Many hay bales and foam pads cushion potentially deadly roadside obstacles, such as lampposts, stone fences and trees. Even if the course hadn't been marked, I would've been able to find my way.

It took me about an hour to ride the course during the day, when there's street traffic. The racers do the same thing in about 20 minutes. But at my pace, I could experience the scenery that makes this island special.

Charming vistas

Clusters of charming stone cottages in Douglas gave way to fields of grazing sheep and cows in Kirk Michael nearby, sweeping coastal vistas and twisty, mountainous chaparral coming out of Ramsey.

It was such a gorgeous ride that I decided to ride it again — and again, which isn't hard to do. The island is just 32 miles long and 12 miles wide. After three round trips of the “track'', I had had my fill.

My next stop was the Fairy Bridge just outside Douglas. According to island lore, people who pass over the bridge must say hello to the fairies unless they want bad luck.

I wanted to see if the locals did that, so I hopped on a London-style double-decker headed for Castletown. About halfway through the 20-minute ride, the bus riders waved and called out, “Hello, fairies!'' as we passed over the bridge.

A friend and a home

One of them was Gina. We chatted about her work as a banker and my plans for the rest of my stay. When I told her I would be heading around the island clockwise by bike but didn't have accommodations outside Douglas, she called a friend about a homestay.

The next night, I slept in her friend's house in Port Erin, a coastal village in the southeast corner of the island with a stunning beach and kayak rentals.

Homestays are one of the most common accommodations on the Isle of Man and offer a close view of island life. Sanctioned homestays cost about $40 (Dh146) a night, a relief given the exchange rate.

My favourite place on the island was the Great Laxey Wheel in Laxey, said to be the world's largest working waterwheel, with a circumference of about 228 feet and once used to pump water from the island's lead and zinc mines.

It's spectacular to see this giant red structure rising from the lush landscape.

And it was calm. It was three days since the races had ended and the island felt like a different place. There was almost no traffic when I circled the course one last time, encountering mostly trucks picking up the hay bales.

Go there . . . Isle of Man . . . From the UAE . . . From Dubai

Passengers need to fly on a local carrier Flybe from London, Glasgow or Manchester. Return economy tickets start at around Dh800-Dh1,000 depending on availability. For details, visit www.flybe.com

Emirates flies daily to London. Fare from Dh3,385

Emirates flies daily to Glasgow. Fare from Dh3,975

Emirates flies daily to Manchester. Fare from Dh3,995

British Airways flies daily to London. Fare from Dh3,535

Qatar Airways flies daily to London via Doha. Fare from Dh2,235

Qatar Airways flies daily to Manchester via Doha. Fare from Dh2,835

— Information courtesy: The Holiday Lounge by Dnata.
Ph: 04 4380454

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