So, it’s time for the 20th anniversary challenge to begin!
We’ve all arrived on the Isle of Man (Jeremy and Clare came across today, James having been here with his family for a week), and are preparing for an intensive four days. Actually, we’re starting off tomorrow with easily the lightest of those four - the only official part of the challenge being to play on Queen’s Pier, Ramsey*. Though doubtless we’ll find lots of other fun places to play and things to do when near the seaside!
Of course, we’ll be saving ourselves a little because of the three following days - running a half marathon, walking from coast-to-coast, and climbing a mountain (all with cellos) will take a bit of doing. And that’s not even to mention the roof of the song school at Peel Cathedral. As a reminder, this is our plan (more details at www.extremecello.com/2023):
Saturday: Play at Queen’s Pier, Ramsey (see below*)
Sunday: Run the Isle of Man half marathon with our cellos
Monday, 11am: Play on the roof of the song school of St German’s Cathedral, Peel
Monday afternoon: Walk from the west coast (Peel) to the east coast (Douglas), playing our cellos along the way
Tuesday: Climb and playing at the summit of Snaefell (610m – the tallest mountain on the island. Timings for this are weather dependent, so again look out for social media/blog updates
Anyway, today we’ve already spent a little time at the beach, having fish and chips of course, and have registered for Sunday’s race - see photo above of us with our race numbers and lovely official race shirts at the National Sports Centre. But mostly we’re steeling ourselves for the next few days…
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*So, today we discovered that the pier is mostly closed. We’re going to see how close to the shore end of it we can actually play, but otherwise we’ll go under the pier at low tide - yes, we’ll play “Under the Boardwalk”! Our estimated time for that is now 2.30pm, so if you happen to be around, see you there!