After us going to going to Venice in April, I asked Ann, where she fancied going for a week in the School Summer Holidays in July/August… Ann said, “why don’t we have a week in the Isle of Man”…
Well, we both went to the IoM, when we were in our teens (separately, as I didn’t know Ann then)… and so we thought we’d give it a go… so I booked a week in the Best Western Palace Hotel, on the promenade in Douglas… So on a rainy day in July, we boarded the ferry at Liverpool down on the River Mersey, and sailed off across the Irish Sea, to the Island…
It was raining when we arrived at the ferry terminal in Douglas, so we got a taxi to the hotel, booked in and unpacked… by the time we came out the weather was bright and sunny, so we decided to travel up the prom in a horse drawn train/carriage in order to catch one of the steam trains to Laxy… where we boarded another ‘classic’ mountain railway carriage…
On the top of Mt. Snaefell, (the highest point of the IoM) the clouds were down so it was shrouded in mist… we called in at the Moutain Cafe, for a bowl of soup and some chips… gawd it was freezing…lol. However, every now and then, the mist would part, allowing brief views down the mountain. The Island were running a WW2 exhibition at various points around the Island, and I was pleased to see one of the exhibits, was a mock crashed Spitfire at the top of Snaefell.
During the next few days, we visited places all over the Island, and the weather was generally good. Although we never knew at the time of booking, the week we were there, just happened to be the IoM ‘Transport Festival’ week, when they roll out all their antique transport stock… well no need to say, but the Island was full of ‘Train Spotters’… it all added to the week lol. a couple of days, we caught the steam train to Port Erin, and a short walk to the harbour, to see Milner’s Tower overlooking the bay.
Another high point was our frequent visits to Laxey, usually to change trains to go on to Castletown or Ramsey, however one hot day we decided to visit the Laxey Wheel, before lunch in the village… The wheel, used to pump excess water from the mineral mines deep under the Island and into the local river to the sea… No mining takes place now, but the water still has to be pumped out of the mines deep below Laxey..
On our last full day on the Island, we visited Cregneash, a museum village overlooking the Calf of Man, the weather had deteriorated and the mist was down… however, we managed to get a glimpse of the elusive ‘Manx Cat’… a breed which through a genetic mutation, is born without a tail. I gather they are getting rarer these days, from breeding with normal cats, and so the pure breed manx, may well die out in time.
Although in the 40 years, since Ann & I went to the Isle of Man last… The Island seems to have changed relatively little in the passage of time, we both agreed that a return trip will be on the cards, in the near future, to have another go… lol.