Isle of Man

There's been something of a lack of posts on the blog recently, as we've both been busy with work and non-work stuff. I was away last weekend visiting my friends Jon and Polly in the Isle of Man. In order to limit CO2 emissions, I decided I should go by train and ferry, combining a visit to my parents, rather than flying... but the ferry crossing on the way over was rough (force 7-8 wind), and I discovered I get sea sick! Fortunately it was calmer coming back, and I took some tablets as well. Anyway, here's the pictures...

Here's the ship that made me sick - I got a different one on the way back across:
and here's the bay at Douglas on the Isle of Man:
and looking out the other way at dawn, from Jon and Polly's house (I was up early to catch the ferry):
There's some really nice countryside there, with rugged coastlines:
and bigger hills than I get to see in Sussex:
It also rains more there than it does in Sussex, but we got enough dry weather to go out and see some places. Here's some pictures of the Great Laxey Wheel, which is an impressive bit of engineering. The wheel is 22m across and weighs about 600 tonnes.
The wheel drove a crank, which push a wooden beam about 100m long back and forth:
at the other end of the beam was the mine entrance, where the beam used to drive the pumps to keep the mine dry:
There's a lot of old wrecked buildings and machinery there too:
We walked into the hills and had a look at the remains of Snaefell mine as well:
We also went out to the coast and saw some seals, but I didn't get any photos as it was raining...

That's all for now,

Mike