Sorry about the long silence. This is a particularly busy time of the year for us, so blogging has taken a back seat. Busy time or not, we can't control the weather and Storm Darragh caused a LOT of disruption on the Isle of Man. Most of the beach at Peel was blown into the town - diggers are trying to shovel it all back again - landslides blocked roads and undermined buildings, and large numbers of trees were blown over bringing down electricity wires as they fell. Loaghtan Books and the houses around it were without power for ten hours. Being without electricity was strangely pleasant! No work could be done of course, but then we couldn't feel guilty about not working as there was nothing we could do about it. A log burning stove made sure that we didn't freeze and we had enough food to make sure we didn't go hungry either. Rather to my surprise, the real bother was only having cold water to drink. In the evening, when it's dark and, despite t...
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Spotted in Ramsey yesterday (20 August) was this Royal Navy Bomb Disposal vehicle. Seven mortars dating from the Second World War were discovered on 18 August near a footpath in the south of the island running between Cregneash and Calf Sound. Unsurprisingly the Isle of Man does not have its own bomb disposal squad, so the area was cordoned off while specialist help was obtained from across. Bomb Disposal experts from Faslane destroyed the ordnance in a controlled explosion near The Chasms, just round the corner from Cregneash, either yesterday or earlier today. All this is well and good, but what were the Bomb squad doing in Ramsey, forty miles away at the other end of the island?
Last weekend was the island's Parish Walk. It's always held as near to the longest day as possible as the walkers need all the help they can get. Visitors often think that 'Parish Walk' sounds like a pleasant stroll: it isn't. Walkers must visit every parish church in the Isle of Man - that's seventeen parishes - along a designated route which is 85 miles long. They have 24 hours in which to do this, hence the need for as much daylight as possible. The Manx Parish Walk is considered one of the most gruelling walking challenges in the world. Hundreds start, few finish and, while there is a lot to see at the start with hundreds of people, some in costume, by the time they get near here the field is sparse and very spread out. This year 1,009 people started, 100 finished. The race begins at 8.00 in the morning at the National Sports Centre, Douglas, so walkers get to us about 12 hours later, or slightly less if they're in the lead. This year's race...

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