Douglas; Saturday, 26 July, 2003

For an island that is at the forefront of banking and finance (UK Tax haven!!) it is amazing how much of the island is set in a different age, not only do horses still pull the trams on the seafront, and the carriages on the electric railway to Ramsey date from the latter half of the 19th century, but the main southern railway is still run by steam trains!. On the first departure of the day heading south, unfortunately I had chosen the weekend that had been designated "Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends" weekend so there were lots and lots of people!. The ride through the countryside to the southern town of Castletown is well worth it thought.

Castletown is the former capital of the island and it shows in the number of historic and important buildings. The most imposing and obvious being the thing that gives the town its name, the castle. Castle Rushen is still in very good condition and it is very easy to imagine how people live in it. The signage is clear and you get a good idea of the different uses that the castle has been put to through its life. From the top of the castle you get spectacular views over the local area, the port and other buildings.

After looking round the castle I had a quick look round the town before getting on the bus to Peel. One of the major problems with the transport on the Isle of Man (and in many other places, Jersey & Guernsey to name two more) is that everything operates out of the capital and very little goes across. There are just three buses a day that link Castletown in the south east with Peel in the North west. The journey takes little over 30 mins with a direct bus but nearly 2 hours if you have to go into Douglas and back out again. So I decided to split my day by going to Peel in the middle part of the day, and getting the mid afternoon bus back to Castletown.

The main attraction in Peel is its castle. In contrast to Castle Rushen Peel castle is most definitely a ruin. Large fragments of building still exist and it is easy to imagine what the place looked like in its heyday. The castle's importance is brought home when you stand on the western side overlooking the sea and can clearly make out the mountains of Eastern Ireland directly across from you and in the distance to the north the coast of Scotland. Once I had looked round the castle it was time to get the bus back into Castletown.

Arriving back in castletown I had enough time to look around the nautical museum that details the link between the island and the sea. The museum is very interesting and made even more so by the enthusiastic staff. Members of staff will happily show people round and give you so much more information about each exhibit than the signs could possibly hope to.

After visiting the nautical museum there was just enough time to pop into the old grammar school that now houses a small exhibition giving the background to the town and its role in the history and development of the island. After the museum it was back to the train station and on the return to Douglas. The railway itself, was when I visited, undergoing major repair work with all the trains ending at Castletown and buses replacing them through to the normal terminus of Port Erin down in the south west corner of the island. Consequently they had by the afternoon brought out more of the carriages that they were not using to make the train longer so it was a much more comfortable journey back to Douglas.

After a brief stop in Douglas it was onto the bus and back out to Peel to look round the town and harbour and for evening meal. It was well worth the revisit. With Peel being on the west coast the sun setting behind the ruins of the castle whilst sitting on the beach makes for an excellent end to the evening (especially if you have a very pleasant Chinese dinner in your stomach!)