OK, that title may be slightly misleading as we haven’t run another half marathon today - but our coast-to-coast walk did take us another 13.2 miles, meaning today’s challenge was actually further than yesterday’s (and we were carrying more). But more of that later!
This morning saw us visit Peel, and specifically St German’s Cathedral. Even more specifically, it was the song school of the cathedral we went to, as the main cathedral is closed for significant renovations (although we don’t think it had a suitable flat roof for us anyway). When we played on all 42 Anglican cathedral rooftops in England in 2006, there was actually one Church of England cathedral in the British Isles that we didn’t cover - yes, it was St German’s in Peel. So this was a nice way to complete the set.
We were given a very warm welcome by their Director of Music, Dr Peter Litman, who plied us with cups of tea as we ascended to the roof - and then found that quite a substantial crowd had turned up to hear us play. Luckily the rain that was threatening held off for the duration of the performance, and we were generously applauded (and donations were made)!
But then the big walk began - from Peel back to Douglas, West coast to East coast, which was mostly along the Heritage Trail, a disused railway line. While this did not contain any major hills, and was generally very pleasant, it was also somewhat gruelling, especially the day after running a half marathon! It was already gone midday when we began it, but bumped into yet another cellist friend from Sheffield as we were starting, which seemed a remarkable coincidence!
After about 3 miles we stopped for lunch in a village called St John’s (at a lovely cafe called Green’s - highly recommended!), and then went across the road to play at Tynwald Hill - the site of the oldest continuing parliament in the world (beginning over a thousand years ago, and still having an annual meeting now, open to the community of the Isle of Man every 5 July). A rather delightful four-tiered hill, it is a distinctive looking place, especially with cellos we thought!
But the walk continued quickly afterwards, as we had a lot of ground to cover. Rain came and went, and by the time we were getting close to Douglas we had aching feet, legs, backs and various other ailments; speaking personally my legs were even more tired at this point than they had been at the end of the half marathon yesterday! But finally we got to the coast and could celebrate with a fine meal (at which we were joined by James’s wife and children, and old friends Kate and Shaun, who are all over here for the duration of our trip too).
Some exciting news about tomorrow! After we go up the 610m mountain Snaefell in the morning, we are going to be allowed onto Queen’s Pier in Ramsey to play, even though it is shut to the public. A journalist who covered our playing in Peel today made a helpful connection for us, so we will get to set foot on the pier after all! But there’s the small matter of a mountain to ascend (and descend) first…
Thanks again to everyone who’s sponsored us so far; if you’d like to add to that number to contribute to Aspire or Go Beyond you can do so by clicking the below link:
Sponsor us here
Many thanks!
Jeremy, Clare & James