Tenuous Connection to Isle of Man Evokes Memories of Friendships

Day 35, 2025 European Odyssey

Saturday, Aug. 2, 2025; Douglas, Isle of Man.

My love affair with cars started in 2001, when on impulse one evening I bought a car that stole my heart.

It was an Audi TT roadster in Amulet Red, fairly new on the market and pretty limited, so you didn’t see many of them (you still don’t). Everything about the car seemed made for me — the seat, the steering wheel, the gear knob. And it certainly boosted my image more than my eight-year-old Toyota or 20-plus-year-old faded Chevrolet Suburban that left a diesel cloud in its wake (a hand-me-down from my dad who thought I needed something to haul things).

But the best was the group of fellow TTers I met in the early, pre-social media online days. There weren’t many of us. We drove from around the country to meet twice a year – from the mountains of Vermont to Key West, from Las Vegas to Telluride to the Arkansas Ozarks. And chatted nightly on our private network. Yes, it became a cult in the 2000s.

What does this have to do with the Isle of Man, sitting in the Irish Sea between Great Britain and Ireland? This island is known for among other things for its Isle of Man Tourist Trophy motorcycle races, and that’s where Audi got the name and the car’s distinctive Double T logo design.

Frankly, I have no interest in motorcycles, but visiting such a key piece of Audi TT history is a thrill. I’ll be on the Isle of Man twice this summer, so today I started with a ship excursion that drove over part of the historic TT road race course on the way to the seaside fishing town of Peel.

The Isle of Man isn’t only known for its motorcycle race dating back to 1907. Humans have lived here since before 6500 BC. Irish missionaries came around 500 AD, and the island’s people eventually became known as the Manx, with their own Gaelic language. Even today students can attend a Manx-language primary school. Vikings arrived in the 8^th century.

Tynwald, the island’s parliament, has reportedly been meeting for more than 1,000 years and originally represented not only Man, but also the “outer isles” of Lewis and Skye. We stopped in the village of St. John’s at the site of Tynwald’s annual ceremonial meeting. Anyone can come before the assembly to present a petition.

The Isle of Man is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, but not part of the United Kingdom. Residents carry a Manx passport, a type of British passport.

Upon arrival in Peel, we were on our own to tour the House of Manannan, a heritage center in which a mythical sea god took us through the island’s history through exhibits and multimedia shows.

I could have spent a couple of hours there. The highlight was the Odin’s Raven, a replica Viking longship sailed from Trondheim, Norway, to Peel in 1979 to celebrate the millennial of Tynwald.

The exhibits brought home to me the historical connection between the isles of Man, Skye, Lewis, the Orkneys, the Shetlands and a good amount of Scotland’s west coast. I’ve visited all these islands now, as well as Oban on the mainland. They all share a Gaelic, Norse, Scandinavian, Scottish and English history.

Now that Holland America has a partnership with the History Channel, I would love to see a cruise that delves deeper into this area. Unfortunately, it would probably have too many tender ports for most passengers.

Peel’s charming inner harbor full of docked sailboats caught my attention when I noticed that its water level was much higher than that of the outer harbor. Obviously, it was low tide. Boats can only pass through at high tide when the swing bridge opens. When the tide starts to fall, a gate closes to maintain the water level in the inner harbor and keep the boats floating.

Peel Castle was built by Norwegians on the grounds of a Celtic monastery in the 11^th century. Its outer walls remain intact, but I didn’t have time to explore. I barely had time to walk along the promenade lined with guest houses and small hotels. I saw a few cats, but none had the Manx cat’s telltale sign of a missing tail.

I bought a distinctive Isle of Man flag with its three legs to fill a hole in my collection. The symbol is everywhere – even on the latte foam of the local coffee shop.

We’ll be back to the Isle of Man in early September, and I am debating whether to take an independent tour to the Motor Museum, complete with a circuit of the almost 40-mile TT course. I probably won’t, and there’s enough to do here to fill several visits. I’ve made the TT connection and the motorcycle focus isn’t really of interest. But just being here evokes wonderful memories of that great car and the lifetime friendships with fellow TT owners.