Bad cold or the flu?

So we all woke up late this morning.  Unfortunately Matt seems to have gone backwards and was looking quite bad on Sunday morning, he was aching all over as well which is a bad sign and could mean he now has the flu?  I was feeling quite ill as well - but with a cold not the flu!  Oh joy!

We didn't get up in a rush, and decided to head to new Bernies for brunch as we had no food in the house.  New Bernie's opened up on Thursday so we thought we should give it a go.  It was ok - but the breakfast was a lot more expensive than before and there wasn't as much choice.  However, saying that, I sound like a grumpy Ingletonian, obviously they are finding their feet and we will carry on trying them out to see how they are doing.  They are now essentially a caving cafe so are making fair for caving customers - i.e. hot stews etc.  They seem to have a lot of mushrooms on the menu which obviously is good for me and Tom, not so for Matt.  Inglesport is now the only proper greasy spoon in town and Bernie's a half way house.

Anyway, we all had an appetite so that was a good sign.  We went to the Co-op and I bought food for a proper roast tea in an attempt to get some good nourishment into us.

The rest of the day was a bit bland.  Tom washed the car, Matt had a long bath, we watched The Lion King 2, Matt and Tom made a Lego bridge together (Science homework from school) and then I made roast dinner.  We all went to bed early:  Tom at 7 and us at 8.30.

The longest day

Our herd at Point of Ayre

So today was another clear and sunny day and much less windy than yesterday which was ace. It was always going to be a long day today.  There are only 2 ferries a day between the Isle of Man and the mainland.  They both leave at 8.15.  The morning one went to Liverpool so really the only choice we had was to get the 8.15pm to Heysham.  We didn't rush to get up and then we cleared up and packed the car.

We had decided that today we would explore the North of the Isle.  First stop - Point of Ayre - the very top of the island, which has 2 lighthouses and a big set of fog horns.  The island flattens out up here and the beach was 100% pebbles, all small, flat and rounded.  We had a good walk around, threw plenty of stones into the sea, watched fishing boats and ferries skirting around the Isle and generally enjoyed being out in the open air away in the sunshine and not being blown apart.

After we had got our fill, we headed back to the car and headed back to Ramsey.  We had a little wander around the town, much nicer than the evening before as it was light and we could see the lay of the land, AND it was much warmer.  As we were walking around, I saw a van pull up which said Connor Cummins on it.  Connor is a very well known local TT racer and sort of related to Great Great Uncle Bob - Bob did suggest a number of years ago that we should try to meet up with him next time we were on the island as he comes from a small family and apparently would welcome any tenuous family members - but I thought it a bit weird to go up to someone who is a complete stranger and ask him if he knows of a 80+ year old Bob Cubbon in Southport?  We are certainly 2 non blood relations away, how tenuous can you get?  And then what?!  Anyway, we were satisfied to have caught a glimpse of him.  He was made even more famous a couple of years ago when he had a spectacular accident during the TT from which he was lucky to recover.

Lady Isabella - biggest water wheel in the world

We found the sea front and went for a wonder along the harbour walls in the sunshine to boat spot again.  We then went for lunch.  Now, after almost a week on the island we hadn't come across a restaurant that served Queenies which was disappointing as I do like them.  Anyway, we found a place in Ramsey that served them so that's where we went.  Matt ordered himself a calzone and Tom pasta bolognaise, we were all happy with our choices and the food was good.  The restaurant itself was fine as were the staff, but the clientele - well put it this way, we all felt very very young.  Matt and I were a good 40 years younger than anyone else, Tom obviously helped to bring down the average age, but it was essentially where old ladies had their weekend gossips.



Next stop after the restaurant was Maughold on the North Eastern side of the Isle.  We had discovered in one of the museums that there were old Celtic sites here so we thought we would explore.  We parked in the village in front of a church that wouldn't have looked out of place in the Wild West, walked through the huge graveyard (all graveyards are huge on the island, so much so that I did wonder if there was a crematorium on the island.  There is, but only in Douglas, so I'm guessing that if you don't live in Douglas you probably end up buried in a graveyard).  We walked to a headland, and discovered another lighthouse but no Celtic remains, however, we saw something in a field that looked like Celtic burial mounds so we went to investigate, unfortunately we couldn't get in to the field to investigate properly.  Oh hum...

Next stop was Laxey this is where you can find the largest working water wheel in the world.  Well, between Easter and October.  It is still there now but you can't go up to it and it isn't working.  Matt was a little naughty and legged it over the railings so he could take a photo "I haven't come all this way not to take a photo..."  They hadn't made it that difficult to get in - anyone who wasn't a fatty could squeeze through the locked gate, I'm guess they may have done that on purpose?

Wild West Church

We went for a wonder in Laxey and ended up in a pub which had a bar which had been made to look like a railway carriage.  That is because the electric railway comes here (in season). We had a much needed sit down and drink before heading back to the car.  Before we knew it we were in Douglas, it was only 3pm so much to early.  We headed out again to Fairy Bridge, then back to Douglas head where we went for another ramble and found another lighthouse and tried to spot the ferry on its way in.

Believe it or not petrol isn't that expensive on the island, so we filled up (we have no petrol station in Ingleton at the moment as they have demolished it and the Co-op to build a bigger and better one).  I took advice on where best to have tea and was directed to a pub on the Prom.  It was a nice pub with a good looking menu - but they didn't start serving until 6pm which was too late for us - we had to be at the ferry port for 7pm.  We then tried to find somewhere else, but failed.  The Isle of Man doesn't seem to be part of the food revolution that has hit the mainland.  Pub food tends to be poor to OK - but nothing more than OK, there doesn't seem to be many types of restaurants other than pubs or fish and chips except for the odd Chinese take away.  We only saw Indians in Douglas.  Certainly no bistro pubs and nothing modern.  Considering it costs more to eat out here than at home, it didn't really feel worth it.  In the end we cut our losses and decided to wait until we were on the ferry as the food on the ferry is actually not too bad.

Our cabin on the Ben-my-Chree

We checked in and headed to Costa in the port for a sit down and drink.  It was then I hit upon the idea of seeing if we could get a cabin on the way back.  We were all tired from a long day out and the thought of being able to lie down for a couple of hours on cabin beds rather than sit in uncomfortable seats in the bar was too good not to investigate.  Matt went to the ticket desk to ask and was told that there were cabins free we could book them on board from the shop for £53.  Sounded good to us.  We grabbed ourselves some sandwiches and drinks for tea to give us maximum time in the cabin.

We got called back to the car, lined up for the ferry and then waited and waited and waited.  Apparently they were doing a drill on board.  It took a while, so long that we didn't board until after 8pm, so we were late leaving.  We went to the shop and got a cabin.  Very comfy it was.  Tom took a top bunk, Matt and I a bottom one each.  Tom was asleep within the hour and Matt and I snoozed.  The ferry made up time meaning we got to Heysham early (so early that I was in the shower when they announced for passengers to go back to their cars, just as well I can get ready quickly!)

We then proceeded out of Heysham, down the link road home.  It took about 30 mins which was fab. We all went straight to bed.

Bus Odyssey

This morning dawned blue skies and much less windy than yesterday - hurray.  Today we had decided to buy some Bus Rover tickets and go for a wonder. The bus stop is literally outside our front door, so we got the 9.47 towards Douglas.  We had packed our swimming stuff as we discovered the National Sports Centre in Douglas on the Internet: it has 2 x 25 meter pools and 2 flumes, a jacuzzi, fountains etc etc.  Right down a certain young man's street!  He was very happy with us and to be fair it was a really good set up, very reasonably priced so we were happy too.  We did some runs on the slides, some messing about in the junior pool, then some lengths in the adult pool before playing on the slides again.

One boy and his cow.

We spent a good hour or so messing about and only got out because we were all getting quite hungry. We found a cafe in the reception area which was doing very cheap yet lovely homemade food.  Result, we tucked right in.  The facility really is very good, they had huge indoor halls, a running track, squash courts, hard outside courts etc etc.  Way better than anything we have nearby and considering their population is roughly the same as Craven, it makes you wonder how they do it?  Also they have Post Offices in pretty much EVERY little settlement here.  How?  What have they got that we don't?

We got a bus from the Sports Centre into Douglas, did a little souvenir shopping (well the boys did - I didn't find anything!) and then we went to the Manx museum to finish off the Lego trail that we started in Peel on Wednesday.  Another very good and very large museum.  Not as child friendly as the House of Manannan but good non the less and free.  As we were tired from the swimming we didn't really take in much from the displays but we found the Lego figures, so Tom is entered in the competition - if he wins he will have to come back for a photo shoot!

We then went for a walk along the prom.  It was earlier than we thought, so instead of hanging around Douglas which seemed quite boring - one shopping street full of the usual stores, nothing different, nothing new, no obviously interesting restaurants, so we decided that as we had a Rover ticket on the buses to get a bus to Ramsey and see what restaurants we could find there, that way we would do a full lap of the island by bus.

We had to chop and change buses to be able to do so, but we were successful and got the bus up to Ramsey.  The place was dead, it is Friday night?  Oh hum, we found a chippy in the end and had fish and chips.  I still haven't managed to get any queenies, so tomorrow will be all about that!

We got our last bus back to Ballaugh, had our nightly game of Rummikub (Tom won today for the first time ever!!!!) and slobbed.  Unfortunately Matt has been ill for most of the holiday (today is the first night he has had a beer in the evening) and now I'm coming down with something.  Seems to be the theme for February holidays as we had similar last year albeit much worse!