Today we had to be up REALLY (Lyn's capitals) early as we were catching the 8.45am ferry from Douglas, Isle of Man, to Heysham on the west coast of England.
We wanted to make sure we didn't miss it by getting caught up in traffic. We needn't have worried as there isn't any traffic here. The Island has a population of 83,000, very few of whom were about at 7.30am.
Since it is Lyn's birthday on the 14th September, Davina and Roy kindly paid for an upgrade to the Premium Lounge for the four of us on the ferry which included great seats overlooking the bow of the ship and service to our seats of free stuff. It also included free WiFi for all our various devices. The WiFi would probably have been off a satellite and by and large it worked well apart from it getting a bit slow in the middle of the ocean.
The sea was very smooth which made Lyn very happy and we all enjoyed the trip immensely with no rowdy kids running around as had happened going over.
Mick spent much the four hour trip doing the blogs of our week in the Isle of Man with his sister, Joyce, emailing that she was hanging on every word!
There was separate lounge area for passengers with dogs who were not allowed to take them anywhere else except up some stairs to an outside deck so they could relieve themselves. It seemed strange to see a large lounge on the ship full of people with dogs. The UK people seem quite at ease having dogs on buses, trains, in restaurants and staying with them in hotels.
(When Lyn and I were having a meal in a pub restaurant in Loch Carron when we were in Scotland, a dog, which belonged to the pub owners, came under our table looking for scraps!. Occasionally a shop or restaurant will have a sign on the door saying no dogs but it is rare).
When we arrived at Heysham we were able to drive off the very quickly and were soon on our way north up the M6. We passed through some very heavy rain and hail on the motorway so had to slow down at times as having hail stones hitting the windscreen at 130kph is not a pleasant experience.
Since we only had just over a quarter of a tank of fuel, Mick had to keep an eye on the trip metre to eke out the fuel to get us home. Despite this, we made good time and after having a coffee on the way at a junction restaurant, arrived home at 3.50pm, a 3 1/2 hour trip of 130 miles (180klms) with a 30 minute stop.
The ferry Ben-My-Chree
Driving onto the ferry. Temp 12c, time 0743 and altitude 20ft.
0950. First cup of coffee. The blind was partially down as we were heading almost directly into the sun
View of Blackpool Tower on the English West coast 
Arriving Heysham UK
We wanted to make sure we didn't miss it by getting caught up in traffic. We needn't have worried as there isn't any traffic here. The Island has a population of 83,000, very few of whom were about at 7.30am.
Since it is Lyn's birthday on the 14th September, Davina and Roy kindly paid for an upgrade to the Premium Lounge for the four of us on the ferry which included great seats overlooking the bow of the ship and service to our seats of free stuff. It also included free WiFi for all our various devices. The WiFi would probably have been off a satellite and by and large it worked well apart from it getting a bit slow in the middle of the ocean.
The sea was very smooth which made Lyn very happy and we all enjoyed the trip immensely with no rowdy kids running around as had happened going over.
Mick spent much the four hour trip doing the blogs of our week in the Isle of Man with his sister, Joyce, emailing that she was hanging on every word!
There was separate lounge area for passengers with dogs who were not allowed to take them anywhere else except up some stairs to an outside deck so they could relieve themselves. It seemed strange to see a large lounge on the ship full of people with dogs. The UK people seem quite at ease having dogs on buses, trains, in restaurants and staying with them in hotels.
(When Lyn and I were having a meal in a pub restaurant in Loch Carron when we were in Scotland, a dog, which belonged to the pub owners, came under our table looking for scraps!. Occasionally a shop or restaurant will have a sign on the door saying no dogs but it is rare).
When we arrived at Heysham we were able to drive off the very quickly and were soon on our way north up the M6. We passed through some very heavy rain and hail on the motorway so had to slow down at times as having hail stones hitting the windscreen at 130kph is not a pleasant experience.
Since we only had just over a quarter of a tank of fuel, Mick had to keep an eye on the trip metre to eke out the fuel to get us home. Despite this, we made good time and after having a coffee on the way at a junction restaurant, arrived home at 3.50pm, a 3 1/2 hour trip of 130 miles (180klms) with a 30 minute stop.
Underway. Here comes the rain 
Nothing but sea 
View of Blackpool Tower on the English West coast 
On Google maps the ferry routes are clearly marked from Port Douglas to Liverpool and Heysham so I could see the track your boat took.
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