North West 200 Road Race

Thursday 17 May 2012  - North West 200 Road Race

Day 35 and 124 to go

The alarm went off at 7.15am this morning, I wasn’t ready to get out but with another full day ahead I really had little choice.

We went downstairs for breakfast. Jeff had prepared a cooked breakfast feast that would see us through much of the day.

By 8.30 we were out on the road heading to Portstewart where the Northern Ireland road race (North West 200) begins and finishes. We needed to ensure we were there before 9.30am as the local roads would be closed. We made it with time to spare.

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After parking up we wandered along the promenade. The view was spectacular, right on the grey rugged coastline. We walked up to the paddock and paid to go in. Paul was happy to wander around and check out the bikes and riders collecting autographs as he went.

We sat in the paddock grandstand for a bit watching the practice races. There was also a large viewing screen so you could see more of the track.

Between races we wandered across the road and checked out the merchandise stands and the Vauxhall cars. We were able to walk around the back over the lumpy land in which I took a great stack! It had me laughing for ages.

We watched a bit more, before returning to the paddock and the hospitality suite for some warmth. It was only 8 degrees max today with intermittent showers. I was just glad it wasn’t windy.

We watched the final part of practice from a different paddock stand before practice wound up at 2 and the roads opened again. We made a break for it then, returning to the car. We had decided on Jeff’s suggestion to go out to the Giant’s Causeway and have lunch at the Nook pub. This was only 30min away.

We found it quite easily and went in for lunch. It was so nice to have a hot meal and drink and thaw out. We also had entertainment in the form of an Irish musician. It was great.

After our meal we walked to the start of the Giant’s Causeway. This is Ireland’s number 1 tourist attraction and a world heritage site. We walked about a km down the road amongst the green covered cliffs and the black stone until we reached the large basalt rocks that have been pushed up in columns after a volcanic eruption. The formations are quite spectacular. Unfortunately it began raining steadily, which made the rocks slippery so we didn’t venture too far. We caught a bus back up the hill before returning to the car and heading back to the races.

View Larger Map The roads again were to be shut by 5.30pm. We had parked up in the same street by 5pm and walked the short distance to the York Street corner grandstand. This enabled to watch the bikes come down the main straight and then make a sharp left.

The rain cleared, though it became bitterly cold. We waited for the first race that began at 6.00. The only Australian competitor Cameron Donald came in third. Though it wasn’t called at the end and he didn’t get on the podium due to Irish stuff ups.

The second race was started at 7.00pm and by 7.40pm people were starting to head. We figured this was a good idea and decided to return to the car. We had to take the backstreets home as many roads were still closed, but by 8.45pm we were pulling into our B&B.

We warmed ourselves in our room with radiator doing it’s job.

Paul packed up the cases in readiness for our continued tour tomorrow while I sorted stuff on the computer and by 10pm we were looking for bed again.