Thursday 25 July: Firstly, a ride up the full length of the Manx Electric Railway to Ramsey. Here, there’s time for some exploration – a look at the pier, long closed but now undergoing renovations, followed by a visit to the small commercial harbour. Then lunch…

After lunch, we head back down to Laxey, where we’re in nice time for a departure to the summit of Snaefell (2036 ft high, the Summit Hotel declares, but that’s the elevation of the summit of Snaefell itself). It could be clearer, though the coast of Northern Ireland is visible. It’s less clear to the east now – earlier, on the Ramsey run, we could make out the English Lake District, and to the north we could see the Galloway coast.

In need of a leg stretch, we walk down the well-trodden path to Bungalow, where we’re able to hop onto car no. 2, which we saw arriving at the summit a little earlier.

We’re eating late tonight – it’s almost 10pm when we get back to our hotel, pausing to take in the sweep of Douglas Bay, before calling it a day – another well-filled day at that.

Manx Electric Railway
Snaefell Mountain Railway