Let's start with the leaving of Liverpool - not quite as famous as the Manhattan skyline but must run it a close second I suspect. This was a sunny morning that had just started to coud over ....
By the time we reached Douglas, less than 3 hours later, the cloud was emptying out monsoon quantities of rain - just like it did last time I went there. This is a view of Douglas Bay, looking North from the Promenade:
This is the Hydro Hotel, where the food is highly recommended - should you go there, take loose-fitting clothes because you'll need them by the time you come to leave! The Douglas seafront has hundreds of these Victorian Gothic hotels, many painted in icing-sugar colours and very attractive when the sun shines.
![Image](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-hQ39NgRD0Zk/VWx_UwbO2GI/AAAAAAAACSM/4yO7lH0AJ1E/s800/DSCF1040.jpg)
On the Saturday morning, the sun shone!! Our Transport Trust group had a couple of reserved coaches on the mid-morning train from Douglas to Port Erin and the pilot loco carried our own head board. It's a narrow gauge (36 in) railway and is still running with the original locomotives from when it opened in 1874. We had a 'physical needs break' at Castletown station, halfway along the 15 mile journey.
![Image](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-v0HHluHS5V4/VWx_bxXGVkI/AAAAAAAACSM/GrAa_iUKaqE/s800/P1050620.jpg)
One of the lovely people we encountered during our visit was Chris Wedgewood in his steam powered car. When we visited Jurby, he was offering rides in it to all and sundry although, sadly, I never managed to be in the right place at the right time to claim one. I can say, having skipped out of its way several times, it couldn't 'alf shift!
![Image](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-iiyrH_HSKAQ/VWx_fFfAvbI/AAAAAAAACSM/prEXxKlFAYM/s800/P1050623.jpg)
A little later, we came across Chris doing some running repairs - he said he was clearing a blockage but he may have been communing with his gods ...
![Image](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Is6MIdgwR2k/VWx_sN_eRBI/AAAAAAAACSM/KiAqrLhBGdQ/s800/P1050643.jpg)
Here's one for Dita - the Manx Superbike on which Richard Barks broke the land-speed record in its class at Bonneville, Utah in 2012 - a mind blowing 203.37mph. I've seen the video and all I can say is - rather him than me! Richard was one of our after-dinner speakers and, together with a couple of his engineering team was very entertaining.
![Image](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-uNn7LaK0dMA/VWx_nEuL1RI/AAAAAAAACSM/6o2gnikL54Q/s800/P1050631.jpg)
The next morning, we took the electric railway to the top of Snaefell where it was, very weirdly, both foggy and windy (around 55mph). That's the second time I've been all the way up there and not been able to see anything of the fabled view.
![Image](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-DJxEtcAAF8I/VWx_xRIICUI/AAAAAAAACSM/7lpzgfItf4Y/s800/P1050673.jpg)
A couple ofhours later, the sun was breaking through. This was the view from the coast road between Laxey and Ramsey:
![Image](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-uAg2lAiGq2Q/VWx_8P-oh-I/AAAAAAAACSM/xkTGJIrGsCc/s800/P1050703.jpg)
Dita will probably recognise this - the TT grandstand and pits at Onchan:
![Image](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-CZyC4tLfqfE/VWyADX1cOJI/AAAAAAAACSM/lMU1xHP-bv4/s800/P1050720.jpg)
A pretty hamlet a few miles outside Douglas:
![Image](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-UW78sBja9tw/VWyAKN8EU3I/AAAAAAAACSM/Kow37__iUZA/s800/P1050725.jpg)
This is Peel harbour and castle, on the western side of the island.
![Image](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-lOLJ6C6aOyg/VWyAVgviYhI/AAAAAAAACSM/523xBFmf2s8/s800/P1050771.jpg)
And, of course, the sun shone on Douglas Bay the day we left!
![Image](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ZALCtQBSKJU/VWyAlqsH2JI/AAAAAAAACSM/5Q9jfYKs1Lg/s800/P1050793.jpg)