May 29, 2011 - Douglas, IOM

I went for another 2-hour hike with Jason yesterday morning before leaving Port Erin. I'm really wracking up the miles on this island. We hiked, literally, straight up Bradda Head to the northwest of Port Erin and around the coastline back to Milner's Tower. It was a nice hike, but I didn't bother to take any more photos...I figured I had enough coastline shots and nobody would be interested in more!

After the hike, Jason made us luch and then he arranged with his mother, who lives across the street, to give me a lift to the bus stop. Thank goodness for mothers, because she was the one who realized that the buses wouldn't be running today due to the roads being closed for TT practice. Luckily, there's an old fashioned steam train that runs from Port Erin to Douglas as an alternative.

So, Jason's mom took me to the train station, parked, and went in with me to make sure I got my ticket okay. Then, she proceeded to walk with me to the platform and walk up and down the train cars looking for someone she knew so that I could sit with them and have a tour guide for the trip! She didn't find anyone she knew, so she saw a gentleman getting on that looked like he was local and quickly approached him and asked if he was local (he was and was also a policeman in Peel) and if it would be alright if I shared his car. She then told him all about me, including that I was an American who had been couch surfing with her son and how he'd just discovered it a short while ago himself, etc., etc.

Anyway, I had a lovely trip up to Douglas with Dave who was meeting up with a friend of his (getting on a few stops north) to try and cheer him up. He had a bottle of wine with him to start their afternoon "pubbing" off. When his friend got on we all drank wine while they pointed out everything we passed and told me all about the island. Dave gave me the name and number of a friend of his that lived outside of Cork, Ireland, in case I wanted a tour guide for that area when I get there!

We parted ways at the first pub we came to after getting off the train in Douglas, but not before they were sure I knew how to get where I was going. Great guys, both of them, and wonderful hospitality here in the Isle of Man :)

Then I walked the 1.5 miles up the Promenade to Nathan's place (my last couch surfing host). All my stories from this surf will be related verbally, as some things you just shouldn't put in (public) writing!

Today, I'm going to catch a bus to the west side of the island and the town of Peel and hopefully get together with Tony and Laura and their couch surfers later today, if she was able to arrange a gathering...

written by

Karen on May 29, 2011 from Douglas, Isle of Man

from the travel blog: Karen's Travel Blog

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