…just a few spots of rain. It’s a good place for a wander on an afternoon when there’s a chance of getting wet – there’s plenty of shelter. The day’s only heavy shower fell soon after we’d arrived home…
Author: geoffspages
Melons and artichokes
…in the greenhouse and the walled garden at Attingham. We’re taking a short leg-stretch, staying close to civilisation as there’s a chance of a heavy shower (inevitably, as we’ve taken a brolly, it stays dry). It’s very busy here today – car parks overflowing, with visitors to a classic car rally, but we’ll keep away from that, walking around the perimeter of the estate where there are relatively few others. As we near the end of our wander, we pass through the walled garden, where there’s plenty of summer colour.
The Wharfage and the bridges
Wednesday 7 August: beside the Severn on a warm afternoon. We walk as far as the redundant power station bridge, then back to the red iron bridge. The bus at the bus stop is red too – we don’t see many like that around here…
The bikes are back
Not a quiet afternoon… They did their best for the occasion, but one or two silencers sounded less than fully effective. It’s the Broseley Festival of Motorcycling today – we’d better go and take a look (and meet a couple of old friends)
Broseley Festival of Motorcycling
Last (Manx) Post: GLMR
After our visit to the Great Laxey Mine Railway, we’ll be heading for the ferry and home. This visit, to a railway significantly smaller than those we’ve seen so far, was just the thing for our last morning on the Isle of Man. Visit “Laxey: the GLMR” to find out more…
Manx trams galore
Just published to Geoff’s Rail Diaries, photos of the many and various trams we encountered and travelled on during our stay on the Isle of Man. Visit “Manx Electric Railway” – now!
Clip-clop
…the sound of the horse trams in Douglas, Isle of Man. For more photos of this year’s somewhat-limited operations, visit “Horsepower” on Geoff’s Rail Diaries
Castletown
Friday 26 July: We’ve travelled on the steam railway as far as Castletown, for a day’s exploration (and lunch, of course). Firstly, Castle Rushen – what a great place to explore! It’s not a ruin – it’s intact. When a castle was no longer needed locally, it was used as a jail, and now it’s preserved by Manx Heritage.
After the castle, we need to scuttle back to the station to record passing trains, before heading back into town, to find the aforementioned refreshments, and then walking out along the shore to Scarlett Point. Wonderful great slabs of rocks – tilted and folded, and eroded by the sea.
View OS map on Streetmap http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=226193&Y=467191&A=Y&Z=120
The high point of the trip
…was, of course, the visit to Snaefell summit on the Snaefell Mountain Railway. We also saw the SMR tramcars at Laxey the previous day, and on the Saturday when we visited the Laxey Mines Railway (still to come…). Visit “Snaefell Mountain Railway” on Geoff’s Rail Pages for the pictures and more on the line.
Ramsey and Snaefell
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
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