After 9 weeks in almost permanent solitary confinement, I decided to venture further than Shoprite today. It was a mild but very breezy day and I needed to do a house visit to Colby. This provided the perfect reason to get myself off my bum and do some exercise.
I walked across the fields to Four Roads, then up Church Road to Ballachurry Nature Reserve, where I dropped in for a short visit. As I wound my way along the neatly manicured paths I suddenly heard a screech of a mother bird and two little fluffy chicks rapidly made their retreat into the undergrowth. I think they were pheasant chicks but I’m not awfully sure. They were very cute. They hid too well for me to snap them though.
I followed the roads up to the Levels where I took a left turn up the hill. This begins as a road to various small settlements and eventually peters out at a farm. I turned right just before this point and passed an old chapel currently being renovated before meeting another lane, where I turned briefly left and then took a right footpath to Colby which I haven’t taken in 6 years of living here. There is sense of openness here. It is a strange combination of feeling as if you are in the middle of Derbyshire and yet still being able to see the sea. I really enjoyed watching the swathes of grass as they blew in the wind. I did take some video to show you, but WordPress doesn’t permit it 😦
From the countryside one enters the pretty village of Colby. Having taken this particular path I then had to follow the main road north for a short distance to go into Colby Glen itself. This lovely glen never disappoints, no matter what time of year, no matter what the weather. I thought there might be more people there now that our restrictions on the Isle of Man have been lifted to such an extent, but I only saw a couple of young people and a small gathering (up to 10 now permitted here) having a picnic in the glen.
Then it was back down into Colby itself and my visit to the house I look after for my friend. I was somewhat surprised to see a boat on the drive, but this mystery was resolved after I spoke to the neighbour who said he was cheekily borrowing the drive. With our borders being closed, the owners could not travel to the island. Mm, they could have asked the owners first, but hey ho, it doesn’t really matter.
The afternoon warmed up nicely and the sun shone, but my goodness did the breeze blow – in my face, all the way back to Port Erin. By and large I won’t bother you with this part of my walk as I have commented on this section several times before, but I did like the sheep and the skyline of trees and the cows in the foreground as I made my way home. The river Colby is a delight to follow all the way to the sea. It is unspoilt and uninterrupted and you have the feeling that you are following in many people’s footsteps over centuries.
I will let the photos tell you anything else you may wish to know.
And finally, here is the route I took. It is an easy route, on either roads or easy tracks.
Gill's Isle of Man Walks 