Returned from holiday yesterday to a pile of post, including the July edition of ‘Let’s Talk’ magazine. ‘Let’s Talk’ is an East Anglian publication, mainly concerned with memories of the area, but they have an annual short story competition and feature one of the winning stories every month.
This month one of my stories was chosen!
If you would like to read the whole story, without getting a copy of the mag, click on My Creations, where lots of my stories can be found.
We stayed in a B & B in Machynlleth last night and set off home after a lovely breakfast.
We stopped briefly at Aberystwyth beach.
We drove to Llandrindod Wells and went to the National Cycle Museum.
We were particularly interested in seeing their collection of Pedersen bikes, originally designed and produced in Dursley.
We carried on through Herefordshire, stopping for lunch at a garden centre, attended by lots of scarecrows!
Another holiday over! Let’s hope it’s not too long before the next one.
Hope you have enjoyed sharing our journey,
After a comfortable night in our room at Bangor University we woke up to a lovely view of Anglesey from our bedroom window.
We travelled on the Welsh Highland Railway from …
… to ….
It was an amazing trip through stunning scenery.
We had a picnic by the stream at Beddgelert, then back on the train again.
Slow drive home tomorrow, through Wales,
Carol
Our last day on the island.
As our ferry was not leaving until 3pm we managed to fit in a visit to the Laxey Wheel, and Peel Castle, both opening to the public this morning for the first time in months.
The Laxey Wheel is the largest water wheel in the world. It was designed to pump water from underground so that the miners could work safely.
Peel Castle was originally built in the 11th century by Vikings.
After lunch we headed back to Douglas to board the catamaran, Manannan, back to Liverpool
Our stay on the Isle of Man was over, but after dinner with family in Wallasey, we drove to Bangor in Wales to continue our travels.
Carol
We were up and away early this morning ready for our boat trip around The Calf of Man. When we arrived at Port St Mary we received a text from Steve to say that the trip had been cancelled due to the wind! We went to the breakwater to see the boat and met Steve there. He and his father have been doing trips in the same boat for 40 years.
We drove to the Calf of Man, and it was, indeed, very windy!
We carried on to Douglas and saw the Grandstand at the starting point of the Isle of Man TT (Tourist Trophy) motorbike races. The race covers 37 miles of public roads, with bikers doing average speeds of 135 miles an hour! The race has not taken place for two years due to Covid.
After lunch in Douglas we drove to St John’s to see Tynwald Hill. The word Tynwald is of Viking origin, meaning Parliament field. On 5th July every year the Manx Parliament meet here and new laws are claimed. This parliament is over 1000 years old and is the oldest parliament in the world with an unbroken existence.
We drove back to Peel and sat by the beach with an ice cream.
Later, in the evening, we went back to the beach.
The sand was absolutely covered in scallop shells.
Tomorrow is our last day on the island …… but not the last day of the holiday!
More to come,
Carol
We had a drive across the hills seeing some of the sights we glimpsed from the tram yesterday.
We watched the bridge swing open.
We had lunch overlooking the bridge, then drove to Laxey. Due to Covid the Laxey wheel has been closed to visitors until now. Today it was open for a private group but on Friday it opens to the public, so we will be back!
Tomorrow is our last full day on the island. Fingers crossed for a calm day tomorrow!
Carol
Although today dawned very foggy we stuck with our plan and drove through the fog across the hills to Douglas. We got on a tram on the Manx Electric Railway to the end of the line at Ramsey, 17 miles of stunning scenery.
After a light lunch at Ramsey we got the tram back to Laxey, roughly half way back.
At Laxey we got the Snaefell Mountain Railway to the highest point on the island.
It turned out to be a beautiful day after a cold and misty start at 13°, ending up a sunny and warm 24°.
More to come …
Carol
Today started off a bit showery so we drove to Castletown to visit Castle Rushen, one of Europe’s best preserved mediaeval fortresses. The spiral stone staircases are worth the climb for the views at the top!
The rooms contained sights and sounds (but thankfully not the smells) of castle life!
We drove back to Peel and had a lovely lunch in ‘The Creek’ pub by the harbour.
After lunch we popped across the road to The House of Manannan, an interactive museum that uses video, audio and authentic recreations to bring the island’s Celtic and Viking history to life (and this one did include smells!).
Tomorrow looks to be a lot brighter so we will be off up Snaefell.
Hope you are enjoying the photos
Carol
We drove to the northernmost tip of the island – Point of Ayre. We couldn’t go on the pebble beach as the Arctic terns were nesting.
Then we continued on to Ramsey, the second biggest town on the island.
We went to Groudle Glen, a popular Victorian destination, with a lovely walk down into the Glen, followed by a short trip on a little steam train to Sea Lion Rocks.
Sea Lion Rocks station at the end of Groudle Glen
This morning we drove to Port Erin to catch the steam train to Douglas.
We used our ‘Go Explore’ tickets which allow unlimited travel on all trains and buses for a period of 5 days.
At Douglas station we saw the platform for Isle of Man pupils of Hogwarts.
We visited the Manx Museum before getting the train back to Port Erin.
We had a drive to the southern end of the island, pausing to allow a herd of cows to go past!
A smaller island, the Calf of Man, is situated at the southern tip. More about this later in the week hopefully.
Back at our cottage we had time for a laze in the hot tub before dinner.
More tomorrow,
Carol
