In early April, 2012, I visited the UK to check up on mother, visit friends, and attend a steam charter on the Isle of Man Steam Railway. I've wanted to visit the IoM SR for more than 20 years since I saw some Ivo Peters footage of the railway, and when my friend Graham emailed and said there is a charter and would I like to go I jumped at the chance. A couple of days before my flight there was a tornado and heavy hail at DFW, and the day before I left I found that my flight to Chicago O'Hare via DFW was cancelled, as were many AA flights due to damaged aircraft. Unfortunately AA couldn't get me to O'Hare in time for my flight to the UK, so I went with Southwest. My luggage didn't show up at Chicago Midway, so after filling out all the forms, the shuttle bus had gone, leaving me with a $75 cab ride. I wasn't so much bothered about my clothes, but my tripod and battery charger were in my suitcase. Since it was the Easter weekend, I couldn't get any information from anyone, but on Tuesday, SWA gave me a UPS tracking number, but on contacting UPS they said that SWA had voided it. SWA knew nothing, and I spent the day trying to get some information and getting madder and madder. I had been supposed to visit friends in Lincolnshire, but spend the day on international phone calls. I decided to visit m friends on Wednesday, and set off early in my rented little Peugot diesel. The M62 motorway across the Penines had 35 miles of roadworks, average speed cameras every few miles and very heavy traffic. After a very pleasant day ( we drove around Lincolnshire in Roy's Ferrari, and saw the Royal Air Force Heritage flight, a Hurricane, Lancaster and several Spitfires) I decided to stay an extra day. The next morning I called my mother to let her know, and my luggage had arrived, six days after I did. Saturday I met Graham near the M6 motorway, and we set off for points north. We visited the Lakeside and Haverthwaite Railway, and then the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway, which I'd last visited when I was 10 or so. We went south via Hardknot and Wrynose Passes through the Cumbrian Mountains, which was, ah, interesting. We spent the night at Conder Green near Lancaster, where we'd stayed before when chasing steam over the Settle & Carlisle. The weather forecast for the charter was just dismal, so we spent Sunday morning before the ferry left trying to find me a waterproof. The 4.5 hour ferry ride was smooth, and we found the hotel in Port erin, about 15 miles from the ferry terminal at Douglas without any problems. We spent a very pleasant three days on the charter, with lots of runby's, and had, for the most part, excellent weather. Seems like the IoM, in the middle of the Irish Sea, has it's own little weather pattern. I spent day four doing some pick up shots with the service trains while the group had a day on the Manx Electric Railway. Friday I joined them, and Saturday Graham and I drove around the Island doing tourist stuff. Part of our route was on the famous motorcycle TT racecourse, and bikers were out in force doing insane speeds, there being no blanket speed limit on the IoM. The ferry had been taken out of service during the week for overhaul, so we got to ride a big catamaran ferry back to Heysham, which it managed in just over two hours at 35 knots! After another couple of days with mother, I came home with AA, and all went smoothly.
Rape, a kind of mustard, Lincolnshire.
A barn owl and a tawny owl , shown by an owl rescue organization. The barn owl had been savaged by a dog
The Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway. The last time I visited the railway I must have been ten or thereabouts. The first three shots are in a restored signal box.
Sunset from the dinner table, at "The Mill at Conder Green", near Lancaster, Lancashire.
The same location the following morning.
A gannet, from the Heysham - Douglas ferry.
Port Erin after sunset.
Our charter on the Isle of Man Steam Railway.
The Manx Electric Railway.
The Lighthouses at Point Ayre, northernmost point of the Isle of Man.
