Tag Archives: Isle of Man

The Isle of Man – thoughts and conclusions

The Isle of Man is famous for two – maybe three – things: petrol heads, film locations and tax evaders. The petrol heads come for the annual Isle of Man TT motorcycle race, when crazy hotheads drive along the coast like maniacs. Every year, it seems someone dies crashing or driving off a cliff. Actually, [...]

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Castletown

Castletown was the first Manx capital. And where I finally had lunch. At about 5, I stopped at a cheerful pub called The Castle Arms that looked cosy in the late afternoon sunshine. Might they have some food and not just beer, I enquired. “Sorry, luv,” the man said. “We finish serving food at 2. [...]

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Isle of Man transportation – and Calf Sound

I spent too much time in Laxey, and, annoyingly, too much time waiting for buses and trains. My bad – you really can’t fault a service that runs every 30 – 40 minutes. Ambling over to the Douglas-bound train, I discovered I just missed one. At the bus stop nearby, I discovered I had just [...]

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Laxey and Mount Snaefell

A quick electric train ride from Douglas is Laxey. There, to take you up the mountain, is the Snaefell Mountain Railway (also electric). After 30 minutes of ruggedly beautiful scenery, I’m on top of Mount Snaefell having morning tea and a Strawberry and Apricot Victoria. Aren’t English cake names fabulous? Like Jam Roly Poly, or [...]

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The Isle of Man – first impressions

Continuing my 1-year-later blogging, this week I’ll be talking about the Isle of Man, a lovely island that gets an undeservedly bad rap. A year ago today, I hopped on a flight to Liverpool’s John Lennon airport (with a yellow submarine outside) and caught a Steam-Packet boat, the Viking, for the 3-hour journey to Man. [...]

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Boating up the Nile

Travels of 2008 – and plans for 2009

So here it is – my first travel list of the new year. 2008… In early January, the kids and I boated up the Nile, sailing up from Luxor to Aswan and back down. And Nubia! It was fantastic! And how could it possibly not be fantastic: cruising up a river surrounded by 5 000 [...]

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