Seven Kingdoms

Tim and I chose the Isle of Man to be in a peaceful place for our honeymoon. Neither of us had ever been and we felt drawn to sail across the water and stay there.

We had a wonderful time and discovered a special island. It is quiet and like stepping back in time. They have everything there from a mountain, to rolling hills, little villages, farms, sandy beaches, pebbled coves and harbours. It is steeped in a varied and interesting past, and dotted about are signs of its Viking, Norwegian and Scottish heritage. The Isle may be linked to Westminster and the United Kingdom now, but they have their currency and unique way of doing things and are largely self-sufficient.

We chose to put our technology down and walked where we could, making good use of the island's excellent public transport system including buses, steam trains, trams, some horse-drawn, and the mountain railway.

Everywhere is clean and tidy and safe. Doors are left unlocked and we saw several instances of bags and walking sticks being left behind, and when they were re-discovered by their owners, sometimes hours later, they were still where they had been forgotten.

We explored a wonderful castle at Peel, the island's museums, cafes, pubs, a disused mine, old bookshops and a magical coastal steam railway that starts in a glen, where I am sure I could feel fairies. There is a fairy bridge on the island, and even the taxi and bus drivers say 'Hello' to the fairies as they cross it, so we made sure we did. Everywhere we went we met lovely people, everyone had time to stop and chat, and we had some great conversations, always ending in hugs.

We stepped off the grid, took time to sit and sip hot drinks looking out to sea, read a lot, nattered together, and bought a puzzle to do on the kitchen table in the old cottage we were staying in. This was in a conservation area, so there was no traffic; all we could hear were the seagulls and the wind!

On the mountain railway, we sat next to a helpful tour guide. As we climbed Snaefell Mountain (Snow Mountain), she pointed out The Mountains of Mourne in Northern Ireland, the hills of Scotland, the English Cumbrian coastline and from the top of the mountain, the Isle of Anglesey, in Wales. The saying goes that you can see seven kingdoms from the Isle of Man, so I asked her what the seven were.

The Isle of Man, Northern Ireland, Scotland, England, Wales, the Kingdom of the Sea, and the Kingdom of Heaven. 🩷