Ireland 2024 – Day 13 – Europe by car

Cloudy, windy and rainy day today. So, we decided to explore various museums. We had noted down a few already during the planning of this Grand tour. Which happened already late last year. There was a thick fog up in the mountains which made for some slightly scary driving.

First stop was Peel on the other side of the island. We had noted down three things to do there. First out was the Peel castle. This was outdoor, but the rain had stopped briefly. Despite the state of the castle now. It’s easy to get an idea of how impressive it must have been back in it’s golden days. The second quest was to visit the location of the Peel factory. We found the road but no indication as of where the factory had been located. We’d read about a plaque that eventually should be there. The third quest was to visit the Manx Transport Heritage museum. Which turned out to be open on Saturdays and Sundays only.

Mill Road, where the Peel microcars were built

Next stop was Port Erin and the railway museum. Once we managed to find a parking space, we walked to the museum in the rain. This was a small but very well maintained museum.

All the train lines that once were in operation

Next stop was Manx Aviation and Military museum in Castletown. It’s located next to the airport. On the outside it doesn’t look like much. But inside it tells an extensive story of Isle of Man during WW1 and WW2.

Time to get some lunch. We saw a small sign along the road that pointed towards a café on the other side of the airport. It turned out to be very good!

We then drove to the northern part of the island. That’s only 50 minutes drive. There we visited the Isle of Man Motor Museum. It contains a rather impressive collection of motorbikes and cars. There are quite a few microcars including several Peel models. More surprisingly is a rather large collection of american cars. It’s unclear to us why they have ended up on Isle of Man.