Failure
to wish the fairies “Good Morning Fairies” or “Good Afternoon
Fairies” is sure to bring rain down on you for the day.
We
dutifully wished them well and were rewarded by nice weather.
Because
the roads, towns and villages in the Island are all small and parking
is at a premium everywhere we rented a car for the week we were here.
It looks quite nice, its a Kia Picanto. Bright red, that color should
mean its sporty!
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| The gutless wonder |
HA! the thing has no power at all and spent most of its time in second or
third gear screaming along because it wouldn’t pull fourth up even
a slight hill. It actually has 5 speeds and the speedometer goes up
to 140mph! I think they got the decimal point in the wrong place!
Still
it did let us explore some of the smaller places on this small
island.
We
went to a “Sheep Dog Trial” – shepherds with highly trained
Collies rounded a small flock of sheep around a field and into a pen
against the clock. It’s great to see a working dog doing it’s
stuff.
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| A large statue of the Manx Sheep |
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| Sheepdogs eager to go |
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| The event was high over Douglas. |
Still
on the subject of sheep we went to a living history museum called
Criag Neash on the very southern end of the island and discovered a
breed of sheep unique to the island with the strangest looking horns,
four of them!
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| A living Manx Sheep |
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| Creag Neash village |
Famous
for it’s motorcycle races the Isle of Man also has events for
vintage and classic cars. We saw some as we traveled round. We
dropped in at the Manx Motor Museum to to see their collection. They
had many motorcycles both street and race. I had fun, Barbara not so
much maybe!
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| The Peel 3 wheeler made in the Isle of Man |
More
museums! The Manx Air Museum, the Manx Museum and some living history
in the Manx Steam Railway and the Manx Electric Railway both of which
were built in the Victorian era and are still operating to this day.
Wonderful craftsman built wooden carriages and bright brass fittings.
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| Aircraft relics fished out of the seas around the island |
We
had hoped to do the whole rail thing which would take us from where
we were camped to the highest point in the island at Snaefell. The
Steam Railway would take us from Port Erin to Douglas, we would then
catch a horse drawn tram along the promenade and catch the Electric
Railway to Laxey, finally getting the Snaefell Mountain Railway to
the very top. Unfortunately due to major remodeling of the promenade
the horse trams are not running this year so we had to catch a bus
instead.
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| Isle of Man Steam Railway |
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| Built in the 1870's and still running! |
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| Passenger cars much more modern, built in 1923 |
From
Sneafell on a clear day they say you can see 7 Kingdoms. The Kingdoms
of Mann, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England plus the Kingdom of the
seas and the heavens.
We
saw 5 of them, Scotland and Wales being obscured.
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| Another Victorian experience, the Manx Electric Railway |
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| And another, The Snaefel Mountain Railway |
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| The 7 Kingdoms |
Just
below the summit on the TT course is a statue depicting Joey Dunlop
who was the most successful TT racer in history. Killed not in the TT
races but in some obscure race in Estonia and sadly missed.
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| Joey looks down on the TT course at the Bungalow |
The
week in “The Island” has just flown by, the campground has been
great and the tranquil atmosphere has relaxed both of us completely.
Unfortunately we have to move on and we are making arrangements to
meet up with friends and relatives who we haven’t seen in several
years. Should be great!
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| High speed ferry Mannanan |
The
same high speed ferry that brought us to the Island took us from the
Island to Liverpool. As it was late in the day we had a reservation
at the Liverpool Marina where you can dry camp almost in the heart of
the city but tucked away between the River Mersey and one of the old
Victorian Era docks.
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| We though it was the garbage truck! |
When
we pulled in we though they had parked the garbage truck in the next
spot but then when we looked at the huge vehicle we discovered it was
a gigantic “Overlander” rig designed to cross any kind of terrain
from the Sahara Desert to the Andes Mountains. Quite where this one
was going from Liverpool was a mystery and it plainly hadn’t gone
anywhere so far, as even the tires were clean and shiny. The owner
opened one of the huge lockers in the side and we could see it was
equipped with all the gear needed to get out of swamps or sand dunes.
We laughed because even the shovels so neatly stowed, still had the
manufacturers stickers on the blades!
Next
day we crossed the River Mersey thru one of the famous tunnels and
returned to Arrow Brook Farm where we left from a little over a month
ago. We rented another car and started making the rounds of friends
and relatives.
Our
home town is Birkenhead which is opposite Liverpool but has its own
history and historic figures. We went on a tour of the old cemetery
which we had both played in and walked around when we were children.
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| Flaybrick cemetery chapel |
The
tour guide was chatting with a guy as we walked up. I started
chatting then got the feeling I new the other guy from somewhere. He
mentioned the shipyard and I asked if he had worked in the Mold Loft.
He turned out to be one of the Journeymen Shipwrights that welcomed
me there on my first day as an Apprentice 55 years ago!
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| Alfie Poval (L) |
There
are several prominent figures buried in the this cemetery including a
gentleman who had been a member of the YMCA when Baden Powell visited
and gave a talk about his ideas for a boy’s organization based on
his own days acting as an army scout.
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| Grave of the founder of the first Boy Scout Troop |
Unfortunately
the gentleman’s name escapes me because he then went and formed the
world’s first Boy Scout Troop. 25 years later, to celebrate that
event they held the Worlds first Boy Scout World Jamboree in an area
called Arrow Park which is still a park and behind which we are
camped!
And
in another Titanic link there is a memorial here to one of the ships
engine crew who was lost.
With
our daughter we took a trip to Liverpool to see the Western
Approaches Command Museum. This underground bunker was sealed off in
1945 and only discovered again in 1991. Intact and well preserved it
has been opened to the public.
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| On this huge map every convoy, U Boat and Maritime Bomber were plotted. |
The
purpose of this secret bunker was the control of all the allied
convoys that crossed the Atlantic Ocean and the fight against the U
Boats that threatened Britain’s vital food and material supplies
which came from the New World.
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| The Convoy Command is in a back street |
We
have seen the other end of this lifeline in Nova Scotia at Halifax
and Sidney and we wanted to see this museum last time we were in
Liverpool, 5 years ago, but unfortunately it was closed at that time.
It
was a very interesting exhibition showing the development of the
convoy system and of the weapons and tactics of the U Boat hunters.
The Womens Royal Naval Service (WRENS) provided 80% of the personel
in the control center and in the tactical school for ships captains
that was run there. One story tells of a very experienced submarine
hunter who tried his skills against the school staff in a simulator.
He lost contact with the submarine 3 times and expressed his wish to
see the gentleman who had beaten him. He refused to believe that the
young females who came forward where the real power behind the
scenes!
Liverpool’s
sea front was for many years the center of emigration to Canada and
the USA. The big passenger ships came here and tied up at what is
called “The Pier Head”.
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| The 3 Graces, Liver Building, Cunard Building and Port Authority Building |
The
tall seafront buildings are know as “The 3 graces” and they
consist of the Liver Building, The Cunard Building and the Liverpool
Port Authority Building. Tucked behind them and dwarfed by them is
the White Star Line Building, more Titanic links, although Titanic never came to Liverpool she was registered as a Liverpool ship.
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| White Star Building tucked away behind. |
Further
down the Pier Head is Liverpool’s Titanic Memorial dedicated to the
ships Engine Room staff who were in the main from Liverpool.
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| Liverpool's Titanic Memorial |
