Covid-19: Mother counting days to Isle of Man reunion

For Lyn Campbell, a trip to see her daughter in the Isle of Man is not easy

A woman from Northern Ireland who has not seen her daughter for nearly 18 months has joked that she'll need to swim or hitch a lift with a fisherman.

As lockdown eased, regulations would have permitted Lyn Campbell to visit her daughter, Alison, in the Isle of Man in May.

But getting there has proved tricky.

Lyn has had both her vaccinations but there are currently no direct flights from Northern Ireland and the ferry is not operating at the moment.

They are scheduled to be back in place from early July.

Lyn's daughter Alison and her fiancé Mike are getting married in October

For Lyn, from Moneyreagh, County Down, every day counts as she looks forward to helping her daughter with wedding plans.

"Unless I go down to Portaferry and ask the fishing boats to drop me off, there's no chance of getting there at the moment," said Lyn.

'Frustrating'

It's been nearly a year and a half since mother and daughter have been together in the same room.

Arrangements for Alison's wedding in October have had to go on without her mother's physical presence.

The Isle of Man's border has been closed to most non-residents for more than a year

Lockdown has meant that special moment of seeing her daughter being fitted for her wedding dress took place via a mobile phone.

On the Isle of Man, coronavirus border restrictions were eased to allow non-resident family to visit from 1 May.

Under the Manx government's Covid-19 Exit Framework, the island's border is expected to open fully without the need for isolation on arrival from 28 June, but that depends on infection rates and variants.

However, the website of the ferry company, the Isle of Man Steam Packet, suggests that the first ferries from Belfast are in early July. It's a similar story with flights.

"Yes, the Isle of Man has opened up - I read it on the BBC website - but the first plane out is 2 July which is five weeks after the Isle of Man was meant to be accessible," Lyn said.

"The only way is to fly via Manchester or Liverpool but because of a health condition and the increase of the Indian variant, I can't risk this."

'We feel we need to be there'

She added: "It is really frustrating. We have not seen Alison for 18 months. We want to be helping her plan her wedding.

"We feel we need to be there."

She feels that many other people who have family living on the Isle of Man are in the same situation.

"I'll book the first flight or ferry in July. It has been breaking our hearts not to have been involved in her plans," she said.

BBC News NI has contacted the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company but there has been no reply, so far.

Airlines Easyjet and Loganair, which operate direct flights from Belfast to the Isle of Man, are also taking bookings from July.

A spokesperson for Easyjet said: "As with all our routes at present, we are reviewing our flying programme on an ongoing basis to align our schedule with customer demand and travel restrictions."