As some of you may be aware this road is part of the TT circuit and has bikers fling their way round at horrendous speeds.

The mountain road has no beginning and end as such (it is part of the A18), but as you can imagine it rouglhy starts at the bottom of the mountain, goes over the top and stops at the bottom on the other side. For the purposes of what I'm describing, we'll say it starts at the junction of the A18 and the Creg-ny-Baa back road - the nasty corner with the Creg-ny-Baa pub on it and ends just after Ramsey Hairpin.

If you are travelling away from Douglas up the road, it is a gentle incline up towards the mountain, with lovely scenery to be viewed of manx sheep and fields. Then we have some interesting turns as we approach the top of the mountain - and this is where the fun starts.

The last time I was over there, there was some nutter in a Golf GTI hammering it around the bends doing about a ton round the bends and overtaking everything in sight. I thought we were pushing in at 70. As I say at this point you are near the summit - either side of the roads are some steep sides that end in deep valleys. It's very easy to imagine falling down the side and bursting into flames. The other scary point is that there are no crash barriers. All that stands between you and plungey doom is a fence constructed of three foot wooden posts with wire runing between them.

It is a fun drive though, providing you are sensible, that you can test the car out with. The only drawback is if you catch up with another car as 80% of the locals travel at 45mph whether they need to or not! You can overtake, but until you get used to the road it may be wiser to hang back.

Of course, the other thing to watch out for is the weather. If it's icy, normally they DoT shut the road off so you can't get up there, but not if it's foggy. Bombing along at 75 and then driving into solid grey is not fun, bearing in mind there either aren't any cat's eyes or they're incredibly poor so you end up navigating by the striped shoulder at the side of the road.

Still if it's sunny and clear it's excellent! Also there is no upper speed limit for national speed limit zones, but although you cannot be pulled by the police for speeding, you can be pulled for dangerous driving (as in not driving to the conditions of the road). However most of the time you're lucky to see a police car outside of Douglas.

Near the summit is the Bungalow station - there is a level crossing next to it that has no barriers.

Going down the other side of the mountain is fairly steady with the odd sharp bend, but the real clincher is the aptly named Ramsey hairpin, just as you come into Ramsey. Those unprepared may find themselves in trouble.

All the way through the scenery is nice, and near the summit you can stop at the Bungalow and catch the electric train up to the summit and have a wander (only in peak times for trains) or if you fancy yourself as fit you can walk up the steep path. A few yards up from the Bungalow is the old Moore's Museum, which is now closed, but has a nice mural on the wall and a statue/memorial to Joey Dunlop.

There are a few pull-ins along the way as well if you want to get out and take some photos or simply admire the view.

All in all it's a nice drive for testing your car or simply ambling along and if you go to the Isle of Man you're bound to go over it at some point!

Edited 15 June, 201016 yr by Yunalesca

Well what can i say, apart from the fact that I have taken it flat out and lived to tell the tale