The Isle of Man for Happy Holidays

 Not to be confused with the Isle of Wight where Queen Victoria went on happy holidays, we went to the Isle of Man for a few days away from the multiple stress factors in our lives currently. We chose to go after the TT week had finished as I don't like group riding. This is an interesting place to visit and it's ' not in the EU

Let the high speed cat take the strain -  It's less tha a  3 hour crossing  from Liverpool to Douglas. The island is in the middle of the Irish Sea and about 2/3rds of the way to Northern Ireland

An eclectic collection of vehicles waits at the Liverpool dock

On board the Manannan, a Tasmanian built catamaran made exclusively from aluminium

The author pointing in a scouse like fashion at the Liver birds.

Here we are on the approach Douglas, the main port on the Isle of Man

It was not raining and was too early to check in at the hotel, so we went on a tour of the south of the island. 

First stop - the aviation museum - a timely poke in the ribs from Mrs N. indicated that we should not stop long. I like the three legs on the tail fin.

Here we are at  the Calf of Man

This is the bike just in case you wondred how we got there!

The proverrbial cappuccino and at least one gluten free cake.

We did not exactly get a sea view at our Douglas sea front hotel

Nestling behind road works, we discovered this lava cooking restaurant

Queenies!  Scallops!

The cooking is diy on a hot lava rock

Evening stroll along the Douglas sea front

A manx cat of sorts

Our hotel is there somehwere

Octopus garden

Mrs N may have  spotted a siberian hampster but is not allowed to say *** due to local superstition

The Manaman sneaks in to port

The horse drawn trams run every 20 minutes along the promenande

I recall my humorous elementary French motorists phrase book "mon postiilion a abeille frappé par la foudre" but keep my mouth shut as the postillion looks distinctly grumpy

A coach blocks the way and the horse staring getting grumpy too - he had to be restarined by the grumpy condusctor

This is not a manx cat - it's a fluffy one

The tide is out and we stroll a bit to buy warm clothing

The electric tram to Ramsey arrives

We are relegated to the open sided trailer which is good as Mrs N can fiddle with the steering wheel.

The Lowry like pin man blows his whistle for departure

We are travelling north on the blue route- the route south in red is hauled by a steam locomotive and we'll do this next year.

This is not Lady Isabella, the great water wheel mine water pump at Laxey but a smaller one used to drive a mill. We were a bit cold and decided to stay on the train to Ramsey.

We took a  quick flick around Ramsey beforer returning to Douglas

The tram or is it a train runs close to the cliffs...

..and cuts frequently across the road

WYSIWYG

This is Snaefell Mountain taken in our hotel lobby but we will go there next year

Our hotel, the Ellan Vannin and an impersonation of the "three legs of (enebriated) man"

We went for a harbour stroll looking for  more queenies

This is the steam train station - a grand affair compared to the Electric Railway

 Dinner:

I forget what all this grub is now.

This is monk fish, and queenies in curry sauce.,

 Post dinner perambulation scenes:

 Early next morning:

Trying to look pleasant at 06:30 in the ferry queue...