Isle of Man trip

[Fisherman]

Spent yesterday in Isle of Man’s old capital Castletown.

 

[CalmIrony]

We have been on the Isle of Man since Monday night. We have been based in Nobels Park in Douglas on an Aire. We are supposed to be paying £10 a night but the payment machine is faulty. Nobel’s park offers fresh water, and an elsan point. Surprisingly as far as I can see the only one on the island outwith a campsite. Everywhere you go you go you see motorhomes, and the island is very welcoming of us. We have travelled to Laxey on the tram, and today we travelled port Erin on the steam train. Yesterday we visited the Manx museum. View attachment 146000View attachment 146001View attachment 146002View attachment 146003View attachment 146004
Tomorrow we are heading to our only campsite of the ten day trip in Ramsey. On route we will head up Snaefel the highest point on the island. We will then head north then down the west side of the island

We looked at going to the Isle of Man at the start of the summer... But the cost of the ferry was prohibitive!

 

[mariesnowgoose]

We looked at going to the Isle of Man at the start of the summer... But the cost of the ferry was prohibitive!

Just looked up the IOM Steampacket.

£500 (return) does seems a bit steep, but I guess if you want to visit with your camper there’s not really any alternative?

 

[Fisherman]

Just looked up the IOM Steampacket.

£500 (return) does seems a bit steep, but I guess if you want to visit with your camper there’s not really any alternative?

I paid £340 for a 6.3m van.
Ten days here only one on a campsite, and that was only because the batteries were getting low, and we wanted a good shower.
We are heading home today, when I get back I will make a few comments about the trip. But I would definitely recommend the Isle of Man.

 

[mariesnowgoose]

I paid £340 for a 6.3m van.
Ten days here only one on a campsite, and that was only because the batteries were getting low, and we wanted a good shower.
We are heading home today, when I get back I will make a few comments about the trip. But I would definitely recommend the Isle of Man.

Similar to the price I paid return to Ireland earlier this year. That sounds fair enough to me, Bill.

I just did an extremely quick "pretend booking" on their website this morning, so I imagine you might need to work out the best months, days and times to travel there and back to get nearer to your price. The outward (return) fee on my dry run was definitely extortionate: somewhere around your £340 mark, but the inward fee more like £160 ...? No idea why it was more expensive to leave the island than to get there...

 

[mariesnowgoose]

If you see this around go and have a chat..it's john mc.View attachment 146109guinness.nice bloke even though he likes hondas

Hmm. Doesn't look much like a Honda to me...

 

[Drover]

Hmm. Doesn't look much like a Honda to me...

Ha ha. Look around the back you might find a works honda motorcycle hiding there..
He's a pretty famous iom resident

 

[Fazerloz]

Ha ha. Look around the back you might find a works honda motorcycle hiding there..
He's a pretty famous iom resident

When did he move there, as far as I know he still lives in Morecambe and said he wouldn't leave.

 

[Drover]

When did he move there, as far as I know he still lives in Morecambe and said he wouldn't leave.

You are correct and buggered how resident got there.should have read racer...ido need to read what goes down before posting...I think he's won 20 or so races there.

 

[Fisherman]

Just back from a great trip on the Isle of Man.
Per capita the island has more motorhomes than anywhere else I have ever seen.
Everywhere you go they’re lots of them, parked on roads, driveways, carparks, and where we were parked in Nobels Park in Douglas there were a few parked up for the winter. I have never seen a more motorhome friendly place than here. Not once did we feel that we were unwelcome. I got chatting
to a motorhome owner and mentioned lack of grey water facilities, even in the only campsite we used in Ramsay. He advised me he just leaves his valve open wherever he goes on the island, it’s simply not an issue.
Try and find a drain if it bothers you he said. Everywhere we went folk were friendly.

There are lots of great park ups on the island many next to the sea. I could only find two elsan points outwith campsites one where we spent a few nights in Nobels Park, and the other in Ramsay, but this was controlled by the commissionaires and you need a permit to use it. But the island is so small you could easily use Nobels Park as a base either returning there every night or as required for freshwater and use of the elsan point. We spent our first four nights there, whilst using the tram and steam train which were a great novelty. Then we travelled most of the island spending nights in Ramsay, Point of Aire, Peel, Port Erin, and the old capital Castletown.

The Isle of Man is full of people who just love living there. And they look much healthier than what you see on the mainland. Obesity levels are far lower, everywhere you go folk of all ages are out running. When we were there there was a 39 mile walk from the top of the island to the bottom, and hundreds were taking part. Taxes are much lower on the island with the top rate of 22% only applied if you earn £100,000 a year or more. And a married couple don’t pay tax on their first £28,000 combined income, and then only 10%. Maybe that’s why they all like living there

Some may think they ferry charges are to high, well I thought £340 for a 6.3m van and two adults was reasonable. When booking do so through the Isle of Man steam packet company, I saved £60 by doing so. We got there from Heysham, but got back using the Liverpool crossing. This was due to timing the Heysham crossing would have got us back at 2300 hours. The drive from Liverpool back home to Scotland was a pain though we did not get back until 2300 hours. Talking money, you really don’t need a campsite when there, so long as you have sufficient solar and batteries. Prices on the island are roughly the same as here.

Would I go back, try and stop me.

On a footnote.
Many years ago in 1973 the isle suffered a tragic fire, the Summerland disaster.
The island decided to upgrade their fire cover.
I was offered a job on the island in 1977 as an operational firefighter.
I decided not to go for personal reasons, what a mistake that was.

 

[runnach]

Bill, when you first mentioned the Summerland Disaster, which had never heard of before, I googled this. It was a terrible event, so many lives lost.

I have enjoyed your posts and images from your trip, thank you.

 

[Fisherman]

Bill, when you first mentioned the Summerland Disaster, which had never heard of before, I googled this. It was a terrible event, so many lives lost.

I have enjoyed your posts and images from your trip, thank you.

Yes they were caught out as what decided after the event. They had to improve fire cover on the island and were desperate for fully trained firefighters to come over from the mainland.

 

[undertaker]

Thanks for the info Bill, it's taken IOM further up our "shall we go to?" list.

 

[Fisherman]

Thanks for the info Bill, it's taken IOM further up our "shall we go to?" list.

Pm me if I can help with anything I will try to

 

[barryd]

Sounds good Bill. How does it compare to Arran seeing as they are similar in size but the Isle of man population is 80000+ and Arran is less than 5000?

We did the Isle of Wight once but it was too busy for me and never felt like you were on an Island.

I just priced it but the maximum size motorhome it seems to go to is 7.5m and we are 8.5. Price was £376 if I worked it out right. Considering its nearly a four hour crossing from Heysham I guess its not too bad.

 

[Fisherman]

Sounds good Bill. How does it compare to Arran seeing as they are similar in size but the Isle of man population is 80000+ and Arran is less than 5000?

We did the Isle of Wight once but it was too busy for me and never felt like you were on an Island.

I just priced it but the maximum size motorhome it seems to go to is 7.5m and we are 8.5. Price was £376 if I worked it out right. Considering it’s nearly a four hour crossing from Heysham I guess it’s not too bad.

It’s totally different from Arran Barry. Yes it has a lot more people but although I find Arran welcoming it does not compare with an island full of motorhomes. There are plenty of great stop overs and campsites if you want to use them. But Arran has more natural beauty, and better elsan facilities. Obviously check before you go that there are no racing events as things could get difficult. I don’t know what would it would be like in summer, but I don’t reckon you would struggle for a place to stop. The towns are really nice, well maintained. So Arran is better in someways, but IOM in other ways. Do I think you would prefer it to Arran, no I don’t, but it’s well worth a visit Barry,

 

[barryd]

It’s totally different from Arran Barry. Yes it has a lot more people but although I find Arran welcoming it does not compare with an island full of motorhomes. There are plenty of great stop overs and campsites if you want to use them. But Arran has more natural beauty, and better elsan facilities. Obviously check before you go that there are no racing events as things could get difficult. I don’t know what would it would be like in summer, but I don’t reckon you would struggle for a place to stop. The towns are really nice, well maintained. So Arran is better in someways, but IOM in other ways. Do I think you would prefer it to Arran, no I don’t, but it’s well worth a visit Barry,

Cheers Bill. It's a possibility. I wonder what the length limit on the ferry is about though.

Not sure what we are doing next year yet. Been looking at it all today

 

[Fisherman]

Cheers Bill. It's a possibility. I wonder what the length limit on the ferry is about though.

Not sure what we are doing next year yet. Been looking at it all today

I thought you being a biker would enjoy the IOM Barry.

We were parked behind this for the first four nights.