Friday 8^th April

 After enjoying views and potential for a good sunset from the bedroom window we slept well till our breakfast. We decided to do one of the 6 devised cycle routes for Isle of Man centred on Ramsey. Because of the terrain and fact that we would stay in Port Erin and not be moving on it seemed better to do these circular tours carrying the bike in the car to the starting points. Without an ordinance survey map it would have been difficult to read the little maps on the pamphlet guide given to us (I used glasses with a magnifying glass and I still couldn’t see the place names!) Also the routes didn’t consider the need for comfort stops but we felt that by doing them we had seen most of the island.

We parked just outside of Ramsey in a layby after a long drive over high moorland and winding roads.

Today was billed as a flat 20 mile ride. We had several steepish hills to climb and Bob said “It’s all relative” but “Help!” is what I say for the days that are marked “difficult”.

We passed many clumps of daffodils and gorse was flowering everywhere. The air was filled with floral scent in the sunshine. At Bride we came to a church and café and we stopped for a coffee because we could. The homemade cakes looked tempting and a wall was dedicated to second hand books to be sold a £1 each.

 The church houses an Adam and Eve stone, of which there are only 6 in Britain, and a Viking cross. They looked to be formed from slate though we didn’t have time to read all about them.  St. Bridget’s church, named after an abbess of Kildare, dates back to 1377, though the present granite building is Victorian. Under the tower were large twigs strewn untidily and looking up we saw the culprits- nest building crows and jackdaws. All across the island we were surprised at how many there were and how few smaller birds we saw- even on bird feeders.

Beyond Bride the road leads to the Point of Ayre and its red and white striped lighthouse. Ayre is Norse for pebbly beach. The road peters out to nothing and we were able to ride, though slowly, on the flat rounded stones right beside the sea.

 

To the left was a desolate area of sand dunes and heath where it was forbidden to ride as an ecologically fragile area. We hardly saw a soul. Later we left the pebbles for the more difficult soft sand path right through the nature reserve. Larks were singing and eider ducks were in the water. Lichen grew over the heather that grew very close to the ground. There were holes begun in the sand by rabbits, then abandoned for better ones that became huge warrens as they dug beneath the sand into soil.

We passed a visitor centre with a viewing platform towards the sea. Basking sharks do feed around the Isle of Man and you need to be high to see them. We decided to press on as it would rain later.

 At Andreas we bought baps at the local post office cum shop. They were lovely and fresh and we ate them outside the school on a bench. A robot or dialek watched over the village from an upstairs window while trees around supported rooks noisily nesting.

5 miles after Andreas we returned to the car. It had only been 21 miles but it had taken over 2 hours not including stops.

Packing the bike in the car we drove to Peel, parking by the Cathedral. It was raining but we wanted to explore the castle which sits on St. Patrick’s Isle. It’s not strictly an island any more since the harbour wall supports the little road across to it which does count as a causeway.

Although we only had half an hour before closing we braved the wind and wet ( there were no places here to shelter) Given free entry with our National Trust cards( it would have been £5 each) we took an audio set and explored the ruins, wishing we had more time to listen to the interesting information. We listened out of order otherwise we would have been ages and locked in with the only way out- scaling the walls.

It was originally a fort built in wood, and known as a “pile” from which Peel is derived, by an 11^th century Viking king, Magnus Barefoot. Digs have revealed its wooden remains.

 In the early 14^th century the walls and towers were built using red sandstone of the area. The tall round tower was part of a Celtic monastery with battlements added later. Although most of the castle is in ruin there is a lot to see. From the castle wall we watched a seal playing in the water amongst some eider ducks as we leant on the lichen and rock plant bespattered stones.

Inside the castle walls is the remains of 13^th century Cathedral, St German. Attempts to save it over the years- in 1392 and then in the 1690s when less than a hundred years later it was deemed unfit for holy service. We learnt when visiting the Victorian Cathedral in the town that a group of people are wanting to restore it. We feel it would be incongruous amongst so much history which seems to be evolving all the time through archaeological digs. The ruins have such charm.

18 steps lead down to the crypt under the cathedral which was used as the bishop’s prison. It is barrel roofed and the only light shed from a loophole 6 inches wide. The prison, last used in 1780, incarcerated offenders against the church’s moral code like the Quakers in the 17^th century. Water drips from the roof and the stone floor slopes but the beauty of the arches above still remain inspiring, even to the unreligious.

After 4, when it closes, we walk around the outside of the walls and the seal was still there despite our closeness to it. It wasn’t weather for views but it was a pleasant walk around the path requiring a bit of care as it was a drop down. Finishing at the beach under the causeway we were amazed at the heaps of large scallop shells, pink, beige and white, that couldn’t have been washed up but must have been dumped by the fishermen, there being so much of one kind. They were banked up against the wall and many were smashed.

 

On the way back to the car park we visited the present day Cathedral which was completed in 1884 and which was built in Early English style but incorporating some of the features from the original within the castle walls. It is a very functional building hosting art exhibitions and other community events. Inside one can follow the cathedral trail or just wander noticing the beautiful stained glass, tapestries and fine silver collection. Major work is going on outside to provide car parking and landscaped gardens. There isn’t much to see of planting yet as it hasn’t been the weather and it is still in progress but there are 2 replica beautifully worked celtic crosses in slate set in front of the building. We like the peaceful friendly feel to this place.