I'll take you to Bray Hill
ISLE OF MANN

Article published in Superwheels magazine in 2006.

The undisputed queen of the Dakar begins to try her hand at tourism with a capital t. Mega trip from Calabria to the Isle of Man for the most fascinating motorcycle event on the European scene.

Read the story published in the magazine.

Can you participate in a particular event like the Isle of Man TT, working, having fun, allowing yourself 15 days around Europe, accompanied by a group of friends?

If I have to be the one to answer, I will do it positively, it happened to me.

In one of the usual, destructive meetings that we periodically undergo around Italy and in which friends from different regions participate, the TT speech was released.

Dream of many, on average it is realized by only a small part of the motorcyclists who know this spectacular event.

But in the evening, in the abbey of Moscheta, things immediately turn out well and from a first survey there would appear to be numerous adhesions.

In the end the group will consist of 8 units with the usual, punctual defallance of Gianni (he calls himself the fold !!!) in words great motorcyclist, motorbike tourist and so on and so forth, but always absent on such occasions. The excuse put forward this time? I'll save you !!! Let's hope at least that you start saying less bullshit !!

The idea is simple and proven: take 2 weeks to arrive at the event on the island, trying to travel the most beautiful roads that separate us from the ferry from Heysham, where the TT adventure will actually begin.

The meeting point is established in Livigno, convenient for the various groups arriving from the south and from Trieste.

And they will immediately be sparks. The Calcheria refuge, already tested in other experiences, suggests that traveling 500k m a day on state roads, with evenings of this kind, will be something for tough and inveterate motorcyclists.

And so the next day will see a delayed departure of almost 2 hours !!

The weather is not great, indeed the cold and rain do not contribute much to morale and the climatic conditions will haunt the party until the Channel crossing.

On the other hand, the visits will be numerous and pleasant despite an accentuated difficulty in synchronizing our metabolisms with the restaurant hours. It will be only Dino's fantastic gastronomic flair, worthy of a hound, to allow us to be able to chew something on a couple of occasions.

On the day of arrival in Heysham we spend the morning visiting Cambridge, Ely and King's Lynn in sequence.

At 2.00 pm we are more than 300km away from the destination.

The ferry leaves at 3.00 at night, 2 possibilities: cross Yorkshire on state roads or follow the more comfortable and free English motorways.

The girls, but not only them, push for the second solution.

Dino and myself opt for the tranquility of the English countryside, and it will be a winning choice: extraordinary lights, beautiful and traffic-free roads, apart from the first stretch that goes north.

The weather is finally turning beautiful and Yorkshire has so much to offer the traveler!

We will arrive even before the rest of the patrol, engaged in motorway junctions and repeated beer stops !!!

And it will be expected: beers, beers, the usual English dishes, beers and more beers !!!

The party has begun. Have you ever been to the TT?

It is probably the most engaging, absurd and fantastic motorcycle show I have ever seen. And the impressions reported by my friends, even in the previous editions in which I participated are absolutely similar.

A festival, a fair, a crazy race, a Sunday where part of the circuit is closed to traffic and everything is possible. It will be 4 days of ethyl fun, of spectacular landscapes (yes, the island is also beautiful), accompanied by sunny weather and, strangely for these latitudes, unexpectedly hot.

The non-existent island of the motorcyclist. To think that they could suspend the demonstration in future years is utopian, insane and reckless.

Beautiful things always last a short time and it's already back, albeit with the usual rhythms.

The crew, under the blows inflicted by evenings that are always at their best, falls apart: Poldo decides to head to Belgium where he works, as the company claims it in advance; Marco di Mutignano and his wife, after Conwy's evening, opt to go back on their own despite the perplexity of the group which recognizes that they have almost no orientation skills.

The consequences of this choice, as well as a perverse and cruel road system, will bring him back home, together with his sweet wife, just a day before us. Ansa news gave him lost on the border between France and Germany, in the Swiss mountains and even with some difficulty in taking the A14 !!!!

And U.S? Still narrow streets, still warm, still splendid evenings, indeed after the splendid visit to St. Malò, coming from an almost sleepless night on an overcrowded ferry, we opt to destroy the production of mussels and oysters of the region by sitting down for lunch in a restaurant that like as usual it was "smelled" by the usual Dino, now a real certainty for all our gastronomic needs !!

But unfortunately time is starting to tighten for us too and the last stop to reach the fantastic hotel Italia, located on the top of the Gran San Bernardo pass, will force us to grind a thousand kilometers, amidst the insults and anger of Katia. .

We are at the end, the next morning, a radiant day, sees us take the last souvenir photos and the group melts.

Lorenzo and Katia return to Trieste during the day, we go south, but already in the middle of the day I am next to Dino

"But weren't we supposed to celebrate your birthday at the Gambero Rosso di S. Vincenzo?"

In the blink of an eye, the mastiff forgets his daughters and wife who have been waiting for him for more than 2 weeks now and with yet another miracle he manages to book us a table for 3 in the best restaurant in Italy.

It will be the apotheosis with an impressive sequence of bottles, gulped in front of the nice Glenda, the friendly maitre of the place, as well as a passionate motorcyclist. The bill?

From loan disbursement !!!

Now we really can only go home.