Well, nice sunny day today (30th October 2004), and reasonably warm, so decided to go for a little ride. Rode out from home in Douglas and headed south, aiming to try out one of the Isle of Man's greenways.

First stop, after petrol, was near Port St. Mary

Looking out over Bay ny Carrickey, towards Gansey Point - that's some of Port St. Mary in the distance

Time to check the map. I've just bought the new digitally mastered 1:25,000 scale rights of way map - it's nice and clear where all the roads etc are.

Dropping down into Port Erin for some more sea breeze, having felt sand flies and the like pinging off my helmet as I went around the bay.

That's Bradda Head across Port Erin bay, with Milner's Tower on the summit.

Looking back across the bay towards the homes stretching out towards Bradda Head, in Traie Veg, Traie Vane and Spaldrick.

Found my way along very narrow winding roads up past the village of Surby, eventually finding the entrance track to the greenway

Good sign - means nothing larger than half a ton can go along this byway without a permit

Looking back down the entrance track - it may have been tarmac, but was covered in mud and water

The entrance to the greenway, Bryn Glas, with warnings from the governement about not straying off the track etc. That's a step at the entrance of about 8" - first hurdle! Do you like the colour of the clouds too?

Only just passed the entrance step - stood beside the bike, put in first and trundled the front wheel up and over - trouble is, when revving a little to bring the rear over - you guessed it, when it reached the top of the step, around it came, bike on its side. Ah well, no damage

Now I can see the track ahead of me - ahh, no off-road experience, a 165kg bike with Trailwings and conditions like this:

This is going to be interesting

Well, I made it about half a mile or so I think, through mud, streams, water-filled ruts etc. Gave up when my rear tyre just started enjoying spinning too much - didn't want to burn the clutch out or damage the land too much. Turned it around and paddled back down - didn't drop it on the track at all though! Yay, me!

Doesn't look too dirty, but the area around the swingarm pivot and rear shock was about 3 inches deep in mud and grass

See the rear shock? Or even the swingarm?

Rode it home, decided to buy myself a power washer (B&Q - like Home Depot - were selling off their garden power tools at 20% reduction - bargain!) to clean it all off

All in all a good afternoon - and I may try it again sometime when it's drier (that could take a while on the Isle of Man!)

A map of the route I took:

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