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Published: August 1st 2015
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Lazy morning today - I kept putting laundry off and today was the day I could wait no more. Off to the local laundrette I went and it was oddly fun..? The owner was super chatty - she just moved here from Manchester last year and so we talked about how great the Isle is. She was also surprised I'd found the place since it's pretty much local regulars. I'm just special.
Laundry done I headed off to Snaefell. It's supposed to rain the rest of my time here so I wanted to make sure I got it done today. I took the electric rail to Laxey (they still use the original historic tramcars from the 1890s!) which was great fun. Not the most comfortable thing, mind you, but again just fun to experience and hear the whistle 😉
From there I went straight up Snaefell. On the way there were nice views of the valley and of Laxey itself. The view from the summit was fabulous. You can see the entire island from up there, and on a clear day they say you can see six kingdoms (Ireland, Isle of Man, England, Scotland, Wales and Heaven). Not sure
that I managed to see Wales, but I definitely saw the mountains of Ireland and Scotland, and some land that would be England. Beautiful view up there, but it was cold n' windy - I should have brought my scarf!! (Or Canada mitts)
After Snaefell I went back to Laxey where I wandered around the streets for a bit and went to see their other attractions - mainly the Lady Isabella which is apparently the largest working waterwheel. It certainly was impressive to stand beside, let alone to climb. (It was fun watching people freak out over the spiralling stair case hehe.) Standing on the platform above the wheel offered a great view of the valley, but also of the wheel itself - I love that it's such a bright red.
I followed the "Miners Trail" ... whatever it was, some walk that went in behind the wheel. Laxey was a mining town, so there was some history around that but I didn't do the whole thing because I was getting eaten alive by bugs in this boggy area of the walk. On my way back to the wheel I found another kitty friend walking along the path.
Silly bugger.
Back in Laxey proper, I treated myself to some local ice cream (one can never go wrong with local ice cream) and took the electric rail up to Ramsey. This part of the train ride has better views since you're more along the coast. The coastline west of Ramsay looked so beautiful - I'm hoping to hike that tomorrow or the day after if the weather cooperates. Only problem with the train is I was sitting in the open car, which was a tad foolish since I was wearing capris and I basically froze the entire way. Oh well.
I didn't do much in Ramsey - like I said, I'm coming back, so figured I'd do that then... I basically just walked down to the waterfront and promenade. The water was gorgeous. One interesting thing I saw was an odd warning: "BEWARE. Protective mother seagull may attack in this area. Her chick is on the ground and is protected under the Wildlife Act." ... and sure enough, I looked down the alley and there was a grumpy looking seagull sitting on a nest. Of all the places for you to make a nest... silly bird.
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