Tag: Colden

Colden and The Creg

This upland walk starts at the newly-created Sartfell Carpark on the Kirk Michael to Snaefell road. I had arrived early and suprised no-one except the linnets and crows, who were singing (or squawking in the case of the crows), and flocking in abundance.

The route follows a well-made track around the side of Slieau Maggle, providing extensive views to the west towards Peel and the inner valley of Little London. You can just about see Glen Helen, hiding itself away to keep its glories all to itself.

Once around Slieau Maggle, there is a choice of footpaths through the gates. The one to the left takes you across the boggy moors towards Colden. The more recognised path, which is the one we took, continues as a stoney track for a short distance before turning onto a peaty path gently ascending along the western flank of Colden. Distances are deceptive here and it some two miles from the startof the walk to where we turn off to ascend Colden.

Before then, you will have views south ofthe lovely ridge walk towards Greeba Mountain, but that will be for another day. If you like relatively flat walks, where we start our ascent, you can easily continue on the ridge up to one or more of the cairns on Lhargee Ruy, have a picnic lunch and return via the same route.

Our path is not marked on the mark, but it is visible on the ground. It is a soft, heathery ascent basically on sheep paths. If you see what look like waymarkers, these are not actually on the path so best to avoid them. Keep following the sketchy paths uphill and onto the large hump of Colden and you will eventually reach the cairn marking the top. From here, you can see in all directions on a good day. Even better is the next section of the walk south, with lovely views of Carraghan, Beinnee Phott and Snaefell, and beyond if you are lucky. To the south, I could see Douglas, seemingly a stone’s throw away but in reality several miles, and even further south Langness, Snowdonia and Anglesey. It was a very clear and bright day.

This good path appears to go down to the car park at Injebreck, which was not on my plan for the day. I wanted to visit the Creg, a lower hill just above the Injebreck plantation, so I had to veer off the path across the heather. I knew there was an indistinct farmer’s track contouring around the southern edge of Colden, so I tried to find that.. and did so, but I needn’t have gone quite so far out of my way. Another time, I would head there more directly. It is necessary to leave the farmer’s track and continue across the wild countryside and this flat plateau seems to go on and on, but eventually you will reach a tiny cairn, on which someone had placed a flag (which may or may not be there another time). It is worth visiting.

Making my way back to the farmer’s track, it is then easy to follow it back to the junction with Lhargee Ruy. I stopped for lunch here and admired the manicured plantation in front of me. There are no real alternatives but to walk back along the track you first went along, but it is very pleasant, and the views are different looking north. If you wanted a longer day, you could go to the top of Lhargee Ruy and then follow a track down to Little London. From there, it would be quiet road walking back to the car.

Incidentally, if you choose to walk this route around Colden in reverse, it is difficult to find the start of the farmer’s track. You can see it in the distance but it is not obvious on the ground. The photo with my walking stick shows where the two paths divide.

I really enjoyed this walk. The only people I saw were two dog walkers, at the start and end of the walk. For a hill walk, this is effortless and there is a great sense of space and peace here. The distance is about 6.5 miles, with a total ascent of 827ft.

26 Peaks Challenge, Day 2 plus – Lhargee Ruy, Colden, Slieau Maggle

I had a plan – a good ridge walk, with a couple of detours onto the nearby hills, and this is largely what I did, with a bonus of it being a very pleasant circular walk involving Colden and Slieau Maggle.

I parked behind a convoy of cars at the Sartfell plantation. It was gone 10am when I started, and those walkers had long gone. I followed the path that snakes behind Slieau Maggle and largely around Colden’s tummy , to complete the section I had not done on Sunday. This took me to Lhargee Ruy and Sunday’s furthest point, Slieau Ruy. As you walk this section you get tremendous views to the west. It was a reasonably clear day so I could see some distance. It is so good for the soul. The photo below shows Cronk Ny Array Laa, South Barrule, Slieau Whallian, Beary Beg and Beary Mountain.

  • View of the hills

Having detoured Slieau Maggle, there is a choice of paths; a nondescript path leading southeastwards for those wishing to make their way to the Colden plantation and Injebreck, or continue on the main route for a very short distance and then turn left to take you around the haunches of Colden. This is a really easy route to walk, on a well made path. There are no clearly visible paths up Colden itself (or Slieau Maggle) from this direction although if you don’t mind walking over heather and gorse there is nothing to stop you heading straight up to the top. But this was not on my agenda just yet.

I had chosen this route so that I would not have the sun in my eyes, and at the same time I would enjoy extensive views to the south and west. Colden on the left blocks the views to the big hills, and I would be able to enjoy these on the return route later on.

After about 15 mins you will find that the path starts to climb, and you begin to leave Colden behind. There is a not so helpful signpost pointing to a path leading down the hill in the direction of Little London. Continue straight on and up and you reach a couple of small cairns indicting you are almost at Lhargee Ree. So far I have failed to find anything interesting to tell you about these hills. All I could find on a google search was how to pronounce Lhargee Ruy!

Just beyond this point the path from Crosby feeds in from the left at a gate and kissing gate. This is a walk I did with Ken a couple of years ago. The next section is a delight to walk along. A largely level grassy or peaty path that only becomes a little more demanding when you start the final climb up to Slieau Ruy. I didn’t loiter here long as this was not my focus for today. So far I had walked 3 miles. I had anticipated an overall distance of 7 miles. As the other day, at this point I had seen no-one at all and had the hills enitrley to myelf.

I returned down the same track to Lhargee Ruy where I perused the scene in front of me. The hills in the background were commanding my attention, but I also liked the look of the Creg and I could see what looked like a path circling around Colden where it would meet at the saddle with the Creg. It is not marked on the map, and in reality, without a compass or the necessary enthusiasm, it isn’t easy to find on the ground. As you get lower, the path is not visible and the terrain is a mix heather, gorse and …. bog.

So true to form, I thought I might take the more obvious path to the top of Colden and reach the Creg that way, but I found something more interesting to do, so that will be on my list for another day, as it is indeed another 1000ft top to bag. The path to the top of Colden is basically a sheep track, but it is visible and easy to follow. The contours are not particularly demanding and after about 10 mins you reach the top. It’s one of those hills where you think you are there and there is a bit more and a bit more. There is a cairn at the top, and no obvious paths off from here, just more paths like sheep tracks. There is a path which I thought would lead back to Creg, but I wanted a view of Slieau Maggle so I had to walk north on unchartered territory to gain a view of it. As I had passed it earlier, there was no obvious path up there, so I wanted to see whether there were any paths on the ground. I had gone a few hundred yards before I could see enough to make my decision, and yes, it looked like I would be able to climb Slieau Maggle joinng it not far from a plantation.

  • Top of Colden
  • Injebreck Rd
  • View to Slieau Maggle
  • The stile
  • Top of Slieau Maggle?

My peat surveying skills of walking on uneven land have stood me in good stead, so I decided to continue by blazing my own trail down Colden and on to Slieau Maggle. As I write this, I have just ascertained what Maggle means – testicle! Okay. Bit of a strange name for a hill. It wasn’t difficult at all, I have come across much worse in unfrequented parts of other hills. At other times of year or after rain it might be a little boggy and you might not like it, but today it was fine. I did see plenty of sphagnum moss which pleased me. I was even more delighted that when I reached the start of Slieau Maggle I had navigated to the only stile in the vicinity, purely by chance, but very rewarding. It’s a bit rickety, so be careful if you go over that.

From here, I simply took the easiest route to the very flat top. I didn’t bother with a map, so I guessed that as long as I was walking uphill I would eventually reach the top. Lo and behold, I came across a stake in the ground with stones placed around it, which I think must be the top. I didn’t quite know the best way off the hill, so I headed in an easterly direction when I would eventually meet the Injebreck road. I had no idea whether they would be a fence or gate to negotiate, or just barbed wire, but I was sure it would all work out. In fact, it was a great decision, as the moorland simply ebbs onto the road and I just climbed over the bank. From here is was a short walk back to the car. I almost did Sartfell and then thought better of it. I had only wanted a short day, and it had been perfect.

It was almost exactly 7 miles, with 1257ft of (easy) ascent and about the same amount of descent. Walking time was actually 2hrs 38 mins. The time stated on the map is the start and finish times.

I would do this walk again. It’s one I am sure my daughter, who has MS, would enjoy, and it’s one where you can let the kids off the leash too.