Tag Archive for Isle of Man

Hiking Greeba Plantation from Glen Vine

HDR image of a track just inside the edge of mature woodland, green field just visible beyond

An easy 3 hour ramble with sweeping vistas and ancient shaded woodland, starting and finishing on the Steam Heritage Trail which links Peel with the Isle of Man’s capital, Douglas. Don’t be fooled by the short distance and minimal elevation gain – this route includes a river crossing and several squelchy bogs.

Picked up a classic Lamborghini today

Detail shot of a red and blue Lamborghini tracked crawler in front of the Isle of Man Motor Museum

All right, all right, it’s not a supercar and it’s not mine, I was just helping a friend collect it from the docks in Ramsey. But it is a real Lambo, and since it was a bright sunny day I decided to bring along the X-T3 and shoot a few snaps in Classic Chrome and Velvia, two colour profiles based on film which would have been popular when this little crawler rolled off the production line in Bologna.

Douglas Soapbox Derby

Action photo of a soapbox cart going down the hill

A small selection of pictures from this year’s Soap Box Derby in Douglas, an annual event during which competitors race self-built carts down a closed street in the Isle of Man’s capital.

S.T. Cevic Shipwreck, Ramsey

Black and white archive image of S.T. Cevic

Low tide and no rain? Must be time to explore another shipwreck, this time the S.T. Cevic near Ramsey. The remains of this unfortunate steam trawler are testament to the fact that you shouldn’t use a large unwieldy vessel to chase down a smaller one in a storm, close to rocks. Luckily nobody was hurt.

S.T. Pasages Shipwreck, Jurby

Archive image of the ST Pasages

The Manx coastline is dotted with many interesting wrecks, including the Steam Trawler Pasages. Originally built in 1917 for the Canadian Navy in Toronto, she made her way to the UK in the 1920s and was converted to a fishing trawler. In 1931 she ran aground in foul weather near Jurby, where she’s been quietly rusting ever since.

Hiking Lhargee Ruy from Crosby

Hiker looking down into the valley, distant mountains on the horizon

A health-inducing lockdown loop from downtown Crosby to the roof of the world, or the top of Marown, which is pretty much the same thing. Pack the picnic blanket and Compeed, this one’s gonna be good.

Smashed my Half Marathon PB

Some Marathon Runners

Hardly a groundbreaking update, but finally some black-on-white evidence that the fitness regime is paying off. Yep – I smashed my personal half marathon record, and also bagged my longest ever run. Very pleased with this.

Hiking Cronk Ny Arrey Laa from Dalby

Another hastily clobbered together route that turned out all right, on the hottest day of the year, and it’s only May. This one sees us getting sunburnt over 4 hours and 715 sweaty meters of elevation, bagging one of the island’s highest peaks and visiting an ancient hermitage. Welcome to the Dalby circuit.

Springtime comes to Cringle Plantation

Section of mountain bike track disappears into the distance between trees and little white flowers

I spent a couple of hours on the Stumpjumper yesterday exploring Cringle Plantation, one of the more technical mountain bike areas on the Isle of Man. Towards the end of the blue dot community trail I was transported into a magical woodland of mature, moss-covered larch, planted just wide enough to allow a carpet of wild clover to conceal the entire forest floor, and that carpet was now in full bloom.