IOM day 4

Tuesday 3rd August 2010

1840
I didn’t have the best night last night, well the night was ok but I woke up with a headache. I actually had the headache before I was getting up but didn’t have the energy to get up and get some painkillers. I did take the pills as soon as I got out of bed and thankfully that sorted the headache.

We got up and had breakfast and got washed and dressed etc before going out at about 1030ish. I’d looked at google maps last night to get to Laxey but it did something weird so I gave up with that and created my own route using the various maps I’ve got. Amazingly we got to Laxey with NO diversions and didn’t get lost at all!!!!!

We found the gift shop for the Laxey Wheel and mum wasn’t sure she actually wanted to go to the wheel. I asked the lady in the shop how long the walk was to the wheel and she said only 5-6 minutes so mum decided she would go. We followed the sign for the path and it was quite a rugged uphill path – perfect for me not so much for mum. She made it though slower than me. When we actually got to the wheel she decided she wasn’t paying £4 so I left her sitting on a bench outside and went in on my own.

She made the right decision cos she’d have hated it – loads of steps and rough paths. I went up to the top of the wheel, up very narrow but steep steps that go round and round. There was a bit that said “low beam watch your head” and even I would’ve bashed my head if I hadn’t ducked down. When I came down from the wheel I followed a different set of steps and another path and found myself on the mines trail. Unfortunately my legs seem to be getting used to no exercise cos I got a cramp in my left leg while I was going up and down the steps and paths. When I came down to the bottom of one path I saw that I could go into the mines so headed up that way. I asked the man how long it takes in the mine and he said its only 40 yards in and back out the same way. You have to wear a hard hat to go in the mines so I asked the man if he’d take my picture hehe. As I was going in the mine my mum rang me to say not be much longer cos she was getting fed up * rolleyes *

After I came out of the Wheel site we went down a slightly different way to how we’d gone up, partly cos the path was easier and partly cos we wanted to go to the toilets which I’d seen as we walked up. We then walked through the grounds of the fire station and as we were going through the siren went off to signal that there was a fire. A lady came out of the station to warn us not to continue the way we’d been going for a few minutes cos all the fire crew would be on their way very soon and they’d come haring down the path we were about to walk up. She stood chatting with us for a couple of minutes and sure enough 3 cars came flying down that path. She said it is the fastest retained fire service on the island, I was surprised that the only warning that the crew had of being needed was the siren from the station.

Once we’d seen the fire engine go and we were certain there would be no more cars flying down the path we made our way back to the gift shop where we bought quite a lot of stuff. We then dumped our purchases in the car ad made our way to the station to get the electric train up to the top of Snaefell. I also bought some earrings from a stall near the station before we went up.

We got on a nice tram with VERY high steps – not a problem for me but mum struggled. There were only a few of us on the tram and a man (co-driver or something) was telling us about things on the way up. He also pointed out that we’d slow down at a certain point to get a good view of the Laxey Wheel where the vegetation had been mysteriously cut down hahahaha. On the way up we couldn’t see as much as we might’ve liked cos it was quite misty and dull, apparently on a clear day you can see England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland from the summit but that wasn’t possible today :-(

When we got to the top we went straight into the café for lunch, I was hungry and wanted a proper meal so we decided we’d both have lasagne – but there was only one portion left :-( Mum had the lasagne and I had the half chicken – which also turned out to be the last portion of that, it seems it was a good job we went in when we did, if we’d left it any later we possibly wouldn’t have got a hot meal at all.

As we’d got off the tram the man said we weren’t actually at the summit yet, he pointed up a path and said we had to go up there for the proper summit. When we’d finished our lunch I left my mum in the café and I went up to the summit, it wasn’t too far. I’d left my coat in the café and when I was going up the path I really wished I’d had it with me – it was freezing!!

Once I’d made my way back down we were actually able to get the 1510 tram down the mountain cos it was still there, hadn’t gone yet. As we were getting on the tram my mum fell up the steps – she said her knee went underneath her :-( Thankfully she was ok.

The trip down the mountain was totally uneventful and we got back to the car around 1545 and came back to the cottage. Again we managed to not get lost at all!! :-)

We’ve decided to do some washing tonight but it’s taken longer than we expected – supposedly the wash we put on takes 95 minutes – it’s taken 2 hours, has only just finished and it’s 1950!!