Day 3 Snaefell to Ramsey

Today was Tuesday but because the weather forecast for the end of the week was poor Mike and the team decided that we would do Thursday's walk today up to the summit of Snaefell. I opted for the B walk again, 9 miles, and we were dropped off at Bungalow to walk up the steep climb to the summit.

The C party arrived before us as they had come up on the mountain railway from Laxey. There was even a cafe up there but I didn't go in as I don't approve of cafes on mountains!

After posing for the usual photos on the summit and admiring the view of sea all around the island, we set off down to find the Millennium Way. It was quite a clear day and Patrick pointed out the mountains of Mourne in the distance, the clearest he had ever seen them. It felt good to see them as we had walked there on a previous holiday in Northern Ireland. (To see that blog click on 'view my complete profile' at the top of the page and all the blogs I have done are listed there.)
Anyway I digress, back on the Isle of Man we wandered in the wilderness for a bit before finding the path we were looking for. It was developed to celebrate the Manx Millennium in 1979, the 1000th anniversary of the establishment of Tynwald, the island's parliament.

It was a tricky little path, not very well walked and some steep downs and ups of course. And what on earth was Frank doing here?

He had found the signpost lying on the ground and was trying to restore it to its proper position. Eventually we managed to cross the heather, bog and streams and made our way to Sky Hill and then down into Ramsey.The A party had already finished their walk and were joined by most of the B party outside the pub for a celebratory drink.

I had a wander round and here are a few things in Ramsey that you might not have seen.

Traditional hardware store

Patrick, Sheila and Anne Abel took a different route off Snaefell and these are a couple of Sheila's photos.

Day 2 Port Erin to Castletown

We awoke to bright sunshine and after a good breakfast set off on the coach to Port Erin to do the B walk around the coast to Castletown. The schedule said 11 miles and 600 ft of climbing and who am I to query it!
I must be getting old as all the walks felt longer.

We didn't get to see much of Port Erin on this visit as we set off along the coastal path towards the Calf of Man.

Stuart was leading the B walk and excelled himself in providing a loo, a cafe and entertainment from seals at lunch time. A lovely spot to relax before continuing along the coastal path towards Port St Mary. I've done a lot of coastal path walking in the last few weeks and this was among  the best although there were lots of ups and downs.

We passed the Chasms, an area of deep fissures that looked rather dangerous to walk through, but we didn't have time to take a closer look. There is more information if you follow this link. (All the words in blue lead to more information if you click on them)

Soon after we arrived at Port St Mary where we inspected the Dunkirk Memorial and then walked down to the harbour and along the sea front to the other side of the bay.

At this point the group split into two as some walked around the headland into Castletown and the rest finished the walk along the road. Although road walking is generally rather boring, this time it was flanked by a sea of pink Valerian and was rather beautiful.

Thanks to Anita's forward planning we found a real ale pub and sat outside on the quayside having a well earned drink before catching the coach back to Douglas. Great weather and a splendid walk for the first day of the holiday.

Day 1 Bradford to Douglas

At last the club had got enough people interested in visiting the Isle of Man. We couldn't go with our own JAK travel this time but we were very lucky to be transported by Jef (with a J and one F) from Alfa travel who visits the Isle of Man 19 times a year so had a lot of local knowledge. We also had Patrick on board who has been going to the island since the 1950s and has seen it in all weathers!
We set off from Bradford at 9.00 am picking up a few people along the way and arrived in Heysham Village at lunch time. 

We had made good progress so had plenty of time to eat our lunch and look around before it was time to board the Isle of Man steam packet the Ben-my-Chree. (Woman of my heart) 
The weather had been very windy the day before we sailed so I was a bit apprehensive about the crossing but it had calmed down a lot thankfully and the boat was very stable. I spent the whole crossing outside on deck in the fresh air and don't know how many times I had to answer the question 'have you been here all the time?' Well yes I had and no I wasn't cold. Here's a clip of what it could have been like!

The voyage took about three and a half hours although by the time we had passed all the wind farms you could already see the Isle of Man on the far horizon.

We arrived just after 5.30 after a complicated manoeuvre in the harbour to turn the ship around. I got some photos of this on Day 4. It didn't take us long to reach our hotel, The Hydro, on the northern end of Douglas seafront. Our luggage was transported to our rooms while we had an early dinner before finding out which of the five floors we would be on. Yes of course you guessed it, I was on the fifth floor sharing with Anita. 79 steps up. There was a lift of course but we didn't use it. A curiously shaped room but it had a sea view and a bath so no complaints.

We finished the day with a walk along the seafront and around the town to get our bearings before unpacking and sinking into bed.