Saturday 25th September 2021
Somewhat bleary-eyed I arrived in the dining area for breakfast at close to 6:45 am and wasn’t surprised to see quite a few were already tucking into their breakfast. I had my breakfast and went back to the room - the case was gone-for the last time for a quick brush of the teeth, ablutions, final check of the room in case I have forgotten something and to retrieve my ruck-sack. The coach was ready, count done and we set off in the misty early morning darkness before sunrise. As the coach left the town and slowly travelled on the hilly roads the mistiness was now a veritable fog. Paul was taking it easy. Silently I sat in the coach peering through the mist at the silhouetted hills and valleys. Slowly but surely the first hint of dawn and the burning away of the mist started to appear and by the time we reached the port at Douglas the darkness and the mist had all but dispersed and there was daylight if not full sunshine. We have been so lucky with the weather, if you dwell on the fact that Isle of Man is like Ireland, in the path of continual weather fronts from the Atlantic heading towards the Hebrides and Scotland and we didn’t meet any rain in the 5 days! The familiar sight of Port at Douglas met us, we waited, not too long this time and once again Paul did some precision driving and got us onto the ferry. We were told to get to Deck 7 where we had to be quick to find some seats with our Probus members for there seemed to be not enough seats for everyone on a deck. With cups of tea and coffee we sat through the 3-hour crossing to Heysham gently rocked by a relatively calm sea. I succumbed to the lure of The Shop on the deck and spent more money buying items I didn’t need pretending that these are for the family. We docked followed by the familiar routine of boarding the coach, waiting for all the cars to leave and then it was our turn. We were in England and heading home to Sutton Coldfield with a stopover in Bolton at Olympus Fish and Chip Restaurant for lunch which was booked for 13:30 hours. Having had a very early breakfast I for sure was looking forward to lunch of fish & chips. Having never been to Bolton I was pleasantly surprised how open the town appeared to be with the usual shops and outlets in malls. The Olympus Fish and Chip Restaurant was even a bigger surprise for it was spacious restaurant with plenty of table settings in two’s, fours and even for larger families. We had our own section and didn’t have to wait long for the appetising and tasty fish & chips with mushy peas! I enjoyed the treat. Then back to the coach to travel on our favourite motorway and other A-roads to arrive at our disembarkation points in Sutton Coldfield in the evening.
Good-byes, hand-shakes, elbow-touching sprinkled with a jocular passing banter, promises of meeting soon followed and so ended our wonderful Probus 5 days holiday in Isle of Man. I enjoyed the holiday in company of good folks and I am sure so did other members. Once again thanks to Graham and Pam for planning the itinerary and seamlessly executing it with humour and care. And we didn’t have any rain!
Ajai Kapur 25 October 2021
