Hallelujah – she’s been on a walk at last, I hear you say. Well actually, I was in the Lakes a few weeks ago, just over the Easter weekend, and I did a couple of absolutely delightful walks, one up the precipitous Cats Gill, which was quite taxing for an oldie like me, but quite exhilarating too, and another long and lovely walk between Skiddaw and Blencathra. I had lost a bit of confidence for walking on my own, but these two days thoroughly revived me.

Today, back on the Isle of Man, I ventured to the middle of the island, to Crosby (though, for some reason my car decided that I should go via Foxdale, so I was a little late starting!). I plenished my stocks with a £3.50 excellent meal deal from the Coop and started up the lane, a route I know well. At the top of the lane, the path becomes the Millenium Way for a short distance. It is a steady climb, not just this bit, but for a full 3 miles until you reach the junction on the ridge walk. It is not a difficult walk but it is a little cumbersome as the cows and bikes have churned up the path quite a lot so I was often on pats of muddy grass rather than a path. Ahead of me was a guy on a bike and I did wonder how he was coping. I eventually found out when I caught him up. I don’t think he was particularly enjoying his bike ride but I assured him it would get better when he reached the top.

It was fairly dull day at this stage, although visibility was reasonable and I could see all the big hills and as I reached the top of Slieau Ruy, having traipsed first over Larghee Ruy, the vista of the whole of the south opened up in front of me. Langness looked like a little squiggle or an afterthought to god’s creation, and I did think it might entirely disappear with climate change.

After from the biker I didn’t see a single soul, not even in the distance. The ridge walk is only short, about 2 miles, though on another day you could take in Colden to extend time at the top. After Greeba Mountain, the only sensible way down in through the forest. The descent is not great. It looks as if the path has been ‘repaired’ but it is full of small stones of different sizes and the gradient is quite steep, so this was not particularly pleasant. Far easier to walk on the heather, but I didn’t do this. I was glad to reach the edge of the forest after about 15 mins. This is then a very pleasant walk on soft turf in the quiet eeriness of the forest. I had made the decision that I would take a detour from the forest and cross the small stream and follow an old road back to Crosby. I enjoyed the stream – it was in full pelt and there were some stepping stones which were fun to cross. It is a permissive path, but obviously well used.

However, I missed the connection with the road beside the house, indeed I never even saw it, but no matter I continued on the permissive path which was absolutely delightful. The gorse was in full bloom and the path went over grassy fields. This did mean, though, that I ended up back on my original route. Looking at the map, and previously, on the way up, I had noticed another path going to the outer edges of Crosby, so of course, I had to try it. This is an old road, no longer used, and it was a joy to walk along, so my misdirection early on was of no consequence. The flowers were beautiful in the hedgerow.

This is fairly long walk of just over 8 miles, with 1600 ft of ascent /descent. It took me 4 hours, but if you decide to do this, I would allow 4-6 hours on a nice sunny day to stop and admire the countryside. I parked opposite the bowls club in Crosby on the lane by the stream. They are free toilets at the bowls club situated between two blocks so you don’t need to go inside. There is a Costa beside the Coop, so you can get a welcome drink after your stride out, if you so desire.