Wednesday was our last full day on the Isle of Man, and it couldn't have been nicer. Coffee with my cousin at Red in Port Erin. Lunch with my brother and nephew at Greens in St Johns. And, between the two engagements, a walk around Peel, my birth city:






I was loath to say goodbye yesterday... Didn't want to leave Close Taggart. Didn't want to leave the Isle of Man. We were selected for the random security check before getting on the boat, and when the woman politely asked me if I'd had a nice time on the Island, my eyes misted over, and my voice caught in my throat...




There was a bit of a snafu over breakfast, as the ship's cafe announced that they were only taking cash that day, and we didn't have any... Luckily, the bar had sandwiches, and took cards...

Otherwise, it was a remarkably trouble-free sail, and once we'd been successfully offloaded, and herded round the brief diversion necessitated by the Eurovision circus, we were on the way to Manchester for lunch with an old university friend of mine.



Iffy weather after Manchester. But we made reasonable time to Newark, where we wasted no time in injecting our usual chaos into my mother-in-law's neat house...


Today started with our usual walking route along the former railway line, which is looking lovely. Buttercups and hawthorn are the strongest contenders at the moment. But it was also nice to see poppies making an appearance towards the station end.


And Friday is one of the days you can catch the cheese man (aka Goddard & Page Fine Cheese) at Newark market. So catch him we did. We have just over a week to indulge our cheese habit...