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We’re getting a bit weary of the British weather lately, not to mention our solicitor’s slowness in completing the purchase of our new place in Shrewsbury. Our pals Hayley and Paul had a holiday to Madeira last week and pronounced it excellent, so without further ado we booked the same hotel. We arrived yesterday afternoon. The hotel is a smart 4 star a little way from the island’s capital, Funchal. View from our balcony.

Madeira has a nice climate all year round, though there is more rain in the winter months. This morning it was decidedly wet, but we had a stroll into the city. It’s very nice, with lots of formal gardens.

We came across a bar which has a namesake in Wengen. On the Rocks.

Funchal has a busy port and a big marina.

Eventually the rain gave way to strong sunshine. Last night we popped into a local pub for dinner, and we visited it again for lunch today.

Now we need to choose somewhere to eat tonight from the hundreds of places that Funchal has to offer.

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It’s Saturday, and we’re meeting our buddies the Norths for a night out. We started at the White Hart, which was predictably busy, and we were lucky to find a free table. We followed this up with a really good curry at the East End Balti, before walking round the corner to Jaspers. Selfie time!

Top night out.

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My mum passed away recently. Now that most of the paperwork is done, we can relax a bit. We had a big party for the whole family at the Gaskell Arms in Much Wenlock.

We stayed overnight and enjoyed a lovely Shropshire breakfast this morning before departing for our various homes around the midlands. A very good send-off for my mum.

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Off to Wellington last night with our buddies the Norths. Beers, Curry and more beers.

Great night out, slow start this morning.

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It was busy in town last night, but we found seats at the bar in an Irish pub called O’Malley’s.

This morning we caught a bus to a town called Ramsay. Ramsay is up towards the northernmost tip of the island, and has a commercial port and harbour. Unfortunately the tide was out when we got there so the harbour was nothing but mud, added to which it was raining. No photos therefore. We caught the same bus back towards Douglas, and shortly afterwards the rain stopped, so we got off at a place called Laxey. Laxey was once a mining village and much of the old infrastructure has been restored, including a huge water wheel and a steam railway.

Laxey is also a stop on the Manx Electric Railway. It opened in 1893, and still uses the original rolling stock. We jumped aboard.

The railway took us back to the outskirts of Douglas. It’s slower than the bus, and less comfortable, but after all these years it’s still a big hit with tourists. Now we need to get back to the city centre. There’s a horse tram service which runs along the prom.

The 1 horse power tram got us almost back to our hotel. By now the sun was out so we treated ourselves to ice cream.

Tomorrow we’ll be flying back to Liverpool. We like the Isle of Man a lot. There are good hotels and great pubs and restaurants, public transport is excellent, and everywhere is clean and tidy. I’m sure we’ll be back.

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It’s another nice day, so we’re off to Port Erin at the southern end of the island. A steam train will get us there. The pace is relaxed, and the carriages comfortable.

Here’s our engine. The rolling stock is all original – 152 years old.

The railway is mostly single track, so the trains cross at a passing place at Castletown station.

Port Erin is very nice.

We stopped for ice cream. It’s quite common to see dolphins here, but we were out of luck today.

We headed back to Douglas. The inner harbour is protected by a lifting bridge and a lock gate which retains enough water in the harbour to keep the boats afloat. Once the tide in the outer harbour has risen sufficiently, the swing bridge is raised, the lock gates open and yachts can serenely pass through. A short video – press play.

We don’t have a reservation for dinner tonight, so we’ll head out and see what we fancy.

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Yesterday afternoon we drove to Liverpool airport and caught a plane to the Isle of Man. The flight was very short – 18 minutes from pushback at Liverpool to landing at Ronaldsway. Liverpool city centre.

And here we are passing Douglas, capital city of the Isle of Man, and our base for the next few days.

The island.

It took less than 20 minutes to get there, so how come the fare was the same as we pay for our regular flight to Geneva? Anyhow, we had reserved a table at a fish restaurant by the harbour.

We had a lovely meal, followed by a few drinks in a pub around the corner.

I have never been to the Isle of Man before, and the last time that Val was here was when she was 5 years old. She has an an old family cine film including images of a pub called the Creek Inn, somewhere on the island.

Here she is with her mum with a castle in the background.

And another snap in the street.

It would be nice to find the location of these images. Google tells us that the pub still exists, in a little town called Peel on the other side of the island. We can get there by bus. Peel is nice. Here is the castle by the harbour.

This seafood shack looked very tempting, but we were still full of breakfast.

Peel has a big marina.

Alongside the marina we find the Creek Inn. Fortunately, cameras have improved in the last 55 years.

A good day out, with a little family history revisited. We have a reservation at an Italian restaurant tonight.