Wednesday. We had decided that this was the day to take a trip on the Manx Electric Railway from Ramsey down to Douglas. The school holidays start next week and, as P has fell races on Thursday and Friday evenings, Wednesday would be our last chance. The weather was pretty good too.
Our pensioners bus passes entitled us to half price fares so one way to Douglas cost the princely sum of £3.35 each. Bargain, for a trip of an hour and a half.
We elected to travel in the open "toast rack" carriage, mainly because of the heat and also because it would be pretty well ventilated against "you know what".
We sat up front so that we were up-wind of the other plague-ridden passengers (all off-island visitors).
We arrived at Douglas around 12:30. The Electric Railway station is at the very far north end of the promenade so we had a 2 mile walk along to the southern end and the Sea Terminal / bus station.
We popped into M&S to buy sandwiches then sat on a bench in the sunken garden to eat our lunch, bravely fending off the marauding seagulls who wanted to share with us.
We sat beside the memorial plaque to Sir William Hillary who started the Royal National Lifeboat Institution from this very spot and also caused the Tower of Refuge to be built in Douglas Bay.
From Wikipedia ..... At the age of 60, Hillary took part in the rescue, in 1830, of the crew of the packet St George, which had foundered on Conister Rock at the entrance to Douglas harbour. He commanded the lifeboat, was washed overboard with others of the lifeboat crew, yet finally everyone aboard the St George was rescued with no loss of life. The incident prompted Hillary to set up a scheme to build the Tower of Refuge on Conister Rock. The structure, designed by architect John Welch, was completed in 1832 and still stands at the entrance to Douglas harbour
There is also now a brand new memorial on this section of the promenade. A statue dedicated to the Bee Gees who were born here and eventually became pop music superstars.
... Staying Alive! ...
I will show these photos to my husband. His family regularly went "back home" when he was a lad.
ReplyDeleteSounds a lovely day out.
It was a lovely day. Very hot though; I got sunburnt arms.
DeleteWhat a lovely blogpost JayCee and as Wallace and Gromit might have said, it was indeed a "grand day out".
ReplyDeleteThank you kind sir. It was grand indeed.
DeleteI want to go on that train.
ReplyDeletePop over and buy a ticket.
DeletePerhaps "the toast rack" carriage was invented for passengers who suffered from flatulence? 😀 Super photos JayCee.
ReplyDeleteIn that case, Mrs Northsider will undoubtedly confirm that if you get to ride on that train you will need to be consigned to the toast rack. THWAARP!
DeleteYou two boys, report to the Headmaster's study immediately. This is a ladylike blog!
DeleteSuch splendid photos even the ones on the train. I thought the Bee Gees were Australian.
ReplyDeleteChris, there were some really shaky photos that I had to delete!
DeletePS, see my reply to Debby, below, about the Bee Gees.
That is a fun trip! You should have posed with the Bee Gees for that last photo! That is a nice tribute to them!
ReplyDeleteI try not to have many photos of me. I am not very photogenic!
Delete£3.35 sounds like such a bargain, I'd be on that like a shot.
ReplyDeleteBriony
x
Yep. Worth every penny Briony.
DeleteThankyou such a lovely trip and day out. I've just looked it up on a map. I like that BeeGees statue, it looks like they are walking along to the music, which incidentally is very appropriate as not only is there an Australian connection to them but we are in 'lockdown' again here because of a covid outbreak.
ReplyDeleteThe statue is based on the pop video they made for "Staying Alive", where they are walking down the street singing that song.
DeleteSorry about your latest lockdown. It all just seems to keep on going.
The train trip was lovely, and I'm going to sound very stupid when I say that I thought the BeeGees were Australian!
ReplyDeleteEveryone thinks that Debby! They were born here but the family emigrated to Australia when the boys were young lads so they grew up over there.
DeleteThe Bee Gee's statue looks very well done, and should age well too. Just as a matter of interest, do people on the island consider themselves to be English or Manx?
ReplyDeleteNEVER English! Proud Manx through and through.
DeleteI love riding on trains. That looks fun
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm another one who thought the BeeGees were Australian.
Great statues
Yes, the statues were really well done.
DeleteThe train ride was great, but I got bitten by a horsefly and now have a humungous swollen, red blister on my leg!
I loved that post and the train. I have been up (or down) the electric brae too. I had no idea the BeeGees were actually born in Ramsey.
ReplyDeleteThey were born in Douglas actually, where their parents ran a post office/general store. The statue is on the Douglas promenade, quite close to the RNLI plaque.
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