Speedway

Isle of Man
Starting our second day on the Isle of Man we were heading south in search of more lighthouses. The weather had significantly improved from the grey drizzle on day one, but not enough for any boats trips to leave from Port Erin or Port St Mary. So unfortunately, our trip to the Calf of Man, a small island off the southwest coast of Isle of Man had to be curtailed. Fortunately, there were still lot of lighthouses to visit on the mainland.

Langness Lighthouse, Isle of Man

Heading out from the capital of Douglas en route to the peninsula of Langness, we saw our first lighthouse of the day just past Derbyhaven. The small breakwater light being visible from the airport road.

10. Derbyhaven breakwater lighthouse, Isle of Man

Following this road, you drive through a golf course on small track that eventually leads to a car park at Herring Tower. From there it was a charming ten-minute walk to the grand looking Langness lighthouse.

11. Langness Lighthouse, Isle of Man

At this beautiful lighthouse there were more seals saying hello, and another foghorn. It is lovely natural park in a headland area decorated with a carpet of purple heather. the perfect place to let the sea do its work and blow away any cobwebs.

Langness Lighthouse, Msle of Man

From the peninsula it was a fourteen-minute drive to Castletown, which is another very pretty fishing village with a couple of cute harbour lights.

12 & 13. Castletown Irish Quay and New Pier Lighthouses, Isle of Man

Our next stop of Port St Mary is a bigger town and has a great underway which runs beneath the harbour and town walls, providing a very scenic walk to the main harbour. Here you'll find the Port St Mary harbour lighthouses on the Inner Pier and Albert Pier.

14 & 15. Port St Mary harbour lighthouses (Inner pier and Albert Pier), Isle of Man

A short drive from Port St Mary is Port Erin and we enjoyed a cold beer at a café on the beach looking out at the iconic beach lighthouse which stands next to a row of colourful beach huts. Wonderful! There is also a great chip shop, the Port Erin Chippy & Diner opposite the Railway Station which is part of the Isle of Man's famous steam railway.

16. Port Erin Front Range Lighthouse, Isle of Man

Across from the beach on the other side of the harbour, next to the RNLI Port Erin Lifeboat Station is another small harbour light, the Raglan Pier Lighthouse.

 17. Raglan Pier Lighthouse, Isle of Man

Our last stop of the day and the final two lighthouses of our tour was at Peel on the west coast. It's a popular town with a large castle sitting on a small island just off the main harbour. Here we saw the Peel Breakwater Lighthouse and Peel Castle Jetty Lighthouse with some great green stripes.

18. Peel Castle Jetty Lighthouse, Isle of Man

19. Peel Breakwater Lighthouse, Isle of Man

This was our first visit to the Isle of Man, and it was a wonderful and invigorating experience, and we will not doubt return again to visit the host of great attractions and spectacular scenery we didn't manage to squeeze in on this brief trip. At the end of our very enjoyable two days, we managed to bag nineteen of the twenty-three Manx lighthouses. We did spot the spectacular Chicken Rock lighthouse, which sits in the ocean just off the past the Calf of Man, but we'll save that as part of our boat trip to the Calf of Man along with the two remaining lights on the Calf.

A perfect excuse to return to the Isle of Man.