Visiting Peel Harbour, on the Isle of Man
Katy and I spent ten enjoyable days in Peel Harbour, on the Isle of Man, in early April. These notes are intended to help other mariners who stop there.
Important links
The Isle of Man has many very useful web sites; much of the information below is drawn from them. Here are some key links.
Peel Harbour. This site has the crucial schedule for the opening of the flap gate at the entrance to the marina.
Isle of Man Guide. Practical and tourist information, including bicycle routes.
Manx National Heritage. Many of the sites you might want to visit are operated by Manx National Heritage. They have reciprocal membership privileges with many similar organizations, such as the Scottish National Trust, making their sites free.
Entry to the marina
The Isle of Man has significant tides (over 5 meters at springs), and the marina is behind a flap gate. The approach dries at low tide, and the marina can only be entered two hours either side of high tide. Check the current flap gate schedule before entering. In spring through fall, there are yellow, short term visitor moorings east of the breakwater that can be used when waiting for the gate to lower.
Besides the gate, there is a pedestrian swing bridge over the flap gate than blocks entrance to the marina. The bridge will open on the hour and half hour, on request, when the flap gate is lowered, or other times upon request (they seem pretty relaxed about it). Call on VHF channel 12 to request an opening. During marina working hours (8AM to 4:30PM, 7 days a week), call Peel Marina; outside those hours, contact the Marine Operations Center in Douglas, and they can open the bridge remotely. We arrived at 2AM on Easter Monday, and they opened for us. There are three vertical lights that indicate the bridge status: red for closed, green for open.
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| high tide |
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| near low tide |
The marina is located at the mouth of a small river, so the current is stronger on the outgoing tide. The marina has to be dredged, and is quite shoal (perhaps 2 meters).
See the excellent marina web site for more information, or call the friendly harbourmaster
Marina facilities
Toilets and showers are at the southern end of the marina; contact the harbourmaster (+44 1624 842338) for the access code. There are no laundry facilities onsite. There is a small laundromat (at 2 Shore Rd, Peel) about a half a kilometer from the marina; we didn’t use it.
Trash bins (large blue bins with sliding tops) are located at the marina entrance gate (not the gate to the dock area). Recycling (for bottles, cans and foil only) are located south of the marina, on Mill Road, Look for signs to “Householders Recycling Centre.”
There is a self-service diesel fueling station just outside the marina entrance, near the end of the east seawall. You pay at the "Chandlery - Manx Fish Producers Organisation" (next door to House of Manannan) and get a token that entitles you to the amount of fuel you paid for. With just the two of us aboard, it looked too tricky to attempt, but with three it looks doable.
Groceries
The town has a Tesco Express and Spar within easy walking distance of the marina. A Tesco Superstore is a bit further, up a hill.
The Robinson’s on Cooil Road has a fish market featuring locally caught seafood, and foods that you might not find at Tesco.
Isle of Man Farm Shop at Glen Helen also has fresh Manx seafood and other local products. There’s also a nice restaurant at the Glen Helen parking area (I can’t find it online at all…), and the walk up Glen Helen is supposed to be very nice (foul weather prevented us from trying it).
Getting around
The Isle of Man has good bus service, and the historic trains (both the Manx Electric Railway and the Isle of Man Steam Railway) are actually practical transportation options, not just tourist attractions. There is frequent bus service between Peel and Douglas (the capital and largest town on the island), making it easy to get to the trains.
We rented a car for several days from Lets Hire, a small, family-run business near the airport. The owner was very friendly and helpful (especially with pick up and drop off) and the car was clean and well serviced. This made it much easier to visit the north and south points of the island.
There’s a very nice bicycle path between Peel and Douglas (about 20km). It has only modest hills, is well maintained, and passes through attractive scenery. There are other bike paths on the island, but we didn’t try them. It’s easy to get to the Tesco Superstore by bike, if you don’t mind hills.
Restaurants in Peel
The Fish Bar, a small kiosk at the east end of the pedestrian bridge across the marina entrance, has a very limited menu and is only open 11AM to 4PM daily (more or less…), but should be visited at least once for the flash fried “queenies” (a small, delicious variety of scallop).
Restaurants further afield
The Sound Cafe, at the Calf of Man (the southern tip of the island) had excellent brunch options, and is nice to combine with a visit to the Calf of Man.
Noa Market Hall (in Douglas, near the marina) is a good breakfast or lunch stop, and they make outstanding bread (available, sliced only, at the Tescos in Peel).
The Boathouse Eatery (in Ramsey, near the marina) has excellent coffee and light snacks.
Stanley’s Restaurant & Cafe (in Castletown) has excellent lunches.
Attractions
I feel like we just scratched the surface; there are many more places we just didn’t have time to see. Here are the ones we liked.
Peel
Peel Castle is very well preserved, and the audio tour (free with entry) is informative.
Peel Cathedral and the surrounding gardens should not be missed. This is a beautiful, yet modest, Anglican church, and the gardens are full of interesting and historic sculptures.
House of Manannan is OK, but not great. It presents the history of the Isle of Man, mostly through audio clips associated with life-sized tableaux. I wish they just had more textual plaques.
Elsewhere on Man
The Great Laxey Wheel is an amazing piece of Victorian era engineering. We made a day’s outing of it:
Bus from Peel to Douglas
Manx Electric Railroad (MER) from Douglas to Laxey
Snaefell Mountain Railway to the top of Snaefell and back
Walk to the Wheel and back to the train station
MER to Ramsey, just to get a look at the marina
Bus back to Peel
The Jurby Transport Museum (only open on Sundays, free admission) is a small, volunteer-run collection of transit-related stuff: cars, buses, fire engines, bicycles, model trains, parts.
It’s adjacent to the Isle of Man Motor Museum, a private collection of motorized vehicles: cars, buses, hearses, taxis, and many, many motorcycles. Admission for adults is £22.00; this is not a National Heritage site.
The Grove Museum in Ramsey is a nicely-preserved former private home, with a nice Garden. This is a national heritage site.
Castle Rushen is like a tardis - it’s bigger on the inside than you think it will be. You can combine a visit to it with lunch at Stanley’s Restaurant & Cafe.
The Calf of Man and the Point of Ayre are at extreme opposite ends of the island. The Calf of Man is actually an island that you can’t visit, just view from the mainland of Man. There are supposedly nice walks there; the day we visited the weather didn’t encourage walking.
Close by is Cregneash Village, a small National Heritage site depicting crofter life on Manx, including the odd Manx Loaghtan sheep.
The Point of Ayre has an attractive, now inactive, lighthouse that you can’t visit; it’s now privately owned. It also hosts a newer active lighthouse, fog horn, and often (as during our visit) seals on the beach.
From the marina, you can walk south to the top of Corrin’s Hill to see Corrin’s Tower, also known locally (and, IMO, unfortunately) as “Corrin’s Folly”. From there you can proceed north over Peel Hill and descend to Peel Castle on St. Patrick’s Isle, another National Trust site.
Silverdale Glen and the Castletown Stroll is a nice pair of walks that we combined. Both leave from the Monk’s Bridge in Ballasalla, accessible by Steam Railway (easiest) or by bus. The walk north from the bridge is just delightful.
