Isle Of Man Steam Train & Castle Rushen

As part of our trip to the Isle of Man, we caught the Steam Train from the capital Douglas, down to Castletown. The purpose of this trip was partly to see some of the scenery on the island, and visit Castle Rushen, but also just to ride on a steam train.. cause you see, we're just little kids at heart.



The train cost us £18 for both of us, and after leaving from Douglas headed down along the east coast, passing through farm land and over wide running streams, that made me want to drink from them. You can see a short video in one of my earlier posts. Total trip time was about 40 minutes or so each way.

On arrival at Castletown, we sort of followed our noses along the main road into town, and up over a bridge where we took some photos, including the duck sequence. In my efforts to make fun of the ducks, I made a comment something along the lines of "how are they going to get down that waterfall ? oh yea. ducks can walk."


By this point, we could see the castle in the not-too-far distance. It really is an amazing sight, allegedly one of the oldest, best preserved castles in the UK dating from the 13th century.

Through the slightly imposing entrance, you can see the Manx symbol of 3 red legs, and a portcullis. The wooden floor at the bottom looks like a drawbridge, but there was yet another one inside with the murder holes above.


We're then able to walk through the castle by ourselves, after paying an entrance fee, and we found it fantastic at just what level of access you have - almost the entire castle was open for us to walk into, all with listings of what rooms did what at various stages throughout the castle's life. In one room, they even explained to us about the feasts - who knew that stale bread was used instead of plates !

From the top of the main tower, we were able to see out over the town, and the beaches and the countryside - the view was marvelous. Overall - we felt that the £11 for both of us was excellent value.

Below, you can find some thumbnails of additional pictures, linking back to many more on our Flickr sets.








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