The best way to leave the Island by boat or plane is on a still, clear day and today that is fortunately what we had. We took the Ben My Chree boat to Heysham filled with classic bike fans (they’d been over for the Billown Races) leaving Douglas basking in sunshine.
We drove through stunning Lancashire tree-lined countryside, then through bleak landscape that looked like Druidale (but on a massive scale) and only an hour later arrived at Gisburn Forest for a picnic lunch.
And then we headed out on the trails. We did the red route which is a figure 8, 18km loop, but we chose to add in the black Hully Gully trail as we did it a few years ago and wanted to see if we had improved over the whole route. I think we can both safely say yes – I definitely squeeled, moaned and walked less in the ride and certainly successfully completed more “features”. I was loving my new 650b bike and am convinced that it climbs real steep stuff better than my old Trek 29er. Perhaps the increased rake actually helps keep the wheel on the ground more? Pete also loved his new bike. He successfully cleared more, got much higher up the huge berms on Hully Gully (tangling himself in a tree on one) and rode the Big foot rock face.
We both came away with big smiles on our faces and an abnormal result of dusty bikes (not muddy or wet). What is going on here????
And then to finish off a great day we called at my parents for a nice dinner, great evening and comfy bed.
