To-day is for me and I like meandering along the less travelled roads. We began by driving from Douglas, at the lower West Corner of the Island...
| Latitude | 54.15197 |
|---|---|
| Longitude | -4.48524 |
| Altitude | 43 m |
to Port Erin,
| Latitude | 54.08490 |
|---|---|
| Longitude | -4.75852 |
| Altitude | 16 m |
on the lower East corner. I found the different altitudes interesting, because both villages are on the coast. This means driving up and along the mountain road. From Port Erin to The Sound cafe is only 2.9 miles takes 17 minutes along a single track mountain road The Sound is the furthest point that can be travelled to at the bottom of the Isle of Man.
We started in Port Erin Harbour when it was almost noon and the sun was high. The Tide was low, revealing a beautiful sandy beach, where a dozen children with families were playing in the water. The street was narrow and we could find not find a parking place. Alex drove to where the boats were moored and we found a place, where he could sit. We shared a portion of chips, and then, I got out to wander with my camera. I moved along the pier to where three lads were swimming, no matter that the sign read 'No Swimming' They were going down the stairs meant for the fishermen, and then jumping in with gusto.
I watched as a fishing boat chugged slowly round the end of the pier and up along the side. The boat was robin's egg blue, contrasting lovely with the deeper blue of the water. The captains tiny cabin up front was white. RY12 was the number of the boat rather than a name. Purely business, I thought. Until I noticed the white life preserver with black letters, 'Our Lady'
The boat was loaded with plastic crates, some white and some red. They were full and covered with wet newspaper. As the boat came up to the pier a young man got out of a white van . The old fisherman threw up a rope and was being pulled in. I watched the procedure with interest to see that he had a winch of sorts and this was attached to the plastic crates one by one and each was lifted up to the young man and put into the van. I walked over and asked him, "Whatcha got in there - fish or lobsters?"
He replied, 'Lobsters and lifted the wet newspaper.' The box was full of clean black lobsters with orangeish trim
along the edge of the tails. They had yellow elastics around their pincers and a red tag read David Quillin. I asked permission to take a photo and he obliged.
The old guy in the boat looked in his seventies with dark weathered skin. He wore a cap, a grey shirt and his pants were held up with elastic suspenders. He wore high 'wellington type' boots. I looked on David Quillin on line and although I could not find specific info about him, I did discover more about the Isle of Man Fisheries.
They are strict and monitor the fishermen closely. One boat was stopped this year. He was fishing scallops and was found to have under-sized scallops on board. He was taken to court, paid court costs and received a fine of £3000. Surely that sends a clear message to fishermen.
Our next exploration was a single trac road that would take us to 'The Sound'. Alex had distant memories of this road leading up from Port Erin. We watched as a motor home came down from this narrow space and figured our Toyota should be able to fit through, once the motor home was gone.
We saw an grey haired couple picking berries along the way. He had a navy sweat shirt on and jeans and wore a grey, round brimmed hat. She wore a emerald green buttoned cardigan over a white t-shirt and had grey slacks on. They each had square plastic containers that ice-cream is sold in. They were half full of wild black berries. I asked," Are you going to make jam?" "Yes," she smiled... and on their way the went.
As we came nearer to the Sound we passed pastures full of sheep, and to the far side of the green pasture we could see the Irish Sea. We soon came off the dirt path and turned right, onto the paved road with white line in the middle, stone walls at each side. This is still a narrow road, when compared to Ontario's country roads with the wide gravel shoulders.
We had arrived at the very busy Sound cafe. We didn't come here to eat, but to enjoy the sea breezes and sunshine. We found a bench, up the hill and overlooking the 'calf of man'
The Calf of Man is separated from the Island by a narrow stretch of water called 'the sound' This tiny Island has been a bird sanctuary since 1951, when it was donated by the Dickens family, to the National Trust. The water that separates this island from the Isle of Man is called the Calf Sound.
When researching about this place, I discovered that two people live there! The island, is only one square mile. and rises to a height of 421 feet. Last year the Manx National Heritage foundation was looking to hire two candidates to live there for 9 months. The roles included running a small hostel and undertaking numerous practical tasks like dry stone walling and heather management. Also shepherding, bird ringing and monitoring seal, rat, and moth populations. The title of the job is Ornithology warden. Below is a two minute video of Ian Lycett who had this job for 9 months.
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We had no idea that there was anyone living there. Now we know!
We sat up here on our bench for twenty minutes. Met a dog groomer and her lovely 4 month old sheep dog. Then, just as we were going to the car, Alex met up with Mick Hemmings whose bike he was going to ride at the Jurby Festival. Mick and Angela are a couple married 50 years and have been working the motorcycle circuit for most of those years. Mick also operated an engineering company. So they stood at the car for a short chat, before we headed back to go along the narrow path again. We were going to visit Anne and Adrian in Port Erin. Our expected time of arrival was 4 o'clock.
As we came back along the path, I noticed a cropping of rocks on top of a big hill on the right side. "Can we stop?" I asked. I felt a tugging on my spirit to climb up that hill.
Alex was happy to sit in the car. I took about ten minutes to climb up and was slightly short of breath as I got to the top. It was then, that I noticed a motorcyclists helmet laying in the long grass. I had not noticed the motor bike when we stopped on the edge of the road.
As I took in the surrounding geography, I saw the man laying, legs apart, arms over his head, in the centre of the stones. He wore running shoes, light blue jeans, a red plaid shirt and a black vest. I now felt like an intruder...yet stayed sort of frozen in time. In the distance, I could see Port Erin which was about 3 miles down. I figured we were half way across the mountain. I could not resist. I clicked the button on the camera. He heard it and immediately he stood up, and walked toward me out of the circle of stones.
"Very special place." He said.
I replied, "you Speak English?"
"Spanish."
He said he came from Spain to the Island for the first time, especially to see the Classic TT races. Anyway I became curious about the circle of stones and wondered if it was anything like 'Stonehenge' in the Wiltshire countryside.
I discovered that this circle of stones has a name, Meayll Circle and is on Meayll Hill. It is avoidance from Neolithic to Medieval times. The Manx name for this structure is 'Rhullick-y-lagg-shliggagh. No, I con't know how to say it but it translates to 'the graveyard of the valley of broken slates.'
The explanation is that it is an archaeological monument with 12 burial chambers in an 18 foot ring with six entrance passages leading into each pair of chambers. The burial chambers have been disturbed because items from this place are on display in the Manx Museum. If we get another visit, I will need to visit the museum.
I came down the hill in a somber mood and enjoyed sharing this experience with Alex. "Did you feel a spiritual connection with that guy?"
"Sort of, yes, because we were both drawn to this place and what are the chances of meeting up at the top of a remote mountain."
We pulled up in front of Anne's house and she came out to the porch to greet us. We spent an hour visiting in their front room. Adrian had just had surgery to place a pace maker of sorts for his heart. His heart went into a rhythm that was too fast and he had to go to the mainland, Liverpool to have this device fitted. He was only home on Wednesday and we were here on Thursday.
After leaving here, we found another undiscovered place, Derby Haven. We found Derby Fort built in 1649 and I explored this place just before sunset. Also got photos of the ruins of St Micheal's Church of the same time frame. We needed to leave this remote place before the tide came in because it would have flooded the only access road, a narrow path between two stone walls. Only an inch or two of space at either side of our car.
From here, we found a little Restaurant behind the airport.
It was called Two-Six and was a cafe/bar. We sat at a tale outside and shared a dessert. Photos are on face book.
I really enjoyed our one day of random exploration. Although we've been to the Isle of Man about 6 times, we managed to find places which we had never seen before. I am certain there is lots more yet unseen gems!
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