Isle of Man

From Holyehead, Wales, we sailed to Isle of Man, an absolutely MUST visit in the Irish sea. We started from Holyhead in the evening, because then it was perfect wind and the stream was perfect. With good wind we arrived early in the morning in the bay of Castletown and we anchored while it was still dark.

Isle of Man is not UK and it is not EU so we had to go ashore pritty quick to find a simcard for our phones so we could reach the rest of the world 🙂

Here, like everywhere else around UK it is big difference between high and low tide. Luckily there were some stairs to climb on.

Castletown

It was a good place to put our dinghy, only some minutes away from the center of the town. When we came ashore a man stopped us and start talking. He was originally from Canada but he lived on the island. The best thing about coming to UK is; you don`t have to ask people if they speak English!

After a few hours of sleep we tried to reanchor further into the bay, but the other sailboat in the bay took a bouy and we asked if this was private or if we could use it. He said it was okay to use it so we took one before we went ashore. You can see the boats out there. Our dinghy is on the inside of the breakwater on the right side.

We followed the river to the city center.

In a while this place would be totally different with thousands of people!

At the square we finally found internett and there is a Coop store next to it where you can find simcard.

There were many different type of chairs at the square and many people just enjoyed this lovely summerday sitting around and talking.

A little bit further up the river.

And here is the reason we came here: Tin Bath World Championship!!

Some photos around the river waiting for the competition.

Castletown

Castletown

We are ready to watch the Tin Bath World Championship!

They also had different competitions, like here; a zipline where you should try to hit the bathing in the water.

They also had teams paddling with their arms in big tubes, 6 people in each team.

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It is not easy because you are swimming backwards!

Many people were watching!

Then they start paddling in the small tin baths.

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The airport is close to the city.

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Just a little bit of water inside the tin bath….

…..and you will have some serious problems…

Women participated also.

It is easier for you to see this happening in the video from the championship:

The next day was windy and we stayed onboard. But the day after that was beautiful and we sailed to Port St. Mary. The wind the next days would come in another direction and we had to find shelter.

Port St. Mary

We called the harbourmaster and welcomed us to moor outside a workboat in the harbour. We were so happy for that. He came to help us with the lines when we arrived. Because of the difference between low and high tide it could be a challenge to climb up the ladder, but we were safe!

We went ashore and had a walk around in Port St. Mary.

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Over there you can see our boat.

He was not very happy…

They are prepared when it is low tide here. You need a boat that can stay on the ground.

The next day we took the bus to Douglas, the main city on Isle of Man.

Douglas

We took the bus to Derby Castle Station because we had a plan to take the train to the highest mountain. But because of too much wind and some technical issues the train was canceled that day. So we decided to take the train to Ramsey instead.

Derby Castle station

The Manx Electric Railway was built between 1893 and 1899 and connects the Island’s capital, Douglas, with Laxey in the east and Ramsey in the north.

The trip from Douglas to Ramsey is about 27 km long.

And the view from the train is amazing!

There are open and closed carriages and we choosed to sit in an open one onthe way to Ramsey. Well… after a while that was cold!!

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It was nice to see more of Isle of Man from the train.

Ramsey. We didn`t had much time there and it also started to rain, so we quickly went back to the trainstation.

On the way back to Douglas we had a short stop in Laxey to see the Laxey Wheel. It is the largest surviving original working waterwheel in the world. Designed by Robert Casement, the wheel has a 72-foot-6-inch (22.1 m) diameter, is 6 feet (1.8 m) wide and revolves approximately three times per minute. We did not get inside (money money) and it was hard to get a nice photo from where we were.

Here is a video from the trip to Ramsey:

Do you know who was born in Isle of Man? Yes, Bee Gees! Don`t you know who Bee Gees is? It is one of my favouriteband back in 1980 – 1990! They moved to Australia when they were kids and started the band in 1958, many years before I was born. They played until 2003, when one of the three brothers died.

A beautiful promenade in Douglas.

Douglas

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We took the bus back to Port St. Mary in the evening.

The next day it was a beautiful weather and we had to explore the area around Port St. Mary.

Walking up the hill from Port St. Mary.

We had a beautiful view in all directions.

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Cregneash

Our plan was to visit the village of Cregneash. Cregneash is a small village and tourist destination in the extreme south-west of the Isle of Man about 1 mi (2 km) from Port Erin. Most of the village is now part of a living museum run by Manz National Heritage. There are also a number of private homes in the village, but their external appearance is controlled to maintain an older look.

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It was possible to have a look inside many of the houses and in some of them you could meet people who could tell you the history about the place. There were also a nice small cafe.

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In the same house were you buy tickets you will find a small museum upstairs which tells you a lot about this unique place.

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Harry Kelly`s cottage

Inside Harry Kelly`s cottage. This iconic building is named after its last occupant, and was left to MNH upon his death and opened as a museum in 1938. 

We met the young guide Lucas who told us about the cottage and played fiolin for us. (watch the video at the end)

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View to the southernmost part of Isle of Man, and the Calf of Man.

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St. Peters Church

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I will really recommend you to go to Cregneash if you are on Isle of Man. It is so beautiful. We continue our hike up the hill on the left in the photo.

Video from Cregneash:

When we started to walk back to Port St. Mary we found a lot of blackberries and had to pick and taste.

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Cregneash

Green fields and cows.

On the other side of the hill towards Port St. Mary.

It was really nice walking there.

Yellow and purple flowers, it was beautiful!

The name of this area is Chasms and you will find gorges and cliffs, so be aware if you bring kids here.

We stopped by this house and had our lunch. It used to have been a cafe some time but most of it is closed now. Only the left part of the building is open. That was good for us, because even if you see blue skies it suddenly started to rain.

The view towards Port St. Mary`s.

And the view back to the “cafe”.

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It was a beautiful walk back to Port St. Mary.

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Port St. Mary

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The view back to where we came from. Even if the weather was not the best it was a really nice walk. And most of the time it was sun.

Here is the track from Port St. Mary to Cregneash:

The next day we took the bus to Douglas, and hopefully the train to Snaefell would be running. Snaefell is the highest mountain on Isle of Man and you can take the train all the way to the peak. We took the train to Laxey (in Norwegian it would be Lakselv, and we could see many names and words from the Vikings here), and in Laxey we changed to another train up to the mountain. We passed by the Laxey Wheel which I told you about earlier in this post.

The train stopped here and we got some information about the Wheel.

The view up to Snaefell was amazing, and it is a nice way to see more of the island.

Her you can see the Great Snaefell Mine,  also referred to as the East Snaefell Mine, was a zinc mine located high in the Laxey Valley, on the slopes of Snaefell Mountain. The mine reached a depth of 1,188 ft (362 m) and is remembered as the scene of the Isle of Man’s worst mining disaster in 1897.

Miners had finished their shift on 8 May, and the mine was closed on 9 May. Due to inadequate safety measures a stray candle had been allowed to continue burning. This set fire to a nearby pit prop and started a fire in the shaft. The fire continued burning as long as oxygen was present; this produced carbon monoxide, which filled the lower parts of the shaft.

On 10 May at 6 am, 40 miners reported for the early shift, 34 of these were required for the shift, and began descending into the mine using the ladders which were lashed against the side of the shaft. When they reached the lower parts of the shaft, they encountered the poisonous fumes, and immediately had breathing difficulties. They at once began to vacate the shaft. Those at the top got out without too much difficulty, but others arrived at the surface in a state of near collapse, and it soon became apparent that a large number of the miners who had made the descent were unable to return. A rescue party was quickly assembled, but were beaten back by the noxious air.

You can check Wikipedia to read all about this story.

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At the peak at 610 masl. We could take the same train back to Laxey, but decided to have a look around and take the next one. It was cold wind at the top so we were happy going inside the train again. There is a cafe where you can find something to eat.

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From Laxey we took a bus back to Douglas, because the trains were so full. You can by a travelcard for one or three days and then you can travel on all buses and trains on the island. So it didn`t cost any extra for us to take the bus. We went to the supermarket close to the trainstation before we were ready to go back to Port St. Mary. Now it was time to check out the Isle of Man Steam Railway.

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The Steam Railway was opened in 1873 from Douglas to Peel station, and continued in 1874 to Port Erin.

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One of the stations underway, Ballasalla.

We arrived at Port St. Mary and it was time to leave the train. It was a beautiful ride.

And the train was continueing to Port Erin.

A video from the Electric Railway and the Steam Railway:

Our time on Isle of Man was over, the wind turned to southerly and it was time to sail north to Scotland. I was really happy that we could visit Isle of Man, it is a beautiful place. See you next time in our post about Scotland!