Rebecca's Blog..: Isle of Man

Firstly apologies for no blog for a while, but we have been on holiday to the Isle of Man.

The reason for picking the Isle of Man was a simple, Scott has always wanted to go and being in Chirk made the journey to Heysham to pick up the ferry very easy.

The Isle of Man is an Island off the coast from the Mainland UK. It is self governing, (apart from foreign affairs and defence) has its own currency, tax system, mobile phone network, car number plates etc. It is almost like going to a foreign country and in many ways it is foreign. In 2006 the population was 80,058 people, of whom 26,218 reside in the island's capital, Douglas.

The countryside around the Isle of Man was slightly disappointing, I felt that it lacked the wow factor of Wales that I have seen, however, the scenery around the coast was dramatic and I must admit at times I was wowed.

Houses range from very expensive (a few million) to cheaper flats. There are some very grey housing estates dotted around the island. Douglas appears to have all the usual shops, however, as the ferry to Liverpool is 2 ½ hours away, islanders go shopping to Liverpool. There is a Tesco’s. M&S, HMV, Boots to name a few high street shops on the Island. The Island also has a cinema and a theatre.

Day One

After an early start and a drive to put Matilda in a cattery we were on our way to Morecambe to stay for a night before embarking on the ferry to Douglas. I had high hopes of Morecombe and choose to stay there as I really wanted to stay in a seaside town.

The journey to Morecambe was about 2 hours along the motorway and we only hit a bit of traffic into Lancaster. We booked ourselves into the Westleigh Guest House which is on the sea front. The hotel was terribly outdated. The carpet was similar to the show house of 1969 at the slate museum and the bathroom was a shocking pink colour. The room was cold and the only redeeming feature was the lovely view of the bay and the mountains beyond which as the sun set gave a fantastic colour over the horizon.

Morecombe itself is very rundown. The beach and sea is very petty, however there were so many shops empty or which could have done with a lick of paint. We walked along the promenade and along the road on the way back. We popped into a amusement arcade which clientele can only be described as people in Jeremy Kyle’s waiting room.

I was very sorry to see how sad Morecombe looked, especially as I would have imagined that it was a bustling and vibrant seaside town. I read that it was thriving in the mid 20^th Century and between 1956 and in 1989 it was the home of the Miss GB beauty contest. Now, apart of the nice views over the bay there is no reason to visit unless you wish to see the statue of John Eric Bartholomew, better known as Eric Morecambe.

View of Morecambe Bay

Statue of Eric Morecambe

Day Two:

We woke up very early Monday morning and saw the frost outside on the cars. The sea and beyond looked lovely and I noted that I have never seen a frosty seaside before. I had a bad night, there was a distance humming noise in the room which kept me awake for a while and the blue light of the standby of the TV was very annoying. I was in the middle of writing my review for the hotel whilst Scott was in the shower when the power went, the whole hotel had a power cut. I went to find someone but only found a stressed and grumpy landlady who did not know what to do. We did go down to breakfast but all we could have was cereal and being so cold I really wanted a coffee. As a refund the landlady gave us £10 to get breakfast elsewhere, which we did in a Weatherspoons.

After breakfast and a walk along the promenade we drove to the port to get to The Isle of Man. The crossing was OK, the seating area was awash with children being half term and by 5pm we went on deck to see the boat cruise into the harbour with a fantastic 180 degree turn at the end. The sailing took 3 ½ hours and apart from the last hour was very calm and pleasant.

As we took the car on the ferry, we were able to drive out of the harbour quite quickly and head to the hotel. The journey was fine, however, we did not realise that the Sat Nav postcode feature did not work on the Island so we had to rely on good old fashioned map reading.

The hotel was lovely, nice room and the best shower ever. It is situated about 20 minutes drive from Douglas in the countryside.As it was late we had dinner in the hotel.

Day Three:

Up again bright and early and headed to Peel, which is a harbour town on the coast. However, it was dead and the only shop open was a charity shop. They had a couple of museums, however, we skipped them and headed to Port Erin to go on the Steam Railway. The weather even though was not raining was damp and cloudy so the views of the countryside were not as dramatic as it could have been.

I dropped my parents at the station to park the car. When I arrived back at the station I saw them chatting intensely with the Station Master. I discovered that he used to work with my Mother at Elal Airlines in their London office. What a small world. He looked after us and we travelled in the first class carriage to Douglas and on our return from Douglas we met him for a coffee where we began chatting about life on the Island.

The steam train took us to Douglas in an hour. It mainly followed the coast stopping at stations along the way. It was a nice way to see the area especially as no one was driving so all could enjoy the view.

We did walk a bit around Douglas to find somewhere to have some lunch, the shopping area could be anywhere, however the seafront however was very nice. After 3 hours in Douglas we took the train back a tad cold and tired. Doughas Bay:

The Steam Train:

Day Four:

Again, up quite early as today was Manx Electric Railway day. We boarded this train at Ramsey and took it to Douglas and return. The tram hugs the East coast with some outstanding views. The journey is 17 miles long and the line began its life in 1893. The tramway winds itself along fields and roads whilst crossing a few roads along the way. The journey was not without incident with a couple of emergency stops and one where a lorry nearly crashed into us.

After lunch (which has been difficult to find a place to eat) we went for a drive in the country. First heading to the most northern tip of the island at its pebble beach followed by a drive over the ‘mountains’, I would be more inclined to call them hills. The vegetation of the mountains reminded me of the mountains around the horseshoe pass and the Berwyn mountains in Wales. Very bleak with heather growning on it. The colours were lovely, browns and greens.

The roads in the Isle of Man tend to be single carriage ways. I did not see any duel carriageways. For some strange reason it’s easy to get lost on the island and take the incorrect road. The island is home to the famous TT races, which is a motorcycle race round the island. The road for the TT is very well marked and one could drive the course if wanted. I understand the island gets very busy round TT time.

View from the tram:

View from the Mountains

Day Five:

Up again very early and drove to the South West tip of the Island to a place called The Sound. It has fantastic views of the Calf of Man, a little island and the sea beyond. There is also a café which makes the most of the views.

After we dropped my parents at the Airport it started to rain so we went back to Peel to one of the island many museums. This museum explores the island Celtic, Viking and Maritime traditions. It was a very interactive museum which kept the interest going.

Once we had lunch in a local pub we drove to The Niarbyl Visitors Centre. In fact the Centre consisted of a TV in the café. The Café is on a cliff over the sea and the wind was gale force. It was so windy. We walked along the cliff which was a little precarious especially as the footpath was very muddy and the wind could have almost blown us over. We did not walk for long I was worried that the fog would set in and we would not be able to find the path back.

After a bit of a drive we arrived back at the hotel and took a stroll along the river near the hotel to the waterfall. The walk, which I thought would only be a short wander, took around an hour and we arrived back at our hotel tired and rested whilst we had a cup of tea and the complimentary biscuits.

The view to Calf of Man