The Isle of Man Adventure...

Hi everyone. So, here is the story. Last year sometime the idea floated around about doing a day trip to the Isle of Man. We had it all planned: flights, trains, trams - the lot. At the last minute however, such is our luck, the flights got changed and did not allow us to fly from Birmingham, which threw a spanner in the works. 'Eddie the Late', now of Ryton Tours, then created a second plan which would involve an overnight stay in Liverpool, using the city as a base. The excursion would involve flying out, doing four of the five main railways on the island, then flying back. Eddie then created an excursion timetable to follow which, if adhered to correctly, would get us around the island and back again in the allotted time. A final fifth railway addition, which I'll talk about in the following posts, came later and thus we would attempt to do all five in a day. Yesterday we met up in Coventry in the early afternoon before taking a diversion induced slightly longer route to Liverpool. The hotel, pretty much on the airport site, was reached by tea-time and beers were in order...

Naturally, as we were away, part of the evening would have to include a 'Three Course Challenge'. Tour Operator 'Eddie the Late' did his best to kill off the members of his tour group by subjecting them to the hideous over-filled stomachs resulting from the challenge. Ed has continually initiated these challenges whenever we have attended an eatery with him and their formidable reputation forever preceeds them. Wherever there is Eddie, there is always a Three Course Challenge. Myself & Arnold, I will admit, were triumphant in the challenge and managed to keep going despite Ed's continual attempts to defeat us. The ringleader of the challenges only managed two courses himself (disgraceful)...

Having enjoyed more beers and the unrelenting challenge, it was time to retire. I must commend Arnold, and indeed myself, for winning the challenge. 'Eddie the Late' won the commendable 'Two Course Rosette', whilst John took pride in the 'Single Course Medallion'. This Morning we met in the hotel lobby at 7am and proceeded on foot to the airport. Having passed through the appropriate checks and controls, we boarded our flight to the Isle of Man and are spotted before take-off...

The plane duly took-off and we travelled across the sea towards the island...

Having landed safely at Ronaldsway Airport we disembarked and found a café. A cup of tea was required and, in my case, a bacon & sausage bap...

"A Breakfast Catch" (Pic by Arnold)

As you see above, the mug-shots had already begun!...

Now on the island, our tour could really begin. The first stop was the Isle of Man Steam Railway. Access would be on foot from Ronaldsway, down the road to the picturesque station at Ballasalla. With our train due at 10:20am, we had plenty of time to saunter down there. Let the day begin...