Like so many others, our travel plans were thwarted when Covid19 hit the world. My husband and I had been about to embark on our honeymoon in March, when lockdown struck. Finding the silver-lining to the cancelled-honeymoon-cloud, a friend of ours had the great idea of suggesting that we have a staycation, when lockdown eased sufficiently enough for us to do so.
Situated far away from the UK’s large cities, the Isle of Man is well known within the astronomy community as a great location for dark skies. From the amateur to the expert, when clear skies permit, it is a stargazing spectacle for everyone.
The Calf of Man is a small islet of some 600 acres separated from the Isle of Man by a narrow channel through which tides race four times each day. Named by our Viking forebears (Kalfr means a small island lying off a larger) the Calf has a fascinating history with lessons of self-reliance that carry messages for us today.