Strange Seas

I just put on the above picture. I was out walking along the seafront at Peel earlier this year...about March I think, .AND I had my camera with me ..It was a fine day, with no wind, but to me, the sea seemed to be behaving strangely. ...quite rough on a windless day ! Suddenly it just seemed to rise up and flooded the whole beach. Lucky there were no kids there as this is the part of the beach they usually play on in the summer . ....and normally the water never reaches this far up the beach . It must have been our very own minature Manx tsunami !

The Calf of Man

No account of the Isle of Man is complete without a mention of the Calf of Man . It comes from the old Norse word [ those pesky Vikings again ] ...kalfr....meaning ....a small island off a larger one. The Manx word for the Calf is.....yn Cholloo

It is a small island off the southern tip of the Isle of Man, once farmed but now a bird sanctuary, staffed by a resident Warden in the summer. Open to the public and only accessible by small boats at three landing points..... just gaps in the high cliffs .....you have to jump ashore. ..... However, the old farmhouse, now the Warden's residence can take up to eight 'guests'. Helen and I stayed there on a few occasions for several days. The Warden met the boat with a quad bike and trailer to cart your luggage up a steep track to the farm......just as well, those bags of wine and beer can be quite heavy! You reserve your room at the Manx Museum in Douglas.. about £4 a night . It was no 5 star hotel...it was pretty basic, ...you had to bring your own food and drink, but every body shared , so it wasn't too bad..... Water was pretty scarce during hot weather, the spring outside used to dry up, so washing wasn't a priority, ....no TV, no cars to disturb the peace and lights out at 9 pm , to save fuel for the rickety old generator outside....but what a great time we had ! Wandering through heather and masses of bluebells, ,picnics and lazing in the sun or diving from the rocks into an ice cold sea. On one occasion , in the middle of the night, we helped the warden net and ring Manx Shearwaters.........the Calf is a stopping off place on their migration route . Other times we helped him record details of small migratatory birds he had trapped in mist nets. It was fascinating to see him handle such small creatures so expertly.

The day done, we might watch the sun set over the Isle of Man a mile away and then talk into the night with bottles of cool wine in front of a roaring log fire.. It was a fantastic time .....and we loved it !

I have put on a picture of the Calf from the air and one of Helen with the farmhouse in the background. Also two lighthouse pictures. ....the Chicken's Rock is the one in the sea and the other light is one of the unused ones on the Island.....three on the Calf and the Chickens...four all together not bad , eh !...... Notice the bluebells, the scent of them would knock you squiffy. The only animals on the Calf are several flocks of the Manx Loaghtyn sheep.......dark brown fleece with four massive horns.......and thousands of rabbits and I should imagine , lots of longtails.

One other interesting point is that one landing point is called Cow Harbour. When the Calf was farmed they used to drive the cattle into the sea here and swim them across to the main island for market . They had to choose the time carefully because there is a vicious tidal rip between the two islands.

I have an out of print book about the Calf. Surprising how much history and stories there are about such a small place ..

The Manx Glens

I mentioned the Island's glens in the previous post . Well, here are a few pictures from the many glens scattered about the Isle of Man . I realize there are much nicer and more dramatic views and places elsewhere , especially in the States, but the Isle of Man crams quite a lot into a small area. We have our hills and glens, a rocky coast line with many sandy beaches and bays, heather clad moorland, rivers and meadowland.... so its not too bad for such a small island.....and it's a nice place to live , but of course, I am biased . Hope whoever is looking this blog likes the pictures though I must add, most of them were taken by someone else and I 'borrow ' them from his web site....I am sure he won't mind! I must try and add some more of my own efforts soon . By the way, ...for any potential Manx Gaelic students, glen.. in Manx is ....glion...pronounced ...'gludden '

You may notice that in one of the pictures there is a palm tree. [ Summerhill Glen ] Now for such a cold, wet, gale lashed little island, these palms grow everywhere ....no coconuts though!! Isn't the Isle of Man the strangest place !!

Niarbyl News

Whilst on the subject of the Niarbyl , I just found a few more pictures. The view to the South was taken from just above ' Ned Divine's ' cottage. The hills in the back ground drop down from about 1800 ft right into the sea. The little cottage you can see was until recently occupied by an elderly lady, until some thugs broke into the place, attacked her and made off with some bits and pieces. They were caught !. The other picture shows the reef, which is right outside Ned's front door, sticking out into the sea. Incidentally, this reef is covered at high water......quite a hazard to boats. ...The picture was taken from ....yn traie bane....the white beach, so called because of the many white stones there. ..... There is a little plaque on the bench you can see in the picture which says:...'.Sometimes I sits and thinks and sometimes I just sits.' Sums up the Manx character, that's for sure.!..... I was last down at this little beach a few years ago with Helen when we walked along the cliff path from the Niarbyl...

I just put a couple more pictures on to show how hilly the Island is ....one taken from above Port Erin and one near Tholt y Will, , on the lower slopes of Snaefell......but much of the Island is the same. Pretty bumpy, eh ! With all these hills it is not surprising at the number of glens to be found on the on the Island....thickly wooded river valleys running down to the sea. I say rivers, but our longest river, the Sulby, is all of 10 miles long and on a good day the water may come up to your knees . Anyway, hope you are enjoying the show so far .....don't forget ....click on a picture to enlarge .

Manx Films

Thank you , my Kansas cousin for your comments. Manx films ?....far too many to mention here. Put ........Isle of Man Film ....... into Google. You'll find all the info you want. The Isle of Man film industry, set up by the Goverment , is quite a large concern these days , [ watch out Hollywood ] not producing films but offering services , location advice, financial help, everything to do with films, in fact, in order to attract film companies to the Island

I too, liked the Shergar film, based on the true story of a famous Irish race horse that disappeared without trace. There were quite a few shots in Peel ....one of the chemist shop I use !!

Since you mention the Ned Divine film..I have put a picture of the cottage at the Niarbyl where he supposedly lived and a picture of the hamlet of Cregneash where a lot of the action took place

Incidentally , for any students of Manx Gaelic who may read this [ ha ha ! you never know, there may be one somewhere ] Niarbyl is another way of saying 'Yn Arbyl ' meaning ' the tail ' , referring to a long reef of rocks that juts out into the sea at this spot. Notice the cannon on the wall. I am sfraid I know nothing about this .could have been salvaged from an old shipwreck at this point at one time. [ I must find out ! ].... ..... Hope you are enjoying my little stories .

Manx Gaelic

Gaelic, the native language of Scotland, Ireland and the Isle of Man evolved from an old Irish language in use about 1000 years ago. Due to isolation of the three countries at that time, the Gaelic language evolved in different ways but still recognizable as one language. The Scottish and Irish Gaelic is still widely spoken though the Manx almost died out in the late 19C, due to a large extent to Methodism which had great influence in the Island in those , not so enlightened days. It is now making a strong comeback....taught in some schools with kids growing up bi-lingual . Just wish I had that chance when I was younger....though I still speak a bit of Manx with quite a good knowledge of French as well...the perfect language, in my opinion . Anyway, if anyone is interested here are a few words in Manx.

Kys t'ou. Kanys ta shiu ? [ Hello. How are you ]
Ta mee dy mie [ I am well ]
Slane [ pronounced SLARN' ch ] [ Goodbye ]
1 to 10 ...... un, daa, tree, kiare, queig, shey , shiaght, hogh, nuy, jeih

T'eh moddey aym.....[ prounounced Teh MORE'the emm ] [ There is a dog at me ]

You can't say......'I have a dog.'.....no verb ...'to have' ...in Manx. Also no words for 'yes ' and 'no'. Ha, ha ! Have fun, it gets harder.!

Another picture for my many viewers. Peel and the Castle from the Headlands. The pathway led down to the old , open air swimming pool at Traie Fogogue. These pools [ there were several around the Island ] were just large walled off areas in the rocks which retained the water when the tide went out. Cheap and cheerful !

Manx Weather!!!

Wow! Did we have a thunder storm yesterday evening! It came from nowhere and the first peal of thunder shook the house....must have been about 3 ft away ! ....and the heavens opened......I mean, we could do with a bit more rain, couldn't we . It knocked the Broadband signal out for the Island but back on now this a.m.... though a bit slow at the moment. No danger of floods though, Peel is built on sloping ground and water just runs down to the sea.

I hope any viewers of this journal are enjoying the experience, though I suppose, in reality, everyone will be bored stiff...just the thing to put you to sleep at night time!! Anyone with any suggestions to what they might like to hear about the Island , well I will do my best.

Today's picture [ borrowed ] is a view of the Northern Plain taken from the Mountain Rd with Ramsey below. You can see the shape of the Island, well, the Northern tip, from this picture and this fertile land is quite a recent addition to the Isle of Man, the sand and gravel it consists of being deposited there after the last Ice Age when the ice receded. Ramsey [Rhumsaa ...in Manx Gaelic ] is the second largest town on the Island...we only got four !!

Reminder 2

This blog has now overflowed onto a third page , Access the next page by clicking ' older posts' at the bottom of this and other pages and ' home ' to return to the first page . Double click pictures to enlarge , Picture is of a Peel 'nickey' leaving Peel harbour for a night's fishing. This picture was taken about 1910. I printed it out from an old half plate glass negative some years ago. A friend of mine had a 100 or so of these negatives [ her grandfather had taken them ] and I printed them all out, one for her and one for me . Actually , some of the prints are of excellent quality....the slow film of the day showing less grain than modern fast film........but that don't matter now ...everything is digital.

The Old and the New

Just a few borrowed pictures to look at ....saves me lots of typing ! Peel Castle from the back of the Hill....and one of the older part of Peel, , with jumbled houses and narrow , twisty streets going off in every direction, with picturesque shops and cosy pubs,....no symetrical city blocks here One of the railway station at Ballabeg in the South of the Island and in complete contrast........modern twin hulled Manx ferries in Douglas harbour.

More Manx Trivia [ 2 ]

When the Vikings invaded the Island circa 1000 BC, they kinda liked the place and decided to stay. They integrated with the local populace, who were a pretty miserable lot in those days, scratching a living from the land and sea, and the Vikings set about organizing the place on Scandinavian lines and creating a Parliament , that still exists today....the longest , continuous parliament in the world. The Celtic/Scandinavian mix produced a race that I am very proud to belong to ....the Manx.

Well, the Vikings faded into history and the next few hundred years saw the Scottish and English kings squabbling over ownership of the Island ....the successful claimants at any one time calling themselves the Kings of Mann. Around about 1400, English rule ceased on Mann when, the then King of England, Henry IV, gave the Island to one Sir John Stanley, the Duke of Derby, for the rental of two falcons to be given to any future monarch on their Coronation Day. I reckon Sir John got a bargain. The Stanleys ' owned ' the Island for the next 300 years but rarely visited the place, preferring their big estates in England to our soggy , little Island. The Dukes of Atholl took over about 1700 , again absentee landlords , and the Island slumbered on, albeit, with quite a lot of smuggling on the side, doing the pesky English out of a lot of their Custom duty, until it became a Crown dependency in early Victorian times. A Governor was appointed as the monarch's representative ....but the Island retained it's right to govern and raise it's own revenue. Incidentally, the rental of two falcons remained up to the Queen Victoria's coronation....more of an old custom than actual rent , by then . The names, Stanley, Derby and Atholl are quite common place names on the Island today.

By the way, , the word Viking comes from the old Norse word ' vikigj ' meaning pirate, which is exactly what they were , pirates, who loved raiding and looting.

This is a very, very potted version of how the Manx evolved, pretty boring , on the whole , but there again , someone may read this and find it of interest .