Practice at Ballaugh Bridge

Thursday evening of practice week produced the best weather of the week after a misty day.  Ballaugh Bridge is a popular place to watch the races due to the hump back bridge and “The Raven” pub is rather conveniently placed.

While waiting for the practice to start we watched the world go by.  Tractors with trailers are common on the roads.

The houses across the road.

On the right hand post of the front fence (just to the right of the above photo) there is a memorial to a previous TT rider.

A professional photographer was set up with a remotely controlled camera. Rather technical.

This couple and their dog were settled on the roof of their entry foyer, having an excellent view of the bridge.

So what about the bikes?  They come over the bridge.  Unfortunately, the sun was in a difficult position for photos.  This Triumph sounded wonderful every time it went past.  Note that he just rode over the bridge.

There are several different styles of tackling the bridge.

Many completely  leave the road, although, they generally weren’t as spectacular as the TT.

Once they cross the bridge, they disappear around the corner of the pub.

Here they come, around the corner of the pub.

They fly past the beer garden.  Impossible for me to take a clear photo – just too fast for my camera.

Then, off they go into the distance.  You can see here just how close they go past us.

This was as far as this poor fellow got.

Unfortunately, proceedings came to a stop when the session was red flagged.  Never good.  However, it wasn’t as bad as it sometimes is.  There were four accidents around the course within a couple of minutes, which was too much to deal with.  No one seriously injured.  Phew!  It was just enough to end the evening’s practice.

The only thing to do then was go into the pub and find a cosy nook to have dinner.

While waiting for dinner to arrive we had fun looking at all the interesting names of beers on the tap badges on display on the ceiling beams.  They do well to come up with all the creative names.

Then it was time to head back home before it got too dark.