Peel

Quote from the Ward Lock Red Guide - Isle of Man - 1970(ish)

Peel, the "Sunset City" as it is sometimes called by its admirers, has managed to combine many of the attractions of a modern holiday resort - good bathing, boating, golf and fishing etc. - with the romantic ruins of an ancient castle and cathedral, and to add to them the sights and sounds of a fishing port - always of interest to people unaccustomed to such a mode of life as that led by the fisherman.

Sunset city is a pretty good description of Peel. It's a town that makes me sad.

Of all the places on the Isle of Man, Peel is the one I have visited most often. Some days I used to go several times. Not in person but virtually through the medium of it's excellent webcam (http://www.dotet.co.uk/index.php?type=webcam&name=peel) which shows the harbour with the aforementioned fishing boats. Sometimes the sun shines, sometimes the rain comes down but from the perspective of my desk it was always a view I wanted to be part of.

The fishing boats, castle and cathedral have all survived from that 1970s guide as have the bathing, boating and golf. For the sun worshipers the beach is excellent and sheltered. It's not Costa-del-Peel hot but in the good weather you'll be happy on it's sands. There is excellent ice cream for sale a few feet away too, watch the gulls though as they begrudge you every bite ! If sand isn't your thing, a quick walk around the harbour will bring you to a beach made up entirely of broken shells. Pretty as long as you have something on your feet.

The harbour itself is reasonably busy. I suspect the number of working trawlers has dropped slightly but other boats have taken their place. If you fancy going to see basking sharks, several boats can oblige. Likewise the aspiring sea fisherman can find something small and plastic to sit on while dangling his rod. Yachts take shelter in the inner harbour and if your visit is timed well there is a traditional boat festival for the lover of all things wooden and floaty. At the time I was there a couple of dredgers were working away clearing the bottom. The kind of investment shows that this isn't just a tourist attraction but a proper working quayside. The RNLI has a a boathouse for it's Mersey class boat, an all weather craft capable to rescues in deep water. With nothing between Peel and Ireland if you are out on the water you are glad that don't just have a dingy ! With no slipway a couple of huge tractors are positioned to pull the boat in and out of the sea on its carriage.

Should smelly fish turn you on, tours of kipper smokeries can be arranged, although why anyone wants to see herring hanging in a chimney is beyond me much less eat the results. You can get even more history from the museum if you want it or you need to shelter from the rain.

With all this going on, what is there to be sad about. Why is it that as I sat on the harbour in the warm early evening sunshine, eating bonnag from the excellent food hut you can see on the webcam, did I feel that that the sunset city was a fitting description ?

Well Peel is lovely. But it's dieing. Wander down the lovely atmospheric narrow windy streets and what greets you are closed shops. Some have no occupant, some (mostly antique/gift emporia) are fitted and stocked but simply haven't bothered to open or don't feel it's worth the effort. The two adjacent supermarkets seem to do reasonable business so there is local trade but with the bright lights of Douglas a short drive or bus ride away even that isn't much. You can buy furniture from Paradise & Gell's grand and beautiful store that has pride of place in the middle of the street. The frontage is so good it makes the rest of the town look even shabbier by comparison. It's not that there aren't business's or shoppers, it's just that the town appears to have lost heart and simply given up.

Nearer the water things are improving. Regeneration is setting in with new paving and apartments. An effort is being made to brighten up and modernise the area. In some places it works too with a couple of fantastic art and craft shops with very reasonably priced and tempting locally produced items. Just the sort of thing the better off holiday maker wants to take away as a souvenir.

Peel is lovely. If you've never been it would make a pleasant day trip but I suspect you'll come away wanting more. Maybe, one day, you will get it.

More photos in Flickr including the evil seagull.

Rest Home for Old Horses

What do you think happens to the horses that pull the trams along Douglas sea front when they are too old to do the job ?

Did I hear someone say glue or dogfood ? Happily you are wrong. For the last fifty years they have ended their days at the Rest Home for Old Horses just outside Douglas. The centre was set up by the daughter of a man who watched horses being shipped off the island for slaughter abroad. These animals would be dragged onto ships where they would be tossed around while sailing to their fate. All he could do initially was buy straw to make it less uncomfortable for them.

Now no Douglas tram horse can be sold off the island. Animals are offered first to the home, and they never turn one down. In addition they take in other horses and donkeys for the 92 acre site.

Visitors get to meet the animals and for a quid can buy bags of horse nuts to feed to them. Obviously this is great fun and no one passes up the chance. Really this is genius, the horses need feeding anyway and the punters will be pleased to pay to do it. On top of this you can sponsor a beast for a tenner a year.

The cafe is serves excellent chocolate cake too but you don't want to know about this, you want to look at the photos on Flickr and go ahhhhhhhhh

Check out the official web site

Groudle Glen

The highlight of any trip to the Isle of Man must be a visit to the Groudle Glen. It is officially the most beautiful place on the planet and worth a few hours of anybodies time.

The weather wasn't kind, with drizzle and high winds (60 mph+, the radio was full of ferry sailing postponements) . The tram I caught had only a single car as the open sided trailer was felt unnecessary. The run was noisy with the windows rattling away as we ran along the cliff edge watching the sea hurling itself at rocks and cliffs. Most of the passengers had the same plan as me and hopped off at Groudle station where a ranch style sign announces the entrance.

It's worth explaining a little history at this point. Groudle Glen hasn't always been a scenic feature. In Victorian times it was more akin to today's theme parks. After paying the entrance fee, the visitor would be entertained by fortune tellers, fairy lights powered by the amazing innovation of electricity, bands playing by the dance floor and finally a small zoo with ferocious animals. There was the largest crevasse in the world and other amazing sights depending on the time of year. All this and the bracing coastal air thus combining entertainment with health outdoor pursuits. Most of this is now long gone but there are still attractions, and no entry fee either !

This isn't a trip to do in high heels. The path down into the Glen is reasonably steep - not difficult but you want shoes or trainers on and if the weather has been inclement (inclement: a day of driving rain) recently they better not be your best shoes or trainers either. This drops you underneath a tall, stone, curving viaduct that carries the Manx Electric railway over the drop. A rushing stream runs under this and down the valley. You can follow this in either direction but most people head toward the sea.
Several things strike you here. First, the colours. Groudle Glen is, in my experience, always green. Ferns and moss cling to the cliff sides. Flowers and shrubs fill the space. It's not garden pretty with lots of showy colours but has more of a jungle pallet.
Next you hears the sounds, or rather the lack of sound. That stream, which runs over numerous small waterfalls is the loudest noise followed by birdsong. If you fancied a bit of meditation I'm sure all that rushing water would be just the thing to help you centre. There isn't a toilet in the glen though so if that's the effect it has you better no listen too hard !
To be honest the pictures give a better impression than words and even they can't give fully convey the wonderful, peaceful atmosphere that comes over you.
Half way along the path is one of the few remnants of the Victorian theme park past - a small building with a bright red waterwheel. Apparently this used to power the fairy lights once upon a time. Nowadays it's the think everyone takes a picture of. Quite how this was moved into position isn't clear as there is no road access. Still, when labour is cheap I suppose anything is possible.
Passing past the bandstand and over a little bridge the path splits. Down takes you to the sea - not a friendly place when I visited. Go up and you reach another Victorian triumph and the jewel of the Glen - the Groudle Glen Railway.
The GGR has a great slogan - the railway that runs uphill to the sea. While accurate a better phrase might be "the railway that runs from the edge of nowhere to the back of beyond.". It is a line that is utterly and beautifully pointless.
The main station is Lhen Coan, a Swiss style structure covering two tracks. As I arrive the coaches are waiting and the locomotives being prepared. One of these, Sealion, is the railways original loco and is over 100 years old. Next to it is Polar Bear a replica of one of the battery electric locos built to the replace the steam engines. As it was these wore out and steam took over again !
Polar Bear is sent off to check the track is clear from the previous days storms. I chatted to the guard and was given a brief tour of the engine and carriage sheds. This isn't a privilege normally accorded to visitors as some are stupid and hurt themselves or don't realise that standing in front of a moving train isn't clever. Others are light fingered and will help themselves to anything not nailed down. The Manx people are very friendly and showing interest usually gets volunteers on attractions like this to open up and enjoy showing off what they do.
Inside the engine shed is a new locmotive for the line - a steam engine shaped diesel that is famously shown running on a Butlins railway in the opening credits of the BBC TV show "Hi-De-Hi". Currently under restoration it will give the GGR some quick motive power for quiet days along with another attraction to bring high-spending railway enthusiasts back time and time again.
As train rides go this isn't bad. You start off in forest and climb (yes climb) towards the sea. Greasy wet track and a full train, not bad for 11am on a Sunday morning, gave Sealion problems but one of the team hopped off and spread sand along the rails so we could continue. For a little engine (Most people tower over the trains) it certainly pulls well although we were treated to a good show of smoke and cinders from the chimney.
At Lime Kiln Halt the line curves along the cliff edge and finishes before it runs out of land. This is Sealion rocks, so called because the next stop for the intrepid Victorian would be a stroll down to the Sealion and Polar Bear pools. Some blockwork and part of a bridge still remain from these although the animals left many years ago. For me, the cafe was a more appealing prospect. Hot tea and special cake made from biscuits, marshmallows and choccie goo fortified the inner man for some sea watching. With no mains electricity out on the cliffs, power comes from a very eco-friendly wind turbine which was going great guns and could probably run most of the island at the time.
The train back was much more relaxed if slightly wetter until we reached tree cover. You can watch a short video of the cliff section here. Back at the start there is the obligatory souvenir shop, soon to be replaced with a more impressive emporium. With the line at full length and as much rolling stock as they need, the small team who look after this line and have saved it from vanishing, are concentrating on improving the infrastructure. Good luck to them.
More photos on Flickr
Visit the official Groudle Glen Railway Website

Lady Isabella

The Laxey Wheel is one of those iconic tourist attractions that can turn out to be a bit rubbish when you finally visit them. I'll admit to not being that bothered about it on any previous trips to the Isle of Man. On my first time on the island I'd wandered in and taken a look, even going so far as to climb to the axle level before bottling out. From a distance the wheel is very impressive – at 77 feet in diameter and painted red to stand out from the white brickwork it could hardly fail to be. Perhaps the slightly “twee” painting didn't do anything for me, I like my industrial plant to be grubby and used, not chocolate box pretty.

It was a nice day and I was in Laxey so I fancied another go. The memory of stopping half way up the climb niggled me and I felt there was unfinished business. It was the same with the Eiffel Tower – reached the second level on a school trip at 12 but for the next 15 years wanted to go back and make it to the top.

To reach the wheel you have to climb up the valley from the station. This makes a large structure even more imposing and it certainly looks bigger than you expect having viewed it from a distance. It's original purpose was to power the pumps keeping the lead mines dry. Man has no coal deposits but an abundance of water (quite an abundance as I write...) so hyro-power makes good economic sense and explains why the Manx kept on developing it when the mainland had moved overs to Mr Newcomons invention. The mines were up to 2000 feet deep at one point so needed a lot of pumping.

The pumps are driven by a long crank rod that moved around 10 feet every time the wheel revolves. This, more than the wheel, fascinated me when I first saw it. The huge square wooden rod is carried on a long viaduct and terminates on a T-rocker where it would have been attached to the pump.

All journeys start with a single step and heading up the wheel is the same. The first steps are reasonably easy and straight. They take you to a balcony level with the central axle. This is where I made my mistake on the first visit, I watched the wheel. It is mesmerising as it rotates at around 3 rpm but it also fills your field of vision. I can't claim to be good with heights but buildings aren't usually too bad for me. When most of the building is rotating – then I get the willies. This time I ignored the wheel.

The next steps are a spiral staircase around the tower carrying water to the top of the wheel. They aren't wide but there is a handrail to seperate you from death. This was fine for the first rotation but at the start of the second the designer ended up with the a beam bisecting the airspace you need for your head. Short people will be fine. Some of us have to read the sign and duck down to squeeze under. Many people stop at this point but sheer bloody-mindedness made me press on for another rotation up to the top.

The balcony at the top is lovely. Solid, not shaky and wide enough to walk down the centre without touching the handrails. I know you'd expect anyone with vertigo to hang on to the rails for grim death but that meant going near the edge and I preferred not to. I also preferred to ignore that bit of my brain that way telling me that I was walking on a wooden platform sticking out over the top of the huge wheel. I know there are struts to support this but it is an old building and you can never be too sure how good the maintainance has been.

The view from the top is magnificent. Along the valley you see the course of the river that provides the power. Behind there is the crank rod transferring power to the pump. To the left and right, hard surfaces that my vertigious brain said meant death so I didn't look at them much. And below is the noise of rushing water and the wheel rotating. Nice.

You can watch a video of the wheel here.

Going down is harder than going up if you want to do it in a controlled way. That beam half way down the steps had obviously been lowered by some joker while I was up there, or at least that's what it felt like.

Back at the bottom I walked some of the mine trail, at least as far as the T-rocker. It's hard to believe that 100 years ago the verdant land of the valley was basically a factory floor. The plants have replaced dirt and grime from the mine and ore processing activities. The hundreds of men, women and children who worked there are no more. Reading the information boards it it hard for the modern visitor to understand what made people chose to crawl down dark and dangerous mine shafts every day. I might not like a 100 foot climb up the wheel but I'd like a series for 150 foot ladders going down into the dark.

The wheel has a fairly typical story behind it's survival. The Manx have never been that good with heritage despite relying on tourism as the mainstay of the islands economy for many decades. Despite being a major attraction the wheel was allowed to decay until a builder, Edwin Kneale, leased it while the rest of the mine equipment were being sold for scrap. He restored and offered it as a tourst attraction for nearly 30 year before the Manx Government bought it and took over responsibility. Without his actions Lady Isabella would have followed the Lady after whom it is named into the past. People would have said, "How wonderful if the wheel was still ther" but once gone these things don't come back. Amazingly the Government still allows attractions to fall into disrepair. This year most of the Manx Electric railway is out of action for repairs. The tourist board is considering dropping the production of the annual brochure that provides over 50% of the trade for the hotels and guest houses too...

Wikipedia information on the Laxey Wheel
Photos in Flickr

2038 feet up

There aren't many places on the Isle of Man that can't be reached by public transport. For me it's one of the joys of the place that you don't really need a car to get around. On the mainland you count yourself lucky if the bus can get you into the town centre or to work, here you take a tram to the top of the mountain !

Obviously this isn't a direct service from Douglas. That would be no fun at all. First up is a trip along the front. This might be a mere couple of miles of nice flat walk but why wear your boots out when there is a handy and regular horse tram service ? The beast pulling my tram is called Charles and he seemed happy (ears up) as he hauled us along in the sunshine. All the horses on the service are in excellent condition as you'd expect for animals on public show. Each horse only works 4 trips, walks on what appears to be special tarmac and is regularly checked over. The trams might look heavy but you can push them yourself and on a nice smooth steel rail one the vehicle is rolling it doesn't take much to keep it that way.

At the horse tram terminus while Charles enjoyed a drink, I transferred to a tram on the Manx Electric Railway. At over 100 years old this is one of the earliest electric railways in the world and still uses a couple of the original cars. These days we forget how revolutionary electricity is but for the Victorians it was akin to magic and as revolutionary as teh Interweb. They liked to show of technology too hence the overhead wires over a line that would normally have been built for steam engines. Travellers to the island would have treated the trip in the MER as a highlight of their holiday in the same way we'd think of a space shuttle launch.

While we waited to start off one woman “entertained” us by whinging about the horse trams as one of them hadn't been offered a bucket of water at the end of his trip. And the fact the driver had got himself and the ticket collector a coffee. She was going to get off and say something to them. But she didn't.

The repertoire expanded with new moans about the ride comfort, noise and a hundred other niggles but no-one else cared as the view along the line is fantastic. OK, so you aren't revelling in modern air conditioned comfort, although the trailer car was a side-free toastrack type for those who needed the cobwebs blowing away, but that's part of the charm. It's all about the journey and not just the destination. We were treated to a procession of Manx countryside and seashore with the water glinting in the sunshine. Finally though the tram arrived at Laxey.

Laxey station has always looked exotic to me. The station buildings themselves sit in a wooded hollow and a lot of the smaller trees are palms. Architecturally it owes a lot to desert island style shacks with it's wide verandah and a couple of “mud hut” style outbuildings. I've spent happy times just sitting here and watching the trams roll by in the sunshine, but not today - a few feet away were the trams that go up the mountain.

For the technically inclined there are important differences between a Manx electric tram and a Sanefell one. The later runs on track six inches wider for improved stability in the wind and also to incorporate an extra rail fitted in the middle on its side. This Fell Rail is an extra braking system in case the main brakes fail on the mountain. Special grippers are fitted under the car and a driver of a failed vehicle can use these to control its decent to return to the station. The mountain cars also use bow collectors rather than trolley poles to ensure a constant supply of electricity all the way, especially in high winds.

A handy hint for travellers is on the trip up, sit on the right hand side of the car. That way you are treated to the best view of the one of the islands best known landmarks, the Lady Isobella water wheel as the tram climbs out of the station and up the Laxey valley. If you don't, it looks like this. New this year is a running commentary from the driver pointing out some of the sights you might otherwise miss. With several of these being ruins that appear to the uninitiated to be little more than piles of rubble, it's a valuable service. Trams up the mountain run next to the edge so vertigo suffers might care to disregard my advice on seating position and hide as far from the drop as a 10 foot wide carriage allows.

At the top of the mountain passes through the Bungalow. Beloved of motorcycle enthusiasts it's the point where the tram tracks cross the mountain section of the course. During the race trams stop here and passengers have to cross by footbridge to another tram waiting to complete the journey. Apparently getting the riders to dodge the trams was considered a challenge too far !
Past Bungalow the line spirals up to the summit. At this point everyone sat on the “wrong” side has the best view. Ireland, Scotland and Wales hove into view at different stages along with the flatlands at the north of the island.

Finally after half an hours travelling the tram arrives at the top. If you are lucky you are able to see the café 5 feet away. The summit is at 2038 feet above sea level and disappearing into cloud is a regular occurance. At that point your options are to sit it out and eat some excellent cake or stay on the tram and head back down. Hoping for the best is usually worth it as the wind moves the cloud around and creates gaps so at least some of the view can be enjoyed.

As it happens I got lucky – the wind may have been gale force but that mean the view was present. Nothing is perfect of course – the kingdoms of England and Ireland were hidden from sight but the others promised, Wales, Scotland (just), Man, Heaven and Neptune were there to be seen if you squinted hard enough. Holding a camera was another matter and I'm not sure how good my pictures will be !

Jurby Junk & Peel Museum

Jurby Junk
Originally uploaded by Phil_Parker

Oh well, might as well start the trip with a visit to one of the lesser attractions on the Isle of Man - Jurby Junk shop. As you would expect from the name, it's a shop and it sells junk. What you don't realise until you find it is the sheer scale of the operation.

Housed in a couple of industrial units on Jurby airfield the business has been run by Stella for at least 30 years. As well as providing all the old tat that anyone on a small island could want she also supplies props for film and television work. I suspect that this provides most of the money as I've never seen the junk sell in any quantity. This is stacked high, and I mean well over 10 feet high, on shelves with very little semblance of order. Some items are grouped into boxes under the racking but most simply exist on shelves.

Most people find that their homes acquire a level of detritus that appears to multiply of its own accord. The junk here seems to be doing the same thing. Much has been in stock for several years and the old place has a faint smell of "old stuff". How much will ever find a buyer is open to conjecture. It's certainly fun to root around it though.

The business has been expanded in the last 18 months to take in books in an adjacent unit. Imaging taking several thousand books of all genres and tipping them into a room - and you have a pretty good idea what the place looks like. You'll not find much in the way of categorisation or organisation on the shelves. Paperbacks fill baskets on the floor and the only way you find anything is by treating the store as a giant lucky dip. To be honest with airport books that's good enough but looking around there are going to be some real nuggets of gold to be pan handled from this lot - you better have plenty of time though !

As a counterpoint some culture was required. That, and the rain has arrived big time so the Manx Museum in Peel seems awfully attractive.

On arrival a school party was just leaving - great news as it's too good a place to waste on kids. The first area covered is the Pagan and Viking heritage of the island. Shown through a mix of reconstructions and audio visual displays. One minute you are in a Celtic house and next in its Viking replacement. Every step is illustrated by the actor T.P.McKenna pretending to be a mysterious Manx spirit. To be honest this was a bit duff with to much mysticism and not enough hard facts for me but at least I now have a better understanding of Paganism and the carved crosses that adorn many Manx churches. The transition to Christianity and the implications of this change is well covered though. Nice use of "Odins Raven", a cut down replica longboat built in the 70's, too.

Things improve as you move up stairs. The floor is transformed into a quayside chandlers with hundreds of objects decorating the "set". Looking through the windows you spy the boats and dockside characters. There is noise and smells and nothing mystical at all. No labels either which will make it harder for many to understand what they are seeing. More AV displays tell the stories of Manx characters from the man who invented lifeboats, a member of the Bounty's crew, a smuggler and the wife of a sea captains. This last character is particularly interesting as she and her family travelled the world in an era when most Manx barely travelled between their villages on this tiny isle.

The museum design was excellent - as long as hardly any people turned up. The displays worked fine for groups to 3 or 4 at a time - any more and you came to a presentation half way through and had to watch things out of order. Worse, some rooms simply couldn't accommodate many so on a busy day you'd have to wait around or simply miss chunks for the display which would be a great shame.

Following on the from the maritime characters we had displays of kippers and fishing followed by the history of the Steam Packet company.

Aside from the design issues, the biggest problem with this museum is that is is so good. After 3 hours we were being checked out as closing time approached. The Peel gallery received on the most cursory look, yet deserved much more. Maybe the designer modelled themselves on PT Barnum and wanted us to left wanting more !

More pictures of junk (and other stuff) on Flickr.

Ferry down the Mersey

At what point is it reasonable to storm the bridge of a ferry and take control ?

I ask because I'm pretty certain that the captain of the good ship Viking that took me to the Isle of Man today, was a fake. When he made his first announcement to the passengers he said that there would be some swell as we approached the island, "hitting the left of the ship.". Now as any fule know, the correct term is "port side" and if he can't get this right, how could we trust him with the steering, mainbrace splicing and other nautical tasks ?

Sadly, none of the other people on board seemed up for a mutiny so I just make careful note of the location of lifeboats and hoped for the best. It seems that the choice of 2 cafes, a bar, shop and Mr Bean on continuous loop pacified them.

Half an hour of interesting Mersey and 2 and half hours of dull, grey Irish sea later we made land. As our main in the gold braid had promised, the trip got a bit lumpy in the last hour. Inside I felt a touch uneasy but a trip up on deck cleared this - and thanks to the wind, pretty much everything else !

With the on board shop out of Guardians I bought a local paper, The Isle of Man Examiner. The thing that struck me most was the numbers convicted of various levels of drink driving. Not sure if this is a one-off post TT even or if I need to be careful on the roads about closing time. My favorite story though concerns a plan for more car parking in Peel. This will involve blasting away some of the cliffs and local residents have been interviewed by the reporter to garner their views. Most are happy with the idea but the best quote comes from Neil Richmond who is secretary of Peel Golf Club, "I go for walks around the back of the castle and I know there's a lot of late-night socialising that goes on around there, which would be encouraged by making this secluded car park bigger."

Back on dry land I'm booked in to the excellent Arrandale Hotel which provides comfy, reasonably priced rooms, a working radio and telly, and free WiFi - even a sea view if I crane my neck out of the window a bit. What more can I want ?

More pictures on Flickr