Greetings in this, my third and final entry on my lovely little break on the Isle of Man. I shall relate my adventures on my third full day on the island, along with the day of my journey home. There is lots more to tell, and I visited even more of the island on my last two days.
After another good nights sleep in the annex, I walked again, this time only 20 minutes to a small village called The Hope, whereby I timed my arrival with another fairly rare bus off the main road and picks up little people like me in the middle of the countryside once in a while. It was another or so trip back into Douglas again, and upon arrival I decided to explore the shopping area of the city along Strand Street, which I had missed on my explorations of the islands capital two days earlier. Having firstly arrived at the towns main Christmas tree, a party of school children had just shown up to sing Christmas carols – yay! They started with Jingle Bell Rock, and Im not sure what they continued with as they werent
very good to be honest, but hey – it brought a cheery spirit to the Christmas shoppers. It to see the usual British shops on this separate political entity of an island, and after passing Marks and Spencers, Boots, Waterstones and TK Maxx, I headed back to the town prom again for a walk back to the bus station to take my next bus, this time heading to the north of the island.
Indeed, I took a bus first to the absolutely delightful little coastal town of Laxey, with a significant industrial past and a spectacular setting built up and down a large ravine which the Laxey River had carved out on its way to the sea. The most famous sight in Laxey is the really quite stunning Great Laxey Wheel, nicknamed Lady Isabella after the wife of the islands governor at the time it was built. At an impressive 22 metres in diameter, it is the worlds largest working water wheel, and was constructed in 1854 at the height of the islands industrial revolution, which saw the mining town of Laxey boom based on its rich deposits of lead, copper, zinc and silver. The wheel helped
pump water out of the mineshafts, up to 670 metres below the town, and the ore was carried along the great river glen for export at Laxey Harbour, mainly by two very tiny steam trains nicknamed Ant and Bee (I expected the second one to be called Dec!). Sadly, as with most things on the island out of tourist season, the Laxey Wheel was closed to the public, and the steam trains were hibernating for the winter. I still managed to get a good look at the wheel from the entrance gates though, resisting the temptation to hop over their waist height as Im sure I would have gotten into trouble for that. Unfortunately also, the local mountain railway which carries tourists up to the islands highest peak nearby, Snaefell at 621 metres, was closed too. This was a shame I thought, as a fascinating fact about Snaefell is that on a clear day, one can see a total of six different countries from the peak – England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Ireland, and of course the Isle of Man – rather remarkable really, surely there cant be many views in the world that can take in six countries
in one fell swoop! I am not a big fan of climbing mountains myself, so I was content to see its mist shrouded slopes from Laxey Wheel instead.
After the wheel, I headed back into town again to take in the towns other wheel, the Snaefell Wheel, this one given the nickname of Lady Evelyn, after a lady who supported the Laxey Mines Research Team. This was also impressive, at 15 metres in diameter. I also spent time in the lovely Laxey Woollen Mills, with a shop run by the very gentleman who worked the loom on the shop floor to make all sorts of clothing items, mainly from the local sheep wool, from the very unusual Loaghtan sheep variety, more on that below. I bought a Loaghtan wool flat cap from the shop, and a Manx Tartan scarf from the tartan shop next door.
