The Isle of Man to Ardglass

As predicted we had three days of weather to sit out in the Isle of Man. As the capital, Douglas proved to be a good place to be based. We bought three day rover tickets which allowed us to use all of the IOM public transport system.

The Manx Electric Railway tram

Friday dawned bright and breezy and we opted for the electric tram system, heading North to Laxey and Douglas with a diversion off onto the mountain railway at Laxey. Our main hick up was not appreciating how far it was from the Harbour to the North end of the promenade where the trams were based. We missed our intended tram and had an hour to kill but we discovered that the station master (station being a rather grand term for the terminus) had a son living on a yacht in Cardiff Bay so we had plenty to chat about. It's a small world. For the first section to Laxey the tram runs adjacent to roads and housing. The sedate pace allows plenty of time for taking in the view.

The Laxey Wheel

The mountain railway tram

At Laxey we swopped to the mountain railway with a good view of the Laxey Wheel, the world's largest operational water wheel, which used to provide power for Laxey mines. Again good views on the journey although it was too cold to linger long at the summit.

Returning to Laxey we spent some time looking around the mine sorting floors where the ore used to be separated from the rock while waiting for a tram to Ramsey. The journey to Ramsey was the most scenic part of the route, the track following the coast through mainly open countryside. Ramsey itself was nothing special, a drying harbour, no good for us, and the usual shops, although we did find a fascinating old fashioned ironmongers, much better then B&Q! And Debbie found a specialist chocolate shop.

Coastal view on the way to Ramsey

 

We opted for the steam train South from Douglas on Saturday but the weather beat us. As forecast it was very wet, cold and windy. We travelled to Port Erin, had a look at the railway museum, got back on the train and got off at Port St Mary to visit the Railway Hotel, which we noticed by the station on the outward journey. This proved to be the best bit of the day. With two hours to kill we had an extended comfort food lunch in front of a log fire! That set us up for the rest of the day and evening!

The camera doesn't show the rain!

Douglas Bay Yacht Club proved very hospitable. We spent the evenings there using their wifi to keep track of the weather and pick up emails and whatever FLP business Debbie needed to do.

Recovering Peel lifeboat

Sunday was much improved, we travelled by modern (warm!) bus to Peel, a harbour to mark down as a potential visit by boat in the future. We enjoyed walking around the castle walls and watching the recovery of the lifeboat in the sunshine, even managing a beer outside before visiting the Manannan Museum of Manx life. Very interesting.

A beer in the sunshine.

 

Waiting for the lifting bridge

 

Monday's forecast was S or SW 4 to 5 with moderate seas so we made the first bridge opening of the morning and were out of the Harbour at 11.00. We motor sailed for an hour or so down the coast until we could bear off enough to unroll the genoa. With one reef in the main and one reef in the genoa we sailed well outside Chicken Rock lighthouse on the tip of the IOM and bore off some more onto a reach heading for Ardglass. We had a quick sail, averaging 7 knots and arrived in Ardglass at 18.20.

The narrow Ardglass entrance channel.

The marina.

Ardglass is a very small marina next to a fishing port, with a very narrow and short entrance channel which nearly caught us out. We came into the channel under sail as it was very rolly for getting sails down at sea, rounding the East Cardinal buoy by the wave break berm we found the marina pontoons immediately in front of us with next to no room to get the mainsail down! Fortunately we managed it and got ourselves berthed. There was not a soul around when we arrived but the door to the toilets and showers was open. Next morning Fred, the part time marina manager, and his dog, Ben, booked us in! It looks like we have another couple of gales to sit out so we will do some exploring of Ardglass town.

Fred and Ben.

 

 

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