The Point of Ayre

If you are looking for a spot to be alone with nature, The Point of Ayre is the place to go.  It is a remote area at the most northern tip of the island.  The beach is a wave of pebbles leading to the Irish Sea.

 On our way back towards the south, we took the western coast road

 which led us to a fabulous view of Peel Castle 

 It was time for dinner, so for our last restaurant meal out, 

we went to The Hawthorn Pub.

It serves food that is a little more 'upscale' 

than the fare most pubs serve.

Vegetarian Wellington

Sticky toffee pudding

One last day to enjoy on the Island before

 heading to the UK for some family time.

A well deserved rest

Douglas is the capital of the Isle of Man, located on the east coast.  There are many attractions, including a lovely promenade, shops, restaurants, but best of all is the Horse tramway, that goes from one end of the 'prom' to the other.

These hard working beasts spend part of their lives being a huge draw for tourists, but they do get their reward by spending the rest of  days at the Home of Rest for Old Horses.

They run to their heart's content, get many treats from all the visitors and are pretty spoiled by all the attention!

Not only is this a sanctuary for horses, 

it has lots of lovely little donkeys

Don't you just love the ears!!!

We ended our equine adventure with a simple supper, 

ready for more fun tomorrow!

A visit to the most northern tip of the Island coming up!

Race Day

This year, the weather did not co-operate very well at all!  Rain, mist, fog and wet roads delayed racing on many days.  We did have a wonderfully sunny day for one of the races, so headed to our favourite viewing spot, Cronk y Voddy, 

which is one of the fastest places on the course.

Here is a little sample video of how fast the bikes are going!

(Please go to the blog to see it)

There isn't a lot to do while waiting for each race to start.....

So, some people take this opportunity to catch up on a few zzz's

Personally, I like to walk the fields and check out the scenery.

 We decided to go to one of our favourite restaurants

 on the south coast for dinner, The Shore

Chicken liver pate

Goat cheese 'en croute'

'Queenies' (small local scallops)

Meat pie

Finally, a sunny race day with a tasty meal to top it off!

Port Soderick & Castletown

On one of our non-race days, we took a drive up to Port Soderick which was a tourist haven in the late 1800's.  Sadly, today most of its former glory has been demolished, only leaving a beach and glen in which to walk.  It still is a nice place to take a walk and think about all the people who enjoyed it over the centuries.

Tunnel under the rail tracks leading to the beach

Walking along the beach I found this fascinating piece of 'beach art'

Next up was a visit to Castletown which is on the southern coast of the island.  It is home to Castle Rushen, a medieval castle from the 1200's.

 We were very lucky to be invited for dinner at our friend's Barbara and Eric, who own West Lodge BnB, the place we stayed during our first visit in 2009

Lasagne

Apple pie with Isle of Man '3 legged man' decoration

Triffle

What a relaxing day and grande finale to top it off!

The Stunning views of the Isle of Man

I would like to share some of the views that the island has to offer...some were taken from the car as we traveled over the mountain and some are stills.

This is why we love it here so much!