An Easter return to the Isle of Man COMPLETED 5/10 About This Page:

[chezp]

Originally Posted by SuperDave

Some nice photos along the sound. That weather was just horrendous at times and especially with the fog! How dare, the weather is uncooperative, especially when you're doing your best to get some good photos!

I know - fortunately it did cooperate for at least some of the weekend....

You're lunch looked quite nice and especially the scallops!

It was lovely.

[lauriep]

It's nice to revisit Castletown with you!

[chezp]

Friday 3 April – part four: look what he’s got in his mouth!

I decided to head outside to look at the views across the Sound, as suddenly it had got a lot brighter, although annoyingly, the wind had got much stronger, so it certainly wasn’t what I’d describe as pleasant out.



I was secretly hoping to get a decent photo of a seal somewhere along the line, and finally I spotted one, zeroed in, and actually I think I did quite well.



Finally my patience had paid off! I got a few more shots, and headed back towards the café, as it was really cold outside, and found the others just about to head outside.

We got a few final shots to prove we had been there…



… and then retreated to the warmth of the car. Thank goodness I’d bought an additional jumper (my Mickey heads one from our most recent Disney trip – some of you may have seen it in that… ) as my goodness, it was pretty cold outside now.

We headed out, and at least now, there were a few more views as we drove along…



… but only for a bit further!



We decided to go and have a look at Port St. Mary, which we’d only seen from across the bay before, so we headed that way.



We stopped at the far end of the town, so I could get out and get some photos…



… then we made our way back through the town and along its beautiful promenade…



Mark spotted that there was parking down by the sea, so he headed down there, and Dave and I got out to have a look at the view. We were both very surprised to find that it was full of stones just by where we were standing – not what we expected at all.



We headed back to the car, and this guy literally flew down right in front of us, and look what he had in his mouth!



We drove a bit further along, but it was a dead end, so we then made our way back out along the promenade…



We made our way over to Port Erin, another place that we hadn’t visited last time, and to be honest, we could see why. Sure, it had a nice enough beach, but it really had the feeling of being a little rundown, which was a huge shame.



We drove a little further along, and I got out to get some photos here – again, I didn’t expect to look down and see this.



Next: are we going to find our hotel?

[Cam22]

Congrats on patiently waiting out the seals as your photos are him are so good! I like the scenery of this area of the Isle of Man. Quite lovely even in less than optimal weather.

[cubfancolleen]

Great shot of the bird with some lunch in his craw!
I loved some of those homes in the second to last town.

[chezp]

Originally Posted by Cam22

Congrats on patiently waiting out the seals as your photos are him are so good!

I like the scenery of this area of the Isle of Man. Quite lovely even in less than optimal weather.

I like the look of it in this weather, although I must confess with what happened later in the trip, I can't help but look at the weather and see the downside to it...

[chezp]

Originally Posted by cubfancolleen

Great shot of the bird with some lunch in his craw!
I loved some of those homes in the second to last town.

It was a beautiful place and I'm glad we finally got to visit it.

[chezp]

Friday 3 April – part five: are we going to find our hotel?

We made our way out of Port Erin, not feeling we’d missed much here, and started to make our way over to Douglas…



On the way, we got another glimpse of the steam train we were supposed to have taken earlier…



We also saw this, which was a bit of a blot on the landscape!



We made our way into Douglas, but the GPS hadn’t been able to find the road our hotel was in, so we tried to tell it to make its way to a nearby road. Well, just as we turned off the road we’d been on, I recognised a name of one of the Chinese takeaways, as I’d been checking out what places were nearby, given we were eating out tonight. I didn’t want to leave Mark’s parents with no food. As soon as I saw that, I realised we’d just driven past the hotel, and Barb had even spotted it, but hadn’t realised it was where we were staying.

Anyway, the GPS confidently told us to turn left, except it was a narrow dead end, so Mark had to reverse back to the main road, at which point he promptly stalled the car twice. It was really not his day with the thing.

We finally found our way back, and I headed inside to ask where we could park, and the owner was certainly very friendly. He explained that he was still cleaning our rooms, but he reassured me that they were both on the first floor, so not too many steps for Barb. He told me he’d need about another half an hour, and asked if we wanted to wait. I said we’d head out for more of a look around Douglas, and off we went. I took the opportunity before we left to get some photos of the dining area where we’d be having breakfast:



We drove along the promenade, but there was more light rain, and getting photos sadly was once again impossible. Mark figured he’d turn around at the sea terminal, and head all the way along the promenade over to the Electric Railway, which we’d be taking the next day, so at least we’d know how to get there. Shortly afterwards, he turned down a coastal road, which gave some neat views back across to Douglas…



Everyone else in the car was busy admiring the properties here, and I have to say they were very nice, although they were on the other side of the road to me, so getting a photo of them wasn’t exactly easy. If you want a look at them, put in Sea Cliff Road, Douglas, Isle of Man on Google Maps and have a look at their street view – it’s a much better set of photos that I could’ve managed.

We made our way back down into Douglas along the coastal road, and now I could actually get some shots as we drove along, as the rain had stopped, and the sun was actually attempting to come out.


Mark managed to find a parking spot, so Dave and I got out and went for a walk, coming across this guy first, who was definitely lording it over everything he could see!



We walked over to the coast, and here the wind was whipping up a bit more. I was once again glad of all my various layers. I got some photos of the views out to sea:



I wanted to post a photo on Facebook, but once again, my phone had died. The last three or four days, it’s needed charging every night, which it’s never needed before, so goodness knows what’s happened to it!

Next: I bet you’d get a good view from there…

[Cam22]

I'm still enjoying the lovely scenery here on the Isle of Man, especially as the sun finally came out. The hotel dining area looks very nice.

[chezp]

Friday 3 April – part six: I bet you’d get a good view from there…

We headed back along the promenade, and as we did, I spotted that there were some cars high above the sea terminal, and I made the comment that I bet you got some good views from there. Well, that was it – Mark was on a mission to find out how to get there. Ok, so it took a few wrong turns, but we got there in the end, and saw some neat sights on the way…



Now I am going to let you look at the photos I took when I got out of the car here, without saying another word. See what you think of them…





Does it look sunny? Well, it was… Does it look warm? Well, it certainly wasn’t. I cannot begin to tell you how windy it was here. I was literally almost blown off my feet a couple of times, something I’ve never really experienced before, the wind was so strong. How I managed to stand up in it and take these photos, I honestly have no idea… but you really wouldn’t have a clue from looking at them, or would you?

We sat in the car for a while and admired the view, which was lovely, and so much better inside the car, away from the wind.



Eventually, we made our way back down into Douglas…



I wanted to try and see the shopping centre, having missed it the last time we were here. I saw a clothes shop that’s long since closed down at home, so I decided to go in there, only Mark had passed it by. Barb wanted to come in with me, but by the time we’d done the round trip to get back there, tiredness had hit her and she was asleep in the car. I headed out on my own, with the warning to “be quick”.

Well, I saw a couple of things I liked, but I wanted to try them on, and I’d promised to be quick. Obviously if I tried it on, I wouldn’t be quick, so I headed back to the car, where everyone told me to go back and try it on – so I did. I liked the dress, but it had pockets, which did look a bit weird on, so I didn’t get that, but I got a nice sleeveless top, which will no doubt be seen in future trip reports whenever we go to warmer climbs.

That done, we headed back to the hotel, and were taken up to our rooms on the first floor. Thank goodness I’d said something and we weren’t any higher, as that was about as many steps as Barb could manage. Mind you, it had been a long day, with lots of exertion, so I wasn’t surprised she was getting tired.

We headed off to have some down time, agreeing to see Dave and Barb in the morning, as we’d be going out for dinner with Carole tonight. The room was Ok, but nothing special, but then again, we hadn’t paid a lot for it…



As we sat there, it started to get colder and colder in there, and at first I couldn’t find the radiator. Of course, we had one, and when I found it, it was staring me in the face. It was up on maximum, but stubbornly refusing to do anything, which wasn’t good. I tried to find the owner to get some help, but there was no answer when I went downstairs and rang the bell. Oh well. Instead, I put the kettle on and had a cup of tea, which helped a bit, then thankfully just after 5:00pm, the radiator came on, and the room started to warm up a bit – phew!

We both grabbed showers and changed before heading out, as I knew that it was a reasonably nice restaurant, shall we say, and I wanted to make a bit of an effort, plus the shower helped to both warm me up and wake me up – double result!

Next: having a great L’Experience!

[disney_duke]

Those pictures do look lovely, especially with the sun. But seeing the waves on the water there, yep - it's definitely a windy day! We go to the beach at Lake Michigan in the summer and I've seen those waves too. Sure looks pretty though!

So cute that Barb fell asleep in the car. Sounds like she was done for the day.

[chezp]

Originally Posted by disney_duke

Those pictures do look lovely, especially with the sun. But seeing the waves on the water there, yep - it's definitely a windy day! We go to the beach at Lake Michigan in the summer and I've seen those waves too. Sure looks pretty though!

So cute that Barb fell asleep in the car. Sounds like she was done for the day.

Pretty much. She usually has a sleep most afternoons these days, as some of the medication she takes makes her tired.

[Cam22]

So worth it to find the road that led to that view! Stunning!

[cubfancolleen]

That was quite a view, but I can only imagine how cold it would be.
You had a full day already - I'd bet most people would need a nap!

[chezp]

Originally Posted by Cam22

So worth it to find the road that led to that view! Stunning!

It was well worth it for those beautiful views.