Douglas, Isle of Man

Friday August 25th – Isle of Man

 

The Plan:

This is a Tender Port. Barbara has booked a HAL tour entitled “The Story of Man”, I on the other hand I have decided to buy an Island Explorer Card and ride as many of the local  steam, electric and horse drawn trams as possible.

 

The Reality:

As Mike Price and I were having coffee in the Lido this morning, a lady came up and asked if I was Jack!  OF course I said I was, so she handed me her ticket for a HAL shore excursion for the 3 and 1/4 hour “Victorian Railways & Snafell” excursion.She explained that she had “hit the wall” insofar as excursions go and just could not do one more.  I accepted her generous offer and that I would find a way to repay her. She just tossed her head and said “that’s okay” or something to that effect.

Back in the stateroom later, I showed Barbra and she explained that this excursion had been wait-listed for a while and was pleased that she did not have to worry about having me “on my own”.  Since the ticket was in my benefactor’s name, I decided to see what the Front Office could do to transfer the cost to my shipboard account from hers. Minutes later I returned to the room with the transaction complete – The ladies at the Front office had again “worked their magic”.

Our departure was delayed while the captain maneuvered the ship into just the right position to mitigate the wave action at the tender boarding landing. When we were finally cleared to leave, King Neptune and his minions were still having their fun and boarding passengers were getting “pitched” here and there until they found a seat.  What fun that was for me.

I was amused at the speculation in the conversations of my fellow passengers as to what would happen next “ Will we be able to land ashore?“, “Will the captain cancel the tender operation?” , Will we have to return to the ship before we go ashore?” Lots of hand ringing going on….with these landlubbers.  I just sat with a smile on my face and enjoyed the feel of the testy sea .

 

Once ashore we were delayed for a short while longer waiting for the rest of the excursion party to come ashore.

Our route to the Snaefell Mountain Railway station included sites of the city as well as the route the “T.T.” Motorcycle race.  We passed by many of the race venues, including the massive RV park where many of the racers and their pit crew stay.  A great many of the folks from the island work as volunteers as there are monitoring stations all along the winding route and every monitoring post must be in a line of site view of the post on their left and right – keeps everyone honest, and safe!

 

After we ascended the “mountain” we had about 30 minutes for a photo op and as you will see in he included images, the view was not that clear.  And as I hear a lot around “the earlier risers table in the am” –  “It is What it is”.

After descending the mountain , we transferred to the Manx Electric Railway which took us along its narrow gauge rails, through residential areas, ending our journey along the promenade fronting Douglas Bay. In my introduction image you will se a long string of white apartment buildings, below them is where the promenade is located.

 

My iconic image is of a post card that I purchased on “The Mountain” featuring the famous tail-less Manx Cat, the Lacey Wheel, used to pump water from the upstream mines, and the Coat of Arms with the “Three Legs” in the center.

Here I will quote the “song of the Manx Cat”

A tale of the night, a tale of the day,

A tale of the cat who has gone astray,

Tales of sorrow, tales of glee,

Most things have tales,

But there is no tail on me.

 

 

Enjoy the pictures, sorry they are not stunning with azure blue skies and puffy white clouds….it is what it is….

 

Jack W Cummings VOV 2017 –  setting our course for Portree, Scotland and the Isle of Skye