Isle of Man 2014

Hi everyone


Mathew and I have been on our annual Birthday Holiday, this year we went to the Isle of Man which we have never visited before!  I hope you enjoy my journal below, and here's the link to the photo album!

https://picasaweb.google.com/105628058638963280461/IsleOfManOctober2014


Love, Siobhan xx

Saturday 11th October

We left just after 9am heading towards Heysham to get our ferry.  The roads were relatively free flowing and the weather started off really quite foggy, but by 11am I t was clear and we arrived at a service station where I had a coffee and Mathew had his second breakfast of a toasted cheese, onion and sausage sandwich which I had a couple of bites of too.  Not bad!  We shared a small bakewell before we moved off.

The journey was uneventful, until we got to Heysham where the roadworks went a bit crazy and we headed off in the wrong direction, turned around rather clumsily in a McDonalds car park because it was much smaller than anticipated, but we got there in the end, and we were in the queue for the ferry at 12:30.  Come 1pm we started heading off....into the secondary queue for the ferry.  Lots of hairpin bending going on here to get onto the ferry, including on the ferry itself.  We were soon aboard and heading up the the decks to have a wander around.  We sat outside on the deck and had our lunch where the sun was shining and it was really quite warm.  Most people were inside the ferry buying and eating their lunch.

By the time we had finished our lunch the ferry was ready to depart, and we stayed on deck before the land was a speck in the distance and we went inside to find a seat - we figured there wouldn't be much to see on the way but the water!  Once seated, Mathew pulled out his book and I my National Geographic.  An hour into the journey I noticed something outside so I popped out to see -  a seemingly endless army of turbines calmly rotating in the wind.  After taking a photo I went back inside to tell Mathew who promptly went out to look, at the same time the ferry turned around the wind farm which I'm guessing would have got me a few good angles and a pretty good shot!  As soon as Mathew returned I went out again and took another photo, not sure how it would look when I get them on the PC at home. 

There were TVs on the ferry, and the one just above me was showing the Great British Bake Off Final, so I thought I'd watch it.  I don't watch it regularly and I already knew who won, but it was fun to watch (with subtitles) and it passed the time.  After it ended we were told we would be in the Isle of Man in half an hour.  We got out the Ordnance Survey map and Mathew showed me which route we were taking to get to our holiday cottage.

In the car waiting to move off the ferry, I called the cottage contact to let them know we'd just arrived, as they would be greeting us when we got there. Off the ferry and rolling out into Douglas, the first thing we noticed was all the Victorian buildings on the seafront - possibly a mixture of hotels and private residences.  The other thing which was very noticeable was how clean they all were - a fresh mixture of white and cream.  Overall it was very pretty and it didn't look dull or drab at all.  The sun shining on them probably added to their brightness!  Driving through Douglas there were yet more of these three storey Victorian buildings, and in general - even though we didn't stop off there - our first impressions were that it looked a very nice little town.

But we couldn't stop - we had to get to our cottage which was up on the north side of the island.  The first thing we did was.....turn the wrong way! We quickly righted ourselves (not quite as bad as Heysham) and we were well on our way.  We cut right across the centre of the island as it was the most direct route, and as it happened, it gave us a rather nice preview of the island landscape.

We had rolling hills in the south, more mountainous hills in the centre, and by the time we were in the north of the island, it had really flattened out!  A real mixture of everything so it seems, and we know that the island has lots of Glens to explore, so we'll be looking for the ones which are recommended.  To be honest it was more hilly than I thought, and the island in general is bigger than I thought it would be too, as it takes 50 minutes to get from the north to the south of the island.

Finally we arrived at Ballacamaish Cottages.  We were taken into ours which was Harvest Cottage.  It was Part of a converted barn, our cottage used to be a milk parlour.  It was done up really nicely, spacious and clean, and actually catered for 4 people.  It was comfortable and bright and we settled in quickly.  The only problem was that we were told by the owner that they've been having some issues with flies - just normal flies, which seemed to accumulate in the master bedroom in the late afternoon.
  
We unpacked, sat down and had some tea (how very British!) before having some dinner.  And of course, we made it in time so I could watch Strictly Come Dancing!

Sunday, 12th October

Waking up without an alarm is one of the best things!  Today was Mathew's Birthday. After breakfast, we sat down and Mathew opened his presents - DVDs, gift cards, books, a t-shirt, jellybeans and fudge.

We decided to do a walk today, on the south end of the island.  We made our way south to Castletown and headed west right to the point.  We parked literally just in front of the Calf of Man which is a nature reserve.  We even saw some seals in the water before setting off for our walk. Our route took us north up to Port Erin, where we turned inland and headed south towards Cregneash.  The path was not too muddy, gravelly and stony, good enough to get a good grip.

The view was fantastic - we could see seals on the rocks below, plenty of cormorants flying above, and the rocks were pretty dramatic, looming over us in some areas, forming small 'smugglers coves' in others.  The only downside was the gorse - generally it was fine but there were a few places where it got pretty close and prickly and in one place shoulder height (for me at least), but not for too long, thankfully!

We stopped off in Port Erin and had our lunch on the beach.  It was really hot in the sun but really rather cold in the shade so there was no happy medium!  Port Erin seemed like quite a nice little town, again with clean, white or cream Victorian buildings and terraces on the seafront.

Setting off again, we headed to Cregneash and we stopped off at a small stone circle on the way, known as 'Mull Stone Circle' - and it was actually a circular formation of six cist burials, not your average stone circle!  This was certainly not something we have seen before!  We continued on to the top of the hill where we passed through the remains of a WW2 radar station before going down the other side of the hill to stop off at Cregneash Folk Museum.  This was a tiny 'village' made of houses which would have been used years ago, such as a smithy, a joiners, a church, a small farm, and several cottages belonging to notable people.  We had a little listen to the original Manx language which has a very Gaelic sort of sound, and I haven't been able to pin down a sort of accent when people speak English - there seems to be lots of things like Liverpudlian, Cornish, Welsh, Irish, Scottish....perhaps we haven't heard many people speaking just yet though, we have only been here for 1 day!

After Cregneash we continued on with the walk on the southern part of the coast which is known as Spanish Head.  Before we went along this though, we went down a hill at the end of which there was a building with the word 'Chasms' on it.  In the field, there was a signpost saying "The Chasms and Spanish Head".  When we got to the building we weren't quite sure what it used to be, possibly a cafeteria or something similar.  There were still seats in a sheltered area around the back of the building, but in front on the coast there was a fenced off area which was known as "The Chasms".  A fairly dangerous area really, basically full of what can only be described as large crevasses in the rocks going all the way down to the water below, all very long and very deep. Some quite narrow so you could hop across them, others too wide to consider crossing - and all covered in grass, gorse and heather.  There were a few safe paths which had been created so people could make their way to the cliff edge but I didn't want to get too close to the edge and I didn't like Mathew getting too close either!!  The best I can describe the rocks at this point, is that they were very similar to the limestone pavements of the 'Burren' on the west coast of Ireland, but without all the flowers and on a smaller scale.

Making our way out of the 'danger zone', we continued on to the Spanish Head and made our way back round in a loop to the car park where we began our walk.  I have to admit that the first part of the walk was more spectacular, but this circular walk we thought was a very nice walk indeed.  On the Spanish Head, there was a lot of low gorse and heather mixed in with each other, and quite a bit of bracken too.  The path offers sea and cliff views, but they're not quite as dramatic as what we saw this morning.  Very picturesque though.

Finally back at the car, we hopped in and made our way back to the cottage.  That evening, I watched the Strictly results show and Mathew made a delicious roast dinner for us both including fabulous roast potatoes!  We then devoured a slice of raspberry and white chocolate cheesecake which we had brought with us especially.  Happy Birthday Mathew!

We ended the evening by first going outside to admire the stars without the lights on in the cottage - so dark we could actually see the Milky Way properly!  We tried taking photos and failed, although my battery decided to die on me so I had to put it on charge for a while before trying again and failing miserably.  So we gave up had a cup of tea and watched a DVD instead!

Monday, 13th October

We had a leisurely breakfast this morning.  Mathew told me he'd 'pinged' his back again just by bending over to open the dishwasher.  He'd done it before the holiday but it was fine by Saturday and also fine yesterday.  As we had done quite a lot yesterday, we had decided to do something more relaxed today anyway.  We had unusually come on this holiday with no itinerary whatsoever, so we sat down and had a look at a few things and we quickly rustled one up - mainly because Mathew asked me what I wanted to do on my Birthday on Wednesday.

We set off to Castletown again on the south end of the island.  We parked up and went into Castle Rushen which was just a stones throw away from where we parked.  It was quite large but inside, most rooms were quite small.  The courtyard featured a figure of a pasty looking man on some scaffolding repairing things - and I'm not talking about a real man, this was a mannequin!  We watched a short film on the history of the Castle which I'm quite sure was narrated Brian Blessed, before going on to investigate the rest of the castle.  It was done quite well as we went up a spiral staircase and stopped off at rooms along the way.  One had a mannequin in the garderobe (!), others had details on food, furniture, and the history of the castle in general.

It had a mixture of things going on, as the Castle was used differently at different times, originally being built for a Norse King, it was used as a fortress, a royal residence, a mint and last of all, a prison.  Quite eclectic!  The largest rooms were the Medieval banquet hall in which there was a large painting of the Battle of Bosworth (yes, HE appeared again!), a private dining room, a Main Hall and a reception room leading to the Treasury.  It was fun to explore, And once we had left we had to go and move the car.  We went for a walk around Castletown, which I had read about online and in the leaflets which we had in the cottage.  It was down as one of the best places for shopping on the island - of course I was thinking of lots of independent shops, not necessarily touristy, but a nice little market town sort of place.  Unfortunately it seems the recession has taken its toll here - walking along the two streets which had been designated 'shopping area' we came across a couple of shops such as a gallery and one gift shop, plenty of cafes, bit very little else.  We could see where there had been lots of small shops and I am sure at one time it probably was quite a busy place.  But now, it's quite empty.  Not run down, just....empty.  Only the essentials such as supermarkets, chemists and banks.

We popped into a tearoom to have some lunch - we both had a Ploughmans which was very nice - it came with pickled onions, Branston pickle and onion marmalade, Manx ham and Manx mature cheddar.  The ham was very nice, as was the cheese, although this cheddar was really very mild in taste and slightly creamy in texture (I love my cheddars....!).  After paying I discovered that I had been given two 20p pieces with a picture of Castle Rushen Clock on the tail side (I was wondering if I would get any interesting coinage as change while I was here!).

We decided to have a relaxing afternoon.  We drove to the southernmost point of the island, a promontory called Langness.  We first made our way to the top of the promontory which is called St. Michaels Island.  There were ruins of an old fort and battery here, alongside those of an eleventh century chapel.  The rocks on the coastline were rough and jagged, a bit of a miniature Scottish sort of coastline really.  We walked around for a while on here - it was very windy today but it was dry and sunny.

We then made our way south to Dreswick Point, making our way through a golf course to get there and walking around to the lighthouse, the surrounding buildings of which are now rented out as holiday cottages, apparently 4-star!  Walking back round to the car, we made our way back to the cottage for a nice cup of tea and a slice of fruitcake.

Tuesday, 14th October

This morning we made our way to Maughold where we stopped to look in a cemetary which had a 'shelter' containing a number of stone crosses.  Most had celtic knot type patterns on, one in particular seemed to have runes, something which looked like Ogham (seen in Orkney) and a picture of a Viking ship.  We walked through the cemetary and up part of Maughold Head - I stopped halfway whilst Mathew went up to the top, although when he came back down he said the view wasn't that much different!  Coming back down, we walked around the rest of the cemetary before returning to the car and making our way to Ballaglass Glen. 

Ballaglass Glen is one of the many Glens on the Isle of Man, although they're not huge they're certainly worth visiting.  This Glen was very nice, with the water rushing through the centre of it forming a mixture of waterfalls and babbling streams,.  The footpath was uneven but stable, covered in tree rots and nuts from the trees along with their leaves which had turned brown and crisp.  just a couple of patches I had to be careful because of too many nuts rolling underneath my feet!  The path went along both sides of the Glen however, there were parts of it which we couldn't walk because of fallen trees and work being done to repair the pathways.  It was a shame as it would have been rather nice to walk along the other side, but we did get a few nice views of the water, and we also came across a Wizard carved out of wood, standing next to a tower of books and holding one called 'Fairy Tales'.

Finally we went on to the Great Laxey Wheel where we had our lunch before exploring.  The wheel is huge - very impressive!  After we had lunch, we went to explore.  we walked along the side of the Wheel which took us on the 'Mine Trail' and had a number of information boards along the way.  So Laxey Wheel (or Lady Isabella) was constructed in 1854 and pumped the water out of the mines beneath.  Water powered, the Wheel even has its own 'rod viaduct' on which there are evenly spaced wheels to move it up and down, on small tracks which are there just for the run of the wheel - not all the way along.

The trail took us up first to the cistern which powers the wheel, then on to the engine house and right at the end the compressor house.  In this area also was an old mine shaft known as the Welsh Shaft, the engine of which came second hand from Aberystwyth (possibly hence the name).  There was a genius invention of a lift down the shaft which was coutner weighted by a bucket of rocks, possibly ore from the mining which cut the time down which the men would have spent getting in then out of the mines.  Of course these are closed off now, but it was pretty interesting reading about how it all worked!

The trail continued to take us around the ruins, until we were back on track for returning to the Wheel, walking right by the side of the rod viaduct and underneath it to a mine entrance, which wasn't far underground but we needed a hard hat to have a look inside.  finally it was time to climb the Wheel - a spiral staircase up the back led us to a viewing platform, having seen quite a lot of the mechanics on the way up.  I took a couple of videos as a photo of the wheel at the top doesn't really do it justice...!

 
Back down again, it was time to leave.  Back in the car, we headed home via Ramsey as we had to stop off and buy some food for the rest of the week.  Ramsey had a lot more shops than Castletown, however I would say the majority of these shops are practical - hardware, food, pharmacy - yes there were a few cafes also and at least three gift shops.  There seemed to be quite a bit of renovation going on here so perhaps this town is on the up.  There were a few empty slots where small shops would have worked  but on the whole Ramsey was a nice little town with a working harbour, although not a particularly touristy place.

After finding a supermarket we did our shop and we were home by 4pm for tea and cake.

Wednesday, 15th October

It was my turn today to open presents! Happy Birthday to me!!  Chocolate, recipe books, socks, a sun hat, two scarves, a DVD and of course the obligatory teddy bear amongst other things!

First off we went to Glen Mooar.  The wind had been howling for most of the night and it was still pretty windy out there today.  It was grey and overcast, threatening to rain but none fell.  it was a short walk through Glen Mooar as most of it was actually cut off due to trees falling down in the high winds, however there was a trail still open to access the waterfall which we phad come to see.  The wind was so strong that we couldnt actually define the sound of rushing water!  The waterfall is called Spooyt Vane which means White Spout, and it is the highest waterfall on the Isle of Man, and apparently the most photographed too.

We made our way back to the car and thought we could feel a few spots of rain, but nothing came of it.  Onward we went to Peel where we drove along the waterfront which was very pleasent - not crisp white Victorian terraces, but still very well kept buildings, possible Georgian.  The harbour which was chock full of boats!  We also had a great view of the castle from here, combining with the grey overcast sky it made it look very moody!

We walked along to the Castle and in we went with our audio guides.  We dont usually go for audio guides much but this one was pretty decent, we didn't have to do anything in any particular order, and each part lasted no longer than 1 minute.  The Castle was originally built by Vikings, later used as a fortification in the late 19th century and it situated on St Patricks Isle which is connected to the mainland by a modern causeway.  Within the Castle grounds are also ruins of the Cathedral St German including the crypt.

One interesting thing about this Castle is that it is said to be haunted by a large black dog known as Moddey Dhoo.  There were a number of stories about it being seen at sunrise and sunset in almost every part of the castle.

Leaving the Castle, we walked around Peel looking for some lunch.  It struck us that Peel - although very pleasent with is small windy streets - doesnt seem to have much of a town centre going on.  Shops are not all in one place, they seem to be spread out and there aren't a great deal of them to be honest.  There wasn't much in the way of eateries either, so we went straight to The House of Mannanan and ate in their cafe.  We had simple sandwiches (I went for a toastie) and they had Twinings Redbush Tea which was great so I went for that!  But our sandwiches came with a chunky salad in balsamic vinegar dressing and it was really nice!  I couldn't resist something sweet - as it was my Birthday - so I went for some millionaire’s shortbread which was just yummy.  I thought about having the white chocolate version but I decided to stick with he milk chocolate one, mainly because I didnt want to have to leave some because it was too sweet.  It was a decent sized piece, so perhaps I might try a white chocolate version when I can have a smaller slice...!

Moving on, we went around the corner into the House of Mannanan.  we walked through some double doors and we had a number of rooms in which there was either a scene played out by mannequins or a video on a loop - or both in some cases.  Information was very simplified and the videos looked a little dated, but in general it was quite a fun little museum which I would say is definitely worth visiting.  There were a few interactive things to do as well which were also quite fun, especially as we were literally the only people there!

After the story of the Viking settlers, we went through an exhibition which was set out like a ship and a shipyard, which basically told the story of fishing, a nautical history of the Island and a short history of the Island's "Steam Packet Company" which still runs today - we sailed over with them.  We stopped off at the shop which was the most touristy / gifty shop we had seen on this holiday so far, so I took advantage of it and bought the majority of my souvenirs there including a gift for myself of a box of truffles from the Manx Fudge Factory.  I thought I deserved it as it was my Birthday!

Back outside in the wind which seemed to be getting stronger, we went for a little walk up Peel Hill as Mathew wanted to take a photo of the castle from there.  Done, we went back to the car and returned to the Cottage where we had a nice cup of tea and Mathew had a slice lf cake whilst I tucked into my Birthday Manx truffles.

We decided to have dinner in the Cottage today.  Usually we would go out for a meal, but nothing really ticked our fancy and also we had eat out pretty much every day on our summer holiday - sometimes its nice just to have something special at home.  So Mathew made his vegetable pasta bake and we finished it off a little later with Birthday Lemon Cheesecake!

Thursday, 16th October

This morning we knew it would be our first day of rain on this holiday.  nevertheless we donned our walking gear and off we went.  it had rained this morning already, but that didn't put us of!  We went to Dhoon Glen which is said to be one of the steepest Glens on the Island.  It wasn’t easy as the pathway was covered with golden leaves (pretty!) but it was wet underfoot and most of it on the way to the waterfall we were going to see was downhill.  Underfoot it was also quite rooty with a few stones here and there too.  there were wooden bridges (chicken wired, thankfully otherwise they would have ben VERY slippery!) and steps along the way too.

After a short while we reached the top of the waterfall and it basically just kept going from there.  We followed it down and down and down - it has the name of Inneen Vooar (Big Girl) and it is one of the highest waterfalls on the island falling over 40m in two drops.  Eventually we came out into Dhoon Bay, a small beach which was covered in flat round pebbles.  After a breather we turned back and walked the same way returning to the car and making our way into Douglas.

We had a preview of Douglas when we arrived on Saturday and I mentioned how clean the Victorian terraces looked - well, the Promenade goes on forever!  It's a really long Promenade and I would imagine quite busy and popular in the summer.  Most of the buildings are hotels with a few appartment blocks, and everything has been really well kept.  There are not, however, any tacky souvenir shops or seasidey arcades or anything, which I thought was a refreshing change from the seaside towns we have been to before.

Into Douglas town centre - which was a proper town centre - we looked for somewhere to eat.  We found a place called "Harbour Lights Cafe" and inside the decor was Edwardian and felt slightly posh actually, especially when our drinks came.  Mathew had a pot of tea which came with a tiny milk bottle of milk, and I had 'Elderflower Bubbly' or Sparkling Elderflower which came in not only one glass with a slice of lemon and a strawberry on the edge of the glass, but also a small mug of more of the drink to top my glass up with!  Cute!  Mathew had quite a large bacon and cheese baguette, whilst I went for a traditional Ploughmans which turned put to be quite epic!

My plate had a salad accompanied by two slices of ham, two chunks of Manx cheddar, and several small pots of boiled new potatoes, pickled beetroot, tiny pickled onions, real ale chutney (which tasted like Branston Pickle), potato salad, and some salted crisps.  I managed to eat most of it - as I said it was pretty epic, but delicious!  A very nice little cafe I have to say with a good range of food.  Definitely worth a visit if you're after some lunch in Douglas.

Back outside, we made our way to the Manx Museum.  We had to go up a side street, up a lift, across a footbridge and there we were at the Museum.  Interesting route...!  Anyway, the Museum itself was a really nice little place, and there was quite a lot to see - nature, geology, history, archaeology, social history, an exhibition on WW1, an art gallery.  Overall a very good Museum worth visiting, we certainly spent a couple lf hours in there.  There was a cafe too, we didnt use it but it looked rather nice.

Leaving the Museum, we came out and made out way to the Promenade to walk back to the car.  At this point it was raining yet again, so we knew we were going to get wet now!  Fortunately it became lighter and lighter, eventually stopping as we approached the Promenade itself.  We walked through a small garden which he hadn't walked through on our way into town, because we just hadn’t got that far.  It turned out to be a community project, a garden incorporating arts and crafts done by the public, and also local artists.  It was an environmental project to promote recycling, and it was done it partnership with Marks & Spencer.  There were a number of small mosaic figures on a number of rocks making up the borders of the flowerbeds, recycled glass in the tiles and the floor, and carved handrails.  It was a really nice little garden, and I can imagine how popular it probably is in the summer.

Just as we got back to the car the rain came down again.  I was glad to be in the car as it meant I could change my soaking wet socks and shoes for dry ones for the journey back.  We made our way towards Snaefell (the biggest mountain on the island) with the intention to go the same way to the Cottage which we had gone when we first came.  But the higher we got, the foggier it became and eventually it was really very very thick, so we continued on to Ramsey with the intention of turning inland from there instead.

It was still very very foggy, and it even started to get dark - so much so in fact that the car's headlights began to make the cats eyes in the road glow.  We were surrounded by mountains in effect, going through a valley so we guessed that the darkness was caused by being in their shadows.  Or perhaps the forests which we passed by - we have no idea because we never saw either of those for the intense fog!  It was a little hairy but eventually we were going downhill and approaching Ramsey on the coast and we could see the blue skies and brightness ahead.  It seemed that the rainclouds moved inland before dumping their load on the mountains...!  I'm glad we weren’t out doing any serious walking there...!  Finally back to the Cottage I changed my clothes for something warm and dry, and we settled down for the evening.

Friday, 17th October

This morning it didn't seem quite so wet as yesterday although it still looked wet underfoot.  We started off our last day on the Isle of Man by going to Glen Maye.  The ground was indeed quite wet, but much more stable underfoot than it was yesterday!  We went down into the Glen following the water and we soon came to the waterfall which was very picturesque. Opposite there were vines of what looked like Ivy just dripping down the side of the gorge into the centre.

We continued along the pathway which took us right out into a small cove or bay which we stayed at for a few minutes before returning from where we came, along the same path.  Despit the wind today, the sun was out so it was really quite pleasant.

We went onward along the western coast to a place called Niarbyl which boasted great scenery.  It did not disappoint!  There wasn't really a coastal walk or path around here unfortunately, but there were a couple of grassy mounds which we walked on to get a better view of the area.  Here it was VERY windy indeed, so much so that we could lean into it and still stand.  I always try to recreate the photo I had taken at Banbrough Castle where I'm leaning backward into the wind on the beach, but somehow it's never really looked as good elsewhere - I just look like I'm standing there with my arms out stretched!

Windswept, we went into the cafe which was next to the car park and had some lunch.  They had Redbush tea so I had a pot, alongside a ham and roasted red pepper sandwich, whilst Mathew had a crab and watercress baguette.

Appetites satisfied, we went on to Rushen where we visited the Abbey.  At the entrance there were some 'Rushen Doll' paintings explaining the history of the site, and at the very end was one of Barry Gibb!  I couldn't resist but take a photo :). Into the Abbey, we went through an interpretation centre which started off talking about dances with strawberries and cream teas, and how the Deemster's house was turned into a Girls School, and then it went into the Monastic history of the site.

Rushen Abbey is quite small and to be honest there isn't a great deal there to see, save the foundations and the areas of archaeology which are in the middle of being dug.  There is more about the history of the site as opposed to the remains.  Before we left, we went into the 'Jam Factory' which used to be just that (although quite small), but is now a 'Fun Factory'.  We had a bit of fun, finding out that Mathew is better than me at target practice and throwing, I'm better than him at memory games and we're about the same as each other on the game where we had to 'splat' the fruits which lit up in succession!

 
We continued around to the Eastern side of the island where we went to look for King Orry's Grave.  We found the right road, but we went all the way along it before realising that the site was actually not far from where we started.  Turning back (as it happened, at Dhoon Glen car park), we kept out eye out for it, and sure enough it was there right on the corner when we had turned into the road.  Although guess what?  It was signposted from the OTHER side....of course! (Perhaps taking tips from English Heritage we think..!). It was basically a neolithic chambered cairn, and there were two parts to it - on one side of the road there was the entrance, and on the other side (behind a house) there was the grave which apparently has never been excavated.

Finally, we went back towards our Cottage but we went further north - to the Point of Ayre, the northernmost point of the Isle of Man.  The land was very flat and was very much like moorland until we got to the 'beach'.  Covered in what I can only describe as ridges and furrows (but they weren't, as this was a beach not a field) of pebbles upon pebbles, the Point of Ayre isn't too exciting - there was a light house, a fog horn and a very tiny light house which was situated on the beach.  I had to take a photo with Mathew on it for scale as it was so small compared to normal lighthouses!  It was still windy here, so as soon as we had done, we returned to the car and back to the Cottage for tea, cake, and an evening of packing and preparing to leave tomorrow.

Saturday, 18th October

Early early start this morning!  We got up at 5:45am (yes, I know...!) and finished off the last bits of packing which we had done most of the night before.  Ready to leave an hour later, we left our comments in the visitors book and wrote a Thank you not to our host Sara who we couldn't say goodbye to in person as it was so early!

This was the only time we had driven in darkness.  It was fine at first, but around the mountainous area in the middle of the island we were driving through fog which was at first patchy, but soon thickened up.  It was a bit hairy....!  We managed to get into Douglas with time to spare for going the wrong way, but we went straight to the ferry terminal by 7:30am.  At the same time I had received a text message from Sara saying goodbye, sorry she missed us leaving and if the ferry was cancelled due to the weather, we could go straight back there for the rest of the day or overnight.  I sent her a message in return to let her know we had arrived at the ferry terminal and were ready to board.  The weather was very windy rather than anything else, and we had checked before leaving to see if there were any delays or cancellations.  There weren't, and we soon boarded the ferry and were ready to sail, sitting by the window with a nice view.  Just before we left the harbour, Mathew had a bacon roll with tea and I had a hot chocolate, not certain on whether it was a good idea to eat until knowing the condition of the water.

I was glad I didn't eat anything - the water was very choppy and the ferry was rolling in all directions.  It was fun for about 5 minutes and then I really started to feel ill.  We heard a couple of announcements to say that we should stay seated and that the route had been altered slightly to make the journey more comfortable for the passengers, but I was still feeling sick and we decided to go outside on deck as we usually do when I feel seasick, and I really thought I was going to throw up a couple of times but I didn't.  At about 10:30am I was feeling much better and we found a sunnier seat to sit on which was more sheltered from the wind, and the sickness seemed to subside suddenly and quickly.  Eventually the water became quite calm - although with a little rolling here and there - and I felt fine.  Still stayed out on deck though, just to make sure..!

For the rest of the journey on the boat, I finished my journal and we went inside for the last hour.  Finally we arrived in Heysham, England just after midday and we had a quiet journey home, arriving at 4:30pm – just in time for tea and cake!