I know for manythe adrenaline fuelled madness that is Mad Sunday is a must whilst visiting the Isle of Man TT but not for us.

The island has started to recognise this fact and therefore we headed off to Peel on the west of the island for the Peel TT Day.

Peel is a lovely place with a big harbour and Peel Castle.  We parked the bike and headed off in search of a pub showing the Moto GP.  Our TT holiday companions, who ride pushbikes for fun (as y’do) decided to hire pushbikess and cycle to Peel from Douglas (again as y’do) so we met them at The Creek Inn overlooking Peel harbour and got a seat under the big umbrellas just before the heavens opened.  Just what you want over the mountain on Mad Sunday – not!

Much excitement ensued when JT, that would be James Toseland, double WSB champion, arrived on his R1, in his 52 leathers (tsk) to watch the GP no less,cool!  SWMBO took lots of photos on her phone and texted everyone she could think of the photo, what is she like?!

Not so cool was the screen went off about half a lap before the end, doh!

We then decided to check out Peel TT Day by walking along the seafront to where everything was happening.  I say, everything, frankly it was a bit lame.  Aside from the Purple Helmets stunt display it was a bit too fun fair and kids entertainment so obviously geared towards Joe Public rather than motorcyclists then.  We did not hang around, it was all a bit disappointing.  Less bouncy castles and more motorcycle related entertainment please for a so-called TT Day – Racer interviews,big screen, bike related stalls and music)

Lots of photos below of the motorcycles at Peel TT Day

Back at the flat, having stocked up with food for tomorrow’s racing, we headed over to the Hop Garden pub on the main Castletown to Douglas road.

There was TT coverage on the TV and who should walk in but current Brit WSB hopeful (and double winner at Assen) Jonathan Rea!  Our friends are now accusing us of celebrity stalking.

Paddy and Glen are off on tomorrow’s early ferry for a non-stop ride to Romania to put both his Pan European and the Triumph Sprint GT through it’s paces.

One muppet got it wrong on Mad Sunday:

Monday – 2nd days racing and we’re raring to go….

The mountain road closes at 9.30 and the rest of the roads at 10am, so an early start to meet our friends at Crosby for a proposed day’s watching from Sulby Bridge.  Some old wife (not mine cos she’s not old )ahem) said something once about best laid plans…well when we arrived at Crosby our friends had prime seats reserved with an excellent view of the course and a fast (18-mph) stretch of road laid out before us, and boy was it fast! Mindblowingly so in fact.

The first race of the day was the first Supersport race, it seemed like everyone (in the whole pub) was routing for Guy Martin, after the imposed 30 second penalty in Saturday’s Superbike race for  going 0.12 seconds too fast in pit lane which robbed him of a podium and a possible win.

However, it was not to be and his first lap was not the best for him, don’t know why.

The racing was excellent, very exciting, with the only fly in the ointment being the constant bobbing up in down in front of us of the marshalls for no other apparent reason than to stretch their legs and in the process blocking our view – wonder whether that’s why the seats were empty?

Ian Hutchinson was unstoppable throughout the whole race and although Guy Martin was hot on his tyres he could not make up the time.  Michael Dunlop and Dan Kneen swapped positions fighting for 3rd with Dunlop eventually taking the glory.  Guy Martin tried to make a point by initially not turning up for the podium but eventually conceded in tribute to his team.

Next up was the 1000cc Superstock race.  Ryan Farquhar was an early leader, he’s another rider with virtually no sponsorship who gets tantalisingly close to race wins.  He kept the crowds on the edges of their seats with Michael Dunlop and Ian Hutchinson hot on his heels.  But it was not to be again for Farquhar as a disastrous pitstop saw him down 8 seconds on Hutchinson the lead changing in his favour.

More disaster for Michael Dunlop as a tyre problem saw him needing it changed at the pitstop and effectively putting him out of the running much to his annoyance.

Just a word about what an excellent place Crosby pub is to watch from.  A few places on the course now charge for you to watch, most notably Creg Ny Ba, Crosby don’t but understandably they prefer you to eat the food that they put on and drink their drinks.  The staff are very friendly and the toilets are excellent.