Category: Isle of man

Teaser for Tuesday

On Tuesday I am leading a walk for the U3A down the Rushen Valley up to the Round Table and on to Cronk Ny Arrey Laa and Eary Cushlin. I had offered an extension to view Lag Ny Keeilley, so the purpose of today’s walk was to check whether the coast path from the top of hill to this historic site was suitable for my walkers.

I must admit I wasn’t really in the mood for walking – horror of horrors I hear you say, but my apathy was soon dispelled once I started moving. It was a lovely day and there seemed to be no-one about so I had all this wonderful countryside all to myself. Maybe everyone is watching the Commonweath games or gone away…

The route to the top of Cronk Ny Arrey Laa is well travelled and easy. It is about 300ft from the road and takes about 15 mins to reach the top, from where the views are unsurpassed anywhere on the island, with the exception perhaps of Snaefell. The route down to Eary Cushlin is not so easy. It is narrow and steep and the footings are tricky in places where the ground has been eaten away over time, leaving fairly high steps on the banks. Having said that, it is easily passable with care. It looks no distance from the top but in reality takes between 20-30 mins to walk down and across the moor to where the path meets the lower path at Eary Cushlin.

On Tuesday, we shall continue straight on past Eary Cushlin house and back to the cars. I haven’t described the earlier part of the walk as I have covered this before. When I write it up on Tuesday I shall tell you all about the Tholtans in the area. However, for those wanting to visit Lag Ny Keeilley, turn left and continue mostly downhill on a rough path for about 3/4 mile. This was originally a packhorse route which would have run all the way around the steep western slopes of Cronk Ny Arrey Laa to the Sloc. I decided this path was not suitable for a group. Not only is it narrow and overgrown with bracken the ground has broken away in places on the slopes making the path very difficult to negotiate. It really needs some maintenance, but I guess this is not a very frequented path so won’t be high on the list of things to do over here.

If you do continue, the views are beautiful on this dramatic coastline, and it is extremely peaceful. There were several little birds hovering and chatting as I walked along and a very big bird kept circling overhead – possibly a harrier. When I eventually reached Lag Ny Keeilley, over 1000 years old, you will initally see two modern cairns at the entrance. The whole area is surrounded by a circular wall, though this is difficult to see, indicating a burial ground. Indeed several burials have been found, including a lady who lived at Eary Cushlin who was buried there in 1800. The keeill itself is fairly substantial and significant finds were found here, including the original altar and quartz pebbles, often found in these settings as a mark of respect for the dead. The remains of the priest’s cell is also visible. If you would like to know more about this site, take a look at Andrew Johnson’s explanation here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkxEbGS6Sos. Although his video was made only a few years ago, the site seems in better condition then than it does now, which is a shame.

Overall, the distance of this walk was about 4 .5 miles, and 1070ft of ascent and roughly the same amount of descent.

Sweet surprises come unexpectedly

Just a short post today. Yesterday was table tennis day. My road was being resurfaced so I took the bus into Douglas. On the way I walked through Athol Glen, and how lovely it looked in the early morning light. I waited patiently for a bus that never came (this happens quite a lot right now), but we have plenty so I knew I wouldn’t have to wait long. It was busy and the driver seemed to have to stop at every single bus stop and I was actually late for my 9am start having left home at 7.40am.

Table tennis was its usual mix of good and bad shots but also excellent company and a lot of fun. After this I walked into Douglas along the Nunnery path. This woodland is always beautiful and we are so lucky to have this tucked away just behind the industrial areas. The river Douglas looked tantalisingly beautiful, although not obvious here, the river level is very low and at times as it reached the harbour it barely continued on its way. Along the Nunnery path is an area of grassland and there were large clumps of Willowherb looking as if they owned the field. They were lovely.

After a quick fling round Tesco, I waited for the steam train home. For the first time ever, I was in First Class, with three single seats on each side, each with soft cushioning, but also with very straight backs. One lady and her daughter from Ireland joined my carriage, followed by an elderly gent who relished in telling me stories about ‘before I was born’. I did try to tell him how old I am but he kept repeating this adage, so I assume he must be well into his 90’s. He was so interesting, as was the Irish lady and she renewed my interest in visiting Ireland, though I think I will need a month to do it justice. The old gent, let’s call him Joe (not his real name) and I were lamenting the ‘old’ days and discussing government policies just as you expect old people to do. “In my day…” springs to mind, though as far as the Isle of Man is concerned I can only talk about the last 25 years, as I had never even visited it before then.

You never know quite who you are going to meet, or when, or what joy brief conversations will bring and create lasting memories. Two days’ running in my case.

Ambling and Rambling Around the Sound Coastpath

It was one of those days that was just right for walking, if a little breezy. At least it wasn’t boiling hot! It is a while since I have walked this route west to east (or roughly that) and I was really looking forward to it. I wasn’t disappointed. There are a few noticeable changes – well noticeable to me – such as quite a lot of erosion in places, some caused by weather, some caused my man, and some very definitely caused by rabbits. The heather, whilst still beautiful, was not quite as abundant as it has appeared in the past, and the bracken seems to be getting a stronghold in some areas and crowding out the heather. The gorse was variable with several areas without flowers. On the plus side, there were a lot of choughs, all busy arguing with themselves as only they know how to do.

I started out from home and walked along Athol Park to the top road overlooking Port Erin. This is one of my favourite views of the bay. It always looks so inviting, no matter what the weather. I followed the road to where the coastpath starts behind the delapidated Marine Biological Station, noticing that the stream that generally gushes out from the top of the cliff was completely silent today, testament to the very dry summer we are having. The seagulls seem to have already abandoned the cliff face here, where they used to nest in abundance. They must be anticipating their home being ravaged by builders and machinery once the development of the apartments begins. Today, there were only a couple of beleaguered herring gulls scattered on the site.

The path soon starts to climb uphill and this was the first point where I noticed that more rocks were exposed than I remember. Again, areas that are usually a bit muddy were dry and the wild flowers even seemed to be begging for rain. Otherwise, I didn’t see anything unusual on my walk round to the Sound. I was as delighted as ever when I reached the Valley of the Rocks with all its contorted shapes. A few minutes later I arrived at the Sound in time for a bowl of soup, which was accompanied with a roll, but the greedy seagulls took it when I wasn’t watching. I had been debating whether I wanted the bread anyway, so they did my a favour, and boy did they enjoy it and make a fuss! I am on a keep fit campaign, not much of a campaign really. I just want to lose a little weight and cutting out or down on bread and cheese are high on my list.

After lunch I spent a little time sitting on the rocks watching the seals. Several were lounging close by and others were peering at the visitors peering at them. This is such a beautiful spot to stand and stare, and you know how good I am at that. After that it was the steep climb up on to the top of Cronk Mooar and then on to Spanish Head. On the way, I met a couple watching some sheep who were having an argument. I was to see them later on in my walk – the couple that is, not the sheep, and we spent a very pleasant few minutes talking about our respective experiences of the island and comparing it with Germany, where they live. This section of path usually has the best gorse and heather, and add in the sage and the grasses, it makes for wonderful variation in colour. There are also interesting rock formations on this section of Spanish and Black Head, rather like limestone pavements, but I’m not sure they are made of limestone. If anyone knows what type of rock these are please let me know.

The last bit of uphill takes you to the Chasms and the Sugarloaf. Here I met another couple, also visitors, wanting to know where to go next. I think their decision was made by telling them there were toilets at Cregneash as they then headed up in that direction. I took the lower grassy path and made friends with a number of sheep, and picked up feathers for my granddaughter to paint. The vista on this side of the Sound is very different. On the north western side all you can see are hills, but from here you can see not only the hills but the terrain also gently rolling down to the sea and the flat areas of Castletown and Langness.

By the time I reached Glen Chass I had had enough. If you are doing this walk, you might want to continue down to Port St Mary and take one of the roads back to Port Erin. There are a number of different options, depending on how far you want to walk. You can go over the hill at Fistard, taking the path upwards from the golf course, follow the coastal path or as I did follow the road at Glen Chass to the Howe Road. I then followed the farmer’s track down to Truggan Road and then I was about home. However, if you turn left at the Howe road junction, you can take a footpath behind some houses on the right, going over fields and retaining the height and the wonderful views until you finally have to drop down on one of three footpaths leading to the Port Erin end of Truggan Road.

This walk was just under 8 miles, with a total ascent of 1463′ and a total descent of 1503ft. I took it slowly, to enjoy looking at all the wildflowers and other wildlife. I would allow 3.5 – 4 hrs of walking time for this beautiful coastal walk.

Peel coast, railway line and river circular

I had a lovely walk yesterday with walking.im. Thank you to Ken and Catriona and all the regulars who made me feel very welcome. We met at Fenella Beach in Peel. People were swimming in the bay and I overheard a lady getting very excited about all the scallop shells on the beach, and off she and her son went hunting for the best specimens to take home.

We walked along the bay northwards. This is a wonderful stretch of coastline and easy walking. It provides a great panoramic view of Peel and you can see the coastline as far as Jurby. You will pass stacks of red sandstone, only found in this area, and the sea birds, especially the shags and cormorants make your acquaintance, perching and drying their wings only a few arm’s lengths away. Shags are slightly smaller than cormorants and slender and can be seen on the right on the photo below. One distinguishing mark of a cormorant is a white patch on the thigh which can be seen particularly when flying. A distinguishing mark of a shag, if you can get close enough, is its emerald eye which is sourrounded by feathers. This is different from the eye patch of a cormorant. This is only a marginally undulating path, and it does not have steep drops to put anyone off. This is a popular stretch of coastline for runners, hikers and dog-walkers alike.

Eventually, the path meets the main Peel to Kirk Michael road, and there is no way of avoiding this. A short walk along the road and you come to some houses on the left, and we turned into these. It is not marked as a footpath, so it is less well known. Follow it initially across a field and then very shortly you reach the dunes where there is a fairly steep path down to Whitesands beach. I had never been here before. It is very reclusive as there is no other access path, so you could spend many a happy hour with your family sharing a picnic, playing in the sand or swimming in the sea. Perhaps not best to do right now though, as there were several dead gulls and razorbills washed up on the beach amongst the sea weed, due to avian flu. If you come across dead seabirds, please do not touch them.

Retracing our steps, we walked a short way along the road before crossing over to follow the railway track almost back to St Johns. This is an unspoilt track, so very different from the Heritage Trail from St John’s to Peel that runs alongside the river, which is more like a glorified road and heavy to walk on. I understand that it does mean that cyclists, wheelchair users, or people with prams can enjoy the walk without the ground being uneven, but it does lose some of its magic in the transition.

The quintessential countryside landscape that surrounds Peel is just as nice as the coastal scenes and shows what variety we have on our lovely island. This is what you can expect to see as you walk along the railway line.

This walk was 8.25 miles with a total ascent of 433′, which is all along the coastpath and going down and back to Whitesands. The remainder of the walk is flat. Allow 3.5hrs for this walk so that you have time to sit on the beach and admire the views as you go along.

Dalby Mountain & Nature Reserve

At last I am back out walking. Both feet and ankles are behaving reasonably well, so I am looking forward to getting out and about in our fantastic countryside on a regular basis.

Today, I was really just wanting to check an alternative route across the moors for a route I am leading soon; and, I also wanted to do a recce for a large painting I am planning for the autumn. I started off at the big bend in the road between the Sloc and South Barrule at the foot of Cronk Ny Array Laa, and followed the farm track as far as Kerroodhoo plantation. That wasn’t actually the plan, but I missed my designated footpath as I was examining all the different styles and steps leading off Cronk Ny Array Laa on the opposite side of the track. Note to self, pay attention if you have a plan in mind!! Not to worry, I would just do it in reverse.

I carried on the farm track as far as the coast road to Dalby/Peel, turned left and took the first track immediately to the right. When I walked this a few weeks ago the orchids were still out but they had gone now. In their place there is knapweed and heart’s ease and smaller flowers such as eyebright. I took this path in order to find a good vantage point for my painting, as it is a little higher up than the path leading into Glen Rushen and would give a better aerial view. I stopped for 15 minutes and did a quick preliminary sketch, then decided to walk down to the other footpath. Only when I got there, there was a massive hedge that was impenetrable so having checked for alternatives I decided I had no choice but to go back to the top of the hill.

As usual, this is where my original plan and my impetuous nature were at odds with each other, so rather than return to my original route, I turned right onto the track only permitted for horses and motorbikes (though I am sure walkers are fine too), the one with numerous gates with fastenings that are easy to manipulate. This skirts just below the top of Dalby Mountain and provides excellent views to the north, west and south. Peel seemed just a stone’s throw away but in reality must be 4-5 miles. Scotland was clearly visible too. I eventually joined the path that goes from the road to Glen Maye and turned left onto this to retrace my steps back to Dalby Nature Reserve. I really enjoyed this part of the walk and I discovered another track that I would take another time, and another route for the U3A (down to Dalby/Niarbyl).

Reaching the nature reserve, I didn’t know whether the path across the moor would be well defined or a mass of heather and gorse, so I decided to walk on a compass bearing back to the track at Cronk Ny Array Laa. As it turned out, this was totally unnecessary, but it’s good to remind yourself of your skills every now and again. The moorland was full of Bog Asphodel in its yellow clothes, some beginning to look rather tatty as they turn brown towards the end of their life. The bell heather is coming out, and in places there was bog cotten too. If you take this path and are using a map, you will notice that the woodland on the left (looking south) adjacent to the reserve has been felled. However, at the corner, there is a large ladder stile over a wall, so if you have binoculars you can look out for this. This is more visible from the opposite direction as you are going slightly uphill this way round. On the other side of the wall, the path is less well marked but still easy to follow. There is more grass and less heather. There are waymarks although some have fallen down. There is a small area of bog, even in this very dry weather, and the sphagnum moss was having a field day just there. It is passable. I was only wearing strong walking trainers, not boots, and my shoes didn’t get too wet. However, I can imagine this could be very different in winter or if we have a lot of rain. My phone battery had run down by this point so there are no photos of this section of the walk. But the cover photo shows you the moorland very clearly.

After about half an hour I was back on the track, with the short climb back up to the car. This was a most enjoyable and unexpected walk, of about 5 miles (without my painting detour). The total ascent and descent was virtually identical at about 741 ft, but there is nothing strenuous about this at all. It is easy walking, and the views are tremendous. Of course, it is uneven underfoot, but nothing that most people could not manage. A good morning’s walk.

Trip up north to Point of Ayre

This trip was planned to allow me to test out my feet, both for driving and for walking. As it turns out I did more of the former than the latter, and I guess my left foot in particular will not be too keen on long walks right now. Driving was better, my main injury being my left ankle so not too much required on this foot except for gear changes. Even so, the 2 hrs in the car, and the 1.5 mile walk was quite enough for one day. As I have to drive in England before too long, I was testing the water.

It was a dull and cloudy day, promising to rain. Believe it or not, I have never walked around the Point of Ayre towards Cranstal & The Dog Mills down to Ramsey, only walking along the most ‘northerly’ part of the island previously towards the Visitor Centre. It isn’t really due north, as the island lies on an angle, but technically this is the most northerly point on the island. I took this photo off my tv having recorded a programme about Earth from Space, and it conveniently gave this interesting view showing the true location of the Isle of Man.

Starting at the large lighthouse, I walked around the headland, much to the consternation of the terns and oystercatchers who were nesting there. They kept track of me until I was out of their danger zone. Key areas on the beach are fenced of to prevent the public from inadvertently or advertently intruding onto nest sites. There were several stonechats too keeping watch from their vantage points on the gorse and shrubs inland, alerting their pals to my presence. The beach is mainly pebbles of assorted sizes and the solid land too is a mix of pebbles and sand dunes with a bit of soil and grass on the top in places. It is very unstable and is constantly being unearthed by the winds, rains and seas. The vegetation grows low around the periphery of the beach but when you move even a few metres inland, it has a chance to grow taller and dominate more. The flowers that grow abundantly around the seashore all around the island are miniscule here, holding on for dear life, but hold on they do, and in the 40 minutes I was out and about, I took 30 photographs of different species, a few of which I have put in the slideshow at the end for you.

Photo courtesy of lighthouseaccommodation.co.uk showing the foghorn and Winkie

The main lighthouse in the top photo was completed in 1818 , with 124 steps and a 105ft tower. Winkie, in the middle was completed in 1890 and designed to avoid high water tides being 33ft above sea level. I suspect the difference in height has grown now with the shingle build up in this area. I didn’t walk on the pebbles but tried to walk on the grassy tops, which have eroded away in many places. Indeed, even though not a deep drop from the ‘cliff’ to the beach, it would not pay to walk too close to the edge as there are many overhanging edges. Unfortunately, this scatty terrain meant I had to curtail my walk as the path that had been gradually climbing came to an abrupt and unexpected end at a ‘precipice’ with no means of continuing unless I retraced my steps and walked along the beach towards Ramsey which would have been a good few miles circular walk. I didn’t take a photo of this, but you get the idea from this one, taken a little earlier, slightly further north:

The coastal footpath is signposted to walk along the beach and when the tide is further out this would be possible; but not today, so I turned slightly inwards and back to the car. The area adjacent to this section of coastline is being reclaimed so there really are only two choices – walk along the beach or walk along the road around this area. A word of warning. It is important to check the tide times if you intend to do the beach from Cranstal to The Dog Mills, otherwise you may find yourself running out of beach at high tide!

I had planned to walk along Marine Drive in Douglas on Wednesday but it may be a step (or many steps) too far for my ankles/feet, but we’ll see. I hope to be fit enough to lead my U3A walk on July 14th as this had to be postponed this month.

The slideshow starts with the 3 buildings in line with one another, the old lighthouse, the foghorn peeping out and the newest, Winkie, on the right, then the rest of the slideshow is of the wonderful spring flowers.

Silverdale and Grenaby (again) with more history

This walk has a lot of stiles as commented on by many of my group but by compensation such a lot of beauty – a tranquil river, spectacular spring flowers, historical features and distant vistas. Having walked this route twice recently as I was leading a U3A group along these paths yesterday, I am amazed how a single week can make such a difference. The wild garlic are now out in full force, whereas last week they were just appearing. The field grass is about a foot tall in places now and the meadows of lady’s smock (cuckoo flower) were even more beautiful and the orange tip butterflies were enjoying their abundance.

I think my wildflower and historical notes really inspired my walkers as it took us an hour and a quarter just to walk a mile up the glen to Athol Bridge as we would stop at anything interesting or unusual. Perhaps I should have publicised it as a nature walk.

We began by grouping together on the bridge by the ford while I gave them a short history of the river and Ballasalla, with the aim of showing that river, albeit fairly small, has played a significant role in this landscape. There have been numerous mills over the centuries mostly involved with the cotton industry (rather than a flour mill). As yet, we don’t know quite where the cotton came from, whether or not it was grown on the IOM. Most interesting, for me at any rate, was the wide number of occupations that were found in Ballasalla in 1837 – two blacksmiths, 3 boot and shoe makers, one brewer, 3 joiners and carpenters, 2 millers, 2 milliners and dressmakers, 8 shopkeepers (!), 3 tailors, 1 tanner, 4 taverns etc etc. You can read more here if you are interested. https://www.gov.im/media/633197/silverdaleappraisalwithpicsv2.pdf I guess today there would still be variety but not closely linked to the natural environment in the same way.

We walked along the riverbank to look at the violets, alexanders, celandine, herb robert, red campion and wonderful wood anemones that were just beginning to go over but still looked fab. There were bluebells and a few wild garlic here and there in this section, but much more wild garlic further on. Deeper into the glen we saw wood sorrel, stitchwort and masses of wild garlic that would challenge Wordsworth’s view of golden daffodils. In the photos I have included my painting of the mineral water factory, which is really part of the old Cregg Mill buildings. Just before the mill where there is the boating lake is the old water wash ladder, presumably for cleaning the cotton, seen in the middle photo below.

One of the unfortunate aspects of this walk is that the river footpath on the other side of the Ballamodha is closed necessitating a short walk up the hill. Suprisingly there were more wildflowers on the embankment, inlcuding ivy-leaved toadflax and bugle, the latter not usually considered to be a wild flower, and some distance from any habitation. We even saw some trailing St. John’s wort – that wasn’t out last week, neither was the garlic mustard that we saw at Grenaby bridge.

As we crossed the road, we took a farmer’s grassy track. The pussy willow looked beautiful, and the lamb’s looked delightful gambolling in the fields. We stopped for a very belated lunch (2 miles and 1 and 3/4 hr of walking!!) at the creepy doll’s house on the corner at Grenaby. It is in a desperate state of repair but it is a fantastic location and is up for sale at £500,000.

Normally, I don’t like road walking, but we had a walk of about 15 minutes along a very quiet lane. What was particularly nice about this was that we could walk and chat alongside each other and it was very pleasant. We then took field paths, saying hello to some beautiful bay and black horses who seemed pleased to have some company, passing over many rickety stiles across fields with massive clumps of lady’s smock, a mound to negotiate and surprisingly beautiful gently sloping hills to the north of the quarry, and finished by taking the back path by Ballahott into Ballasalla with a ‘surprise’ ending. Having started by walking through masses of wild garlic, we were able to walk a less frequented path that took us round the back of the stunning art and craft houses above Rushen Abbey, that led into woodland brimming with wild garlic in flower right by the car park, just after a most beautiful field of dandelions.

The walk was actually 5.5 miles and would usually take about 2.5 hours but on a day like this, with so much to see, allow yourself lots of time. We took 4 hours and it wasn’t a minute too long.

To finish, here are two maps of this area. The first shows just how narrow the glen really is and what a micro climate it creates for itself and the second is an old map showing how tiny Ballasalla was in days gone past.

Daffodil Walk, Port Grenaugh & Port Erin, 26th /27th March.

March, and the daffodils are in full bloom, even beginning to go over. When I was young, the daffodils would never flower this early in the year. What a delightful way for spring to appear in a glow of yellow, especially on a wonderfully sunny weekend as this was.

Two of my children had come over to see me, one turning up unexpectedly and being a total surprise and an absolute joy. My second son was dropping hints from the time he arrived, such as ‘oh, there’s a plane just coming in from London’ and earlier in the week ‘ How many beds do you have?’ and I still didn’t twig. I got a wonderful surprise when Paul knocked on the door in the darkness and when I opened it, there he was greeting me. I shall remember that for a long time. The rest of them (I have 4 children) had kept that a secret since November and even the grandchildren hadn’t let on that my eldest son was also coming over. That made up for the massive disappointment of my daughter contracting covid (again!) the day before she was due to travel over. She has missed out on all the fun we have had in this brief visit 😦 . I shall make it up to her another time.

The three of us (my other son was hardly likely to come over from El Salvador for the weekend with his 1yr old son, so I knew there wouldn’t be any more surprises!) had a great time catching up and making fun of each other. On Saturday they treated me to a very nice Mother’s Day lunch at The Boatyard in Peel, then I drove them a very windy and convoluted route to Port Grenaugh, almost going in a complete circle at one point even though I should have known where I was going, to look at the daffodils and have a walk along the coast. We were blessed with wonderful weather this weekend, and even today we managed three mini-walks around the south in glorious sunshine, even if was a tad windy.

So, here are the photos in the form of a slideshow. They speak for themselves so I don’t need to write a description of the daffodils or the walk, or provide maps on this occasion, except I should say that the mound/earthworks is called Cronk Merrui, an iron age fort very close to Port Grenaugh. The house on the headland is now owned by the Department of Transport, which seems a somewhat exotic and expensive location for a government building, but what do I know.

Silverdale and beyond 13th March 2022

This is always such a delightful walk, especially in the spring. Give it a few more weeks and the wild garlic and bluebells will be out.

I started out from the Abbey Hotel car park in Ballasalla. There is a large public car park here in addition to the private car park for the hotel. You find yourself beside the picturesque ford over the Silverburn, a popular spot for photographers and children alike, as they have fun crossing from one side to the other. If you do this, just be careful. It can be a tad slippery.

I followed the path north beside the river up to the ancient Monk’s Bridge and continued taking the winding path beside the river up to the Mill, passing Cam’s tree. There are a number of different paths, but most are likely to be muddy at this time of year. There are various things of interest on this river walk. It was noticeable that the storms have wreaked havoc with a number of trees having had to be felled.

After about half a mile there is a cafe and duck pond at the Mill; today model boat enthusiasts were out skimming their boats across the water. If you have time on your hands you can have a look at the pretty river to the right, as we have digressed from this path. We continue past the old dairy and into the woodland where we rejoin the river. Here there were masses of daffodils, Wordsworth would be proud.

Reaching the Ballamodha Road, usually the route continues beside the river, but at the time of writing (and for some time) this path has been closed. I believe the bank beside the river has deteriorated and is unsafe. This necessitates a walk up the road for about 5-7 minutes to join a higher path leading to Grenaby. I have walked this in the opposite direction many times, but never this way. It is absolutely delightful and has wonderful views towards South Barrule and the south and you can pick out the route of the river below you. As well as crossing through fields, this takes you through and interesting woodland, and you eventually find yourself at the bridge with the doll’s house beside it. This is for sale if you are interested.

Crossing the bridge and turning left up the hill for a short distance, the road then leads to the right. Had we been able to walk by the river that path comes out just above the junction. There is no choice but to walk along this road for about 15 minutes, but it is a very quiet lane and once on the top (our highest point for the day) you can literally see for miles – the southern uplands to the right as on the cover photo and the sea to the left.

I took the first public footpath to the south. Unfortunately the gate collapsed as I tried to open it as the post securing the gate was rotten. Down it went and being on my own there was no way I could life a heavy steel gate. Hopefully when the entrance is repaired the farmer (or whoever is responsible for it) will consider putting in a stille or kissing gate for walkers. Fortunately, this does not lead into a standard field with sheep but more of a track around a field. The path goes left, almost parallel with the road. Keep left over a bridge and stile and continue to the next one. When you reach a large field head for the H shaped pylon as it is difficult to see the exit from this field initially. The route continues across another field to a kissing gate in the left corner.

Here you meet a horizantal track. Turn left and follow the track for the short distance bearing right at the next junction. You will see a mound of rubble obscuring the entrance to the next footpath, which is clearly signposted. You can just about get around the side of the mound of rubble. You will be surprised by the lovely view you get. There is a small stream winding its way down the slight hill to the left and a smooth hill to the right. The path takes you down to the left corner, through some more mud at the gate, and following the stream to a bridge where the stream diverts to the right.

At this point you are nearing the quarry. I have never walked on this section of the path. If you have an OS map the path originally went in a more direct fashion to the main road, but now you have to skirt around the quarry, at times getting glimpses into it. There are two or three ladder stiles, all of which are quite steep and it is absolutely essentially to go down them backwards. After the last stile (still circling the quarry) you enter one final field, where you turn right to join the road at Cross Four Ways. There is a pavement on the other side of the road, but you may be surprised to learn that there is a lake opposite, completely hidden by trees and inaccessible. It must be a haven for migrating birds.

There is a choice at this point, either to continue walking along the pavement back to Ballasalla or to do as I did and walk up the unpaved Ballamodha road for 5 mins to turn onto a footpath taking you through a farmstead, across fields with fine views to Rushen Abbey. From here, it is a short walk back to the cars, either by the river or the back road whichever you prefer.

This is an easy walk, but muddy in the glen and when crossing the fields, so you do need boots. You get extensive views and variety of scenery without very much ascent. What ascent there is is gradual. However, there are quite a few stiles, some which are a little tricky to negotiate, so if you have difficulty with stiles, this may be one to miss out. But for everyone else, it is pure joy, especially on a sunny day. Distance 5.75 miles, 593ft ascent; 643ft descent.

As always, if you want to look at one of the photos in detail, just click on it and you will be able to see the full view.

Braddan Bridge to Douglas 12th Mar 2022

I hadn’t intended to have any sort of walk today. I was supposed to be helping with the Manx Wildlife Trust’s ‘Watch’ group, only I discovered I had the wrong time down in my diary and I had missed the event. Only, I didn’t find out until I had arrived at Braddan Church when no-one turned up. So, there was nothing for it, but to get the bus home again!

The walk into Douglas from Braddan Bridge by the river is very pleasant. The birds were clearly delighted it is spring and were busy singing in the treetops and the sun had come out after a dull start to the day. I was also able to walk better than usual so I too was feeling quite chirpy 🙂

The route goes alongside the main road to Peel, but you could avoid this by taking the back road which brings you out at pretty much the same place on the Castletown road. Crossing over the main road, I took the cycle track that goes round the back of the NSC. The river is now on your left and it curves round towards the power station where the new Pulrose Bridge has been built. Looking at this, I wonder if it will cope with any massive swell or a flooding situation. The space under the bridge looks quite small.

From here, I crossed the bridge and took the first road left. This is not the most exciting part of the walk through the electricity complex (as you can see on the photo) but you are soon into the grounds of the Nunnery and once again following the river. The trees here are magnificent and this short walk along here is beautiful. When I play table tennis at the NSC on a Thursday I often take this route into Douglas. It is particularly useful if you want to get the steam train to Port Erin as it is very close to the end of this route.

I couldn’t renew my season ticket as I hadn’t got it with me, but the assistant let me on the train anyway. I was so delighted. I haven’t been on the steam train during the covid pandemic and I had forgotten how beautiful the route is, and how calming it is taking the train rather than the bus. So thank you for your kindness there.

The walk from Braddan Bridge to the railway station is barely 2 miles, but it is much better than getting the bus or driving and you spot things you have never spotted before, so give it a try sometime.