We’ve been back home for a couple of weeks now and life is getting back to some sort of normality.
However………. I’m still going to bore you with more Isle of Man posts…… before I forget what we got up to.
This is probably for me as much as anything, but I hope you continue to enjoy tagging along.
At the folk village of Cregneash, they were having displays featuring the contributions made by the land army girls to the war effort in WWII.
It was quite eerie going down to the village, with the mist swirling around. Is it really there, or just a ghostly apparition?
Our first visit was to the carpenter’s shop.
Then next door to the blacksmith’s shop, where this chap regaled us with yarns about blacksmiths and how the war affected village life.
We were entertained by these two ladies who performed a short play on how the war affected the ladies of the island. The characters were the farmer’s wife who had the help of a land army girl and the guest house owner who hosted German internees. It was really well done, with three scenes depicting various stages of the war.
This was followed by a tea dance, where the visitors were taught how to dance. Mick and I gave up, as I think Mick has two left feet and I have two right feet. It was too funny.
We escaped back out into the farmyard.
Next door in the barn We enjoyed watching a bumble catcher being made. They were traditionally a rattle made from reeds and a bumble bee was put in side. Now they use shells for the rattle.
It is fascinating see how quickly they come together.
Here are the makings.
NO farm is complete without a resident cat. I had a lovely smooch with this one. Do you notice something missing? Yes, this is a Manx cat, which is born with no tail.
We next visited a cottage where the domestic arts were on show. I’m fascinated with the Isle of Man patchwork. It is quite unique and I really must have a go. I think I said this back in 2009. Can’t rush things.
In the lovely, warm kitchen the range was hard at work.
It was really interesting seeing what your food ration looked like on a table. It is one thing to read a list, but this made it seem much more realistic.
The ladies had to be innovative with the ingredients available to them. They still made some lovely food.
Out in the laundry butter was being made. It is rather labour intensive to make by hand. The buttermilk is used to make soda bread on the peat fire.
Back outside, the local gents were showing off their old farm machinery.
In the garden they were practising “Dig for Victory”. The more you could grew, the better you ate.
We love the thatched cottages. See how low the door is behind Mick. You can always tell when a cottage used to have a thatched roof, if there are stones sticking out of the sides of the walls.
Meanwhile, the mist was getting thicker, however, it wasn’t wet.
It was nice to see the native Loaghtan sheep up close. Their wool is a lovely caramel colour. They are also a good meat sheep, with some local butchers offering it in their stores.
It was nice just wandering around admiring everything.
Of course, all this fresh air worked up an appetite, so we visited the tea rooms for a very late lunch come afternoon tea. I really enjoy the Bannough they make at Cregneash. It was on my wish list to have some this visit.
After our visit to Cregneash, we continued on our way to The Sound, which is the most southern point on the island. Once again, it had a rather surreal feel in the mist. Previously we have visited in nice, sunny weather.
And then we headed back home, as the mist started to lift just a little.
It was a great day out, despite the weather. Fortunately, for the organisers, the weather was much better on the Sunday, so hopefully lots of people enjoyed the event, which so much work had gone into organising.
On the first weekend we were here there was one of the popular WWII events held here on the Isle of Man. Like most of these events held across Britain, it was mainly based around the steam railway. The Steam Railway runs from Douglas in the north to Port Erin in the south.
On Saturday we planned on going to Port Erin for a look see, even though the main happenings were in Douglas that day (moving to Port Erin on Sunday).
Unfortunately, the weather decided not to play. It was bleak, windy and foggy, but that didn’t stop us getting out and about. I know, windy and foggy don’t seem to go together, but that is what there was. There was even surf at the usually quiet Port St Mary – with surfers.
The engine was just topping up its water before hooking up to the carriages to head back to Douglas.
People are encouraged to dress up for the era.
Mick was fascinated with the armoury protecting the station.
The Shuttleworth Snap replica was on hand, as it often is.
There were also a few old vehicles on display.
Of course, you can’t see any vehicle in the next photo, it is so well camouflaged.
After we had our look around we headed off to the folk village of Cregneash, where they were having displays featuring the contributions made by the land army girls.
We’ll just follow this lovely old bus.
See you there.
So far, I haven’t really shared anything much to do with the reason that we are over here now – motorcycle racing.
It’s been going on for nearly a fortnight. We first visited the Pit Paddock on the Friday before practice started, when it was still rather quiet, but a good opportunity to have a wander around.
There are big, flash teams. This collection of Yamaha reproductions are all owned by the one man and until now have never been raced. He has now sold them all and after this fortnight they will all be serviced and are going to their new owners.
Kawasaki also have a rather flash collection.
I liked the decal on the tail of this bike.
The name “Ollie Linsell” didn’t mean much to me. He actually went on to win the first race of the week on this bike.
As we wandered around, I just looked at what was nice, not really knowing which bike was for which rider. It turns out that this is the bike destined to be ridden by Guy Martin. The only problem was that Guy didn’t turn up to ride it until Thursday of practice week and you had to have completed two laps of practice by the end of Wednesday’s practice session. Therefore, he was ineligible to ride in further practice or the racing. Quite disappointing for everyone involved, as well as the spectators. Much controversy, but the rules are the rules.
Then there are the rest of the racers, who go with the help of friends and family and some local sponsorship. We watched the start of practice next to the family of this racer. They all pitch in to help.
Of course, Mick found the Aussie tent. There were quite a few Aussies competing, other that Cameron Donald, who is one of the favourite racers, both in ability and personality.
It is good to see a group of racers travel all this way without the big sponsorship and backing of the major riders. They had about ten bikes here, which was a great effort.
It was also fun seeing the range of accommodation for the riders and their teams. From the grandiose.
To the humble. Complete with Aussie flag.
Here are a few more random pictures.
Now we were ready for the racing to begin.
