One last Visit to Castletown

Although the worst of the storm CIara has now passed and the wind has settled down to the usual and customary crazy wildness, it was still interesting to see coast.  In fact, the Promenade in Castletown was still flooded and closed two days after the storm passed.

But in a corner of the bay just a little ways out of the town on the road to Scarlet Point, we find a collection of sea and shore birds enjoying the food being flung on shore with the turbulent waves. Above we see a pair of Little Gulls.

After the Storm Passes

I thought you'd like to know what happened during the passing of the storm Ciara. Well, it was really dark then and we really don't know...but it sure was windy and rainy.

What we can do is show you what the morning after was like. By the now the wind died down to more or less normal for the Isle of Man. We headed to a hill overlooking the shore of Douglas at high tide. Here is what we saw.

Laxey

A trip to Laxey, a bit farther up the eastern coast from Douglas, but shy of Ramsey, revealed new adventures. Here we see the Quarry Falls. Hidden a short way off the road with no indication of any sort that it is here other than the sound of the rushing water which we could hear from the street.

Maughold

After our visit to Maughold, we realized that we missed two of the most important items to see there, so we returned for a quick visit.

The most significant found on the side of the parish cross that now resides inside the church. On one side is a carving of the triskelion that is the symbol the Isle of Man. This is the oldest known such carving in stone on the island.

Glen Helen

We drove to Glen Helen for a look at the waterfall and stop in at the cafe for lunch. The cafe is out of business and up for sale, but the river still flows.

Niarbyl Bay - Again

Another trip to Niarbyl Bay on a day with more clouds that our last visit revealed more drama. the cottage you see in the image above is a different one than the one you saw in the earlier post. This one is just beside the car park at the beach, as you can see.

Fleshwick Bay

Inspired by my photo tour and the continuation of a spot of reasonable weather, E and I headed to another place on the western coast, Fleshwick Bay. This is a small, empty bay at the end of a narrow winding road. When you arrive, you find...nothing. Silence of the wind and birds and smell of seaweed. Except for the paved road, all is just as it has been for centuries.

Niarbyl Bay

The last stop on our day-long photo tour was Niarbyl Bay. This small cove happens to be pointed in the right direction to enjoy sundown. It would seem that it is still used by the lobster fishermen since they store their traps here.

Calf of Man

Our tour took us once again to the Calf of Man at the location simply referred to as the Sound. Today, we have sunshine and interesting clouds moving about above us to add to the images.

St. Michael's Isle

St. Michael's Isle is a very small place just off the coast from the Langness Peninsula. These days, it is connected to the peninsula by a narrow causeway. It seems to be a popular place for the Manx to walk their dogs (or themselves).

Gray Seals at Langness

Not far from the Langness lighthouse, we found a herd of Gray Seals basking on some rocks.

Langness Peninsula Lighthouse

There is a spit of land that sticks out into the sea and forms one arm of the bay at Castletown. This is Langness Peninsula. It was the first stop one a day of photography led by David Silvester. Among the many things he does is lead people on photo tours about the island. Today I got a personal tour to see some interesting places in a new way.

Maughold Headland and Lighthouse

Outside the Maughold church, we see across the street a field of hay bales framed by mountains and trees. You might think this is about as quintessentially Manx as you can get. But you'd be wrong.

Maughold Church and Cemetery

After reading about this church, we just had to visit.

Cregneash

Not far from Port St. Mary, on the way to Port Erin, is the small village of Cregneash. This place is a museum of the way life once was on the island. It was opened as such in 1938 with the last resident, Harry Kelly, died and left his cottage and land to his brother who not wanting it, donated it to the state.

Port St. Mary

There is an unusual spot across the bay from Port St. Mary...a place to pull off the road and look and the surroundings. Here, as everywhere else in the British Isles, the road are narrow and there are no places to stop and have a look. So when we pass this spot, we always stop for a look because we can.

St. Lupus Church, Malew

So. When there is a bit of sunshine, we head out even if it is still pretty darned windy. This trip took us, among other places, to the church and cemetery of St. Lupus church in Malew.

Editorial note for those that pay attention to such things...

I normally try to put reasonably descriptive and accurate labels on the blog posts that include our location in hierarchical way from continent (Europe) to town or village (Malew). I have recently discovered that, according to the BBC, the Isle of Man is not in the United Kingdom. Nor, as I already knew, is it in the EU even though it enjoys many benefits as if it were. It is just out here in the Irish Sea, governing itself but at the mercy of the UK for nearly everything.

Now, back to our regular programming.

An Outing to Port Soderick

We had a bit of sunshine so we headed out to the coast near us. A place called Port Soderick. There is a small rocky beach with a ramp that extends well out in the water that allowed me to get some shots from a bit off-shore.

I like the way you can see the water swirling around the rocks at this shutter speed (½ sec).

The Coast at Castletown

Since I can't stop the wind, I tried taking advantage of it. here are some shots from the harbor in Castletown on a windy day where we cansee the sea at work on the shore.

Douglas Borough Cemetery

We found the Douglas Borough Cemetery just on the northern side of town when a funeral was in progress in the chapel. We drove around, out of their way and had a brief look about.

Marine Drive

On a day with what seems to be pretty typical weather for February, we headed over to checkout the Marine Drive. This runs along a rugged section of coast near Douglas.

Near this lighthouse at the entrance to the harbor, stands a small building housing a camera obscura. Naturally, like everything thing else (castles, abbeys, ancient structures of all sorts), it is close until May. I believe I can see why this is..sucky weather.

Exploring the North

It started as a pretty decent morning. This is the beach in front of the hotel in which we stayed in Douglas.

The South Coast

Today, we decided to venture out to the south coast to see what there was and we found a delightful region to explore. After leaving Castletown headed west, we first come to the shore in the Balladoole region where we can look across the bay and see Port St. Mary just on the horizon.

Peel Cathedral

In Peel, we also found the cathedral. The Cathedral Church of Saint German, AKA the Peel Cathedral, AKA Cathedral Isle of Man is a Church of England cathedral for the Diocese of Sodor and Man.

Peel Castle

By the harbour in Peel are the ruins of a castle. They are visible from the nearby beach and can also be seen with this Victorian water fountain. It seems to be well maintained and still functional. The same does not appear to be true of the castle.

Geeba and the Peel Cemetery

We had a beautiful day to drive across the Isle of Man from Douglas to Peel. Along the way, we stopped in Geeba to see a few of the farmhouses.

Sunrise in Douglas, Isle of Man

Our nest house sit on the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea. While we wait for our sit to begin, we are staying a few days in a hotel on the Loch Promenade. On our first morning, we got a glorious sunrise.

 On the way to Hatchards bookstore, I stopped in the Piccadilly Arcade for a few moments to have a look about. Here, I found several iconic street views.

The Science Museum

A quick visit to the main floor of the Science Museum, next to the Natural History Museum, just to see the steam engines. This one was built by Boulton and Watt and is

..the oldest, mainly unaltered rotative engine in the world. Built by James Watt in 1788, it incorporates all his most important steam engine improvements. This engine operated at Boulton's Soho manufactory in Birmingham where button, snuffboxes, and other small decorated metal items were made. This engine drove 73 metal polishing - 'lapping' - machines for 70 years. 

This is one of the machines that changed the world. It is amazing that it still exists.

The engine below was

...constructed in 1903 by the Burnley Ironworks Company for the Harle Syke Mill, Burnley. It is an example of a 'horizontal' engine, a type that was widely used after 1850, and was direct acting, doing away with the giant rocker beams of earlier engines. This one is typical of many built during the period and it worked right up to 1970.

Here is a closer view of the engine and the periodic expulsion of steam as part of the engine cycle.

I find it amazing that such complicated pieces of exactly machined pieces of equipment are still in working order after more than a century.