Good night’s kip, although some pesky gulls chose to have a chat at some point in the night, and then a good breakfast. The local butcher’s smoked bacon is seriously good and I added fried leftover spuds and an egg on top of avocado on toast. THG did an excellent of smashing the avo and left me some for my own use. Won’t need lunch now and I can save the remaining bread roll for a bacon butty tomorrow morning.
We are off on a steam excursion to Port Erin today. Train leaves Douglas at eleven fifty arriving an hour later. There is a nice little museum at Port Erin Station and a caff situated in the waiting room. Olde worlde railway vibe to it. On our last visit THG and I were sat in said caff having driven there from Peel. When the train arrived the place filled with passengers looking for the loo and some sustenance, probably in that order. The upshot was a long queue for the bogs. Knowing this I suspect we will go to the museum first and then do the caff before the return let at 2pm. I like steam trains.
Sat now sipping a cuppa whilst THG gets ready to hit the road. She is going on the bus as she likes to “do the shops” in Douglas. The place holds nothing of interest for me so I am following on in her car which does allow us to swing by Paul and Wendy on the way back to Peel. Assuming they are in obvs.
Interesting conversation in Greens caff in St John’s yesterday pm where we met Mike for a cuppa. I asked the woman at the till whether they took Amex to which the answer was no. I mentioned it was my preferred method of payment as we use the points for trips, quoting our visit to Malta in September as an example. Would you believe it she, the woman at the till, is also going to the same hotel for the first two weeks. They will be leaving as we arrive 🙂 Obvs running the caff must be good business, spending the profits on two weeks in a 5* hotel in Malta.
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Set off earlier in the car than I needed to with the expressed purpose of spending some time at Fenella Beach. A fair number of cars in the car park but they are parked near the mobile sauna that has appeared overnight so I guess they are punters of that gaff. A few people stood outside in those warm towelling coveralls that swimmers wear when they come out of the water on a cold day. Not really my thang. Cerainly not at this time of year.
The sea is pretty calm today (5mph West/Souwesterly) and the sun is making an effort to shine through. A woman walks her dog on the beach and a man runs around the outside of the castle. One ship visible on the horizon. Marine Traffic tells me it’s the Stena Forwarder sailing from Birkhenhead to Belfast. Must be nearly there. A bit cross I forgot my binocs on this trip. They are very hady things around the Peel Castle and Breakwater area. There is fishing boat just down the coast but I can’t see it from here. Tayrin, PL175.
Merry laughter coming from the sea down below. Four brave/mad/you choose lady swimmers of uncertain ages have entered the water. Eight minutes later they are wading slowly out. It’s just an ordinary day in Peel. An ordinary day. A totally gorgeous day now that the sun is fully out.
A Ferrari has just pulled up next to me. I heard it before I saw it. Throaty engine roar. Young bloke driving it. A few smaller boats are also now starting to appear.
I’ve moved to the breakwater. PL9 – Liam Joseph bobs gently up and down. Herring gulls announce their presence.
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What an exciting day it’s been. The train journey to Port Erin was uneventful apart from the fact that whilst sat in the station in Douglas I received an sms from the steam packet company saying our sailing on Saturday was at risk of cancellation due to high winds. Turns out Storm Dave is rolling in with Gale Force 10 winds. Hmm okay. I checked and our cottage, #1 Charles Street was not rented out after us so there was the potential to extend the booking. I parked the issue until our return to Douglas when we could chat to the steam packet at the Sea Terminus.
Nice stopover at Port Erin where I bought two mugs: steam train and electric railway. I worked on the latter as a summer job before going to uni. Plum job. The station in Port Erin was v cosy with a coal fire burning in the grate of the waiting room. How often do you see that in the UK?
The drama happened on our return journey. We stopped at Castletown but then stood there for ages. Took quite a while for the staff to tell us that the southbound train had broken down in Ballasala. Problems with the brakes. The engineer was on his way from Douglas but it would be a good half hour before we were on our way. Most of the line is single line working so we couldn’t overtake the broken down train.
We stopped for a total of around three quarters of an hour in Castletown but did eventually get going. The driver was obviously pushing the engine as hard as he could to try and make up time as the return journey thenceforth was quite bumpy. Made it back about 40 mins late but hey, it was an adventure. We could always have got off in Castletown and found alternative transportation home.
Back at the Sea Terminus we changed our sailing until Monday and have now extended the cottage booking until then as well. I am ok with this. We now have a table at The Boatyard restaurant for Saturday night and might well be doing something with Paul and Wendy on Sunday. Moreover we should be able to watch the Liverpool v Man City FA Cup quarter final match on Saturday. I daresay we will find a pub showing it.