Do you know Ellan Vannin?

Certainly not, because it is the Manx name for the Isle of Man. The nice little island is located right in the middle of the Irish Sea and we spent another beautiful day there. We arrived at 8 am and big surprise the mist covered nearly the island. Nevertheless we started two excursions in the morning to the “Manx Highlights”.

From Douglas we drove along the course of the famous TT motorcycle race; there are two events during the year. Normally you see the mountains especially the highest peak, Snaefell, but today it was hidden behind the clouds.

From time to time we had glance of the meadow framed by the yellow gorse. Normally in the middle of May it grows all over the island, but just six weeks ago was all covered by a huge amount of snow up to five meters. 14 000 sheep died in the snow. The sheep are special breed with four horns. Our first stop was in Ramsey a small town with a small shipyard, but nevertheless they build several big ships like the Star of India. From Ramsey we continued to remarkable watermill in Laxey. In former times there were successful mining in the area of zinc and lead.

To keep the water out of the shafts they used pumps driven by the watermill. ‘Lady Isabella’ as it is named is a huge watermill of around 25 m in diameter. After this interesting stop we came back to Douglas having a closer view on the long promenade with the beautiful buildings mainly in the Victorian style.

In the afternoon three groups started to Castle Rushen originally built in the Middle Age. One of the highlights was a ride in the old railway. The electric railway is the oldest in England from the year 1893.

By afternoon it was sunny again. Those staying in Douglas enjoyed strolling along the promenade, and observing a three legged race. In a certain way walking along you really have the feeling of the 19th century.

All of us enjoyed the stay and we ended up listening in the night to Ralf performing songs of Udo Juergens.