Onchan

So woke up to another cold day in the UK. So far, France turned it up and everywhere see has been freezing!!

So we decided to do the north part of the country today, and the southern half tomorrow. So off to the old Lonan church, St Adamnan's, which is still standing and part of it is still in use. No one is buried there from our family, but we later found out that the Canon John Quine did want to be as this was the church he saved from ruin. The story didn't explain why he wasn't buried there.

Alison and I took the bus to the airport to pick up the car which we did with no troubles. We got a free cd which I forgot to take with us when we left. It was all about the Isle of Man too, so would have been very interesting!

So off to the church and we saw a sign to follow which made it easy, but we were unsure for a while because of the tiny road flanked by hedges, making it feel even more closed in! We made it there though and it was a beautiful little church!
I think we saw something on the inside about the Canon, but I can't recall. There were also a couple of standing stones at the back indicating, this was a petty old church sites, probably in mud/wood prior to the stone ruin with was prior to the current church. Although, the current church is actually part of the rings which made it very different to anything I've seen before.

We had made a plan to visit with a distant relative Julie and Dave Quine at 3pm that day.

We left the church and looking at the time thought we should head to the Snaefell railway in order to get up and back in time to meet Julie. We got there and only just missed it!! So we decided to leave as the next one was an hour away, and we could head to the other church, the Lonan Parish Church, and see all of the grave stones. We wandered around and took pictures of all he Quine's we found. The Canon's headstone was really easy to find, and massive!! The person who had it made, was quite an important person in Isle of Man at that time, and we found loads of things on him in the museum/library.

We were there for ages and I noticed the time slip away, but realised we could still get the train and be back in time to see Julie. So we got the train up and the views were awesome. We got off and it was the most cold I had been all trip. So we practically all ran into the restaurant. I decided on scones and jam and cream. Turned out it was scone with sultanas. I picked out of them out, and just dealt with the rest. I was a little worried there wouldn't be enough jam or cream but somehow there was just enough. The scone was quite flat and large, and very dense, so by the time I ate it, I was quite content! We had all had a big breakfast of sausages, eggs, toast and juice also.

The trains had gotten off the schedule because of a busload earlier in the day, and they made an announcement that there would be one at 230. We thought that would be ok, just a few minutes late, since there was a half hour journey back down. So we headed off to the top of the mountain, or Hill, by foot. Mumba got up and immediately went back down because the wind was outrageous! We were getting pushed off the mountain. Took some pictures and headed back wait for the train. It got back and everyone tried to get on, but the train conductor said he was told leave at 3pm, or if he was full. He was only 3 or so seats off but still wouldn't leave...
We ended up full and leaving at 3pm so we knew we will be late. We had to drive past a couple times to find Julie's house but managed it and pulled in around 330 or so.

It was funny meeting a long lost relative, because you know you are technically family, but realistically you aren't. They were nice enough peopleRead more