December 2023 – Walking with Gill

I was out today with a small explorer group from the island, having been enticed by the title “Caves, Cakes, Coffee and Reindeer” walk or something like that. Don’t get ahead of yourself, we have no reindeer on the island; our host had very ably made some buns to resemble reindeer, it almost being Christmas, and very successful they were too.

I can’t tell you too much about this walk as our host, Andy, wants to keep his ‘secret places’ secret for others to explore and to this end, the hidden places should remain hidden. However, it is no secret to say that we parked at Kallow Point in Port St Mary on an extremely blowy day to start our walk. When we arrived, it looked as if it was already high tide as the waves were crashing about the shore, but high tide would still be a few hours away.

We walked towards Perwick and along the shore, scrambling over rocks where necessary and where we encountered a stranded and decidely dead Porpoise, having got beached in the massive overnight tides. It otherwise looked healthy, but the rocks round here can be treacherous as you can see in the photos. I won’t be giving too much away by saying that there are a few caves along this stretch of the coast, but you won’t find them unless you do a bit of adventuring. Similarly, there are some hidden beaches, and again, you won’t find them by sticking to the coast path. Unfortunately, the weather was just too windy to risk going down to some of the secluded beaches, which would have required fairly steep and rocky descents whilst fighting offshore winds, so we satisfied ourselves with knowing where they are for another time.

Our host was very knowledgeable and pointed out different types of rock, provided us not only with cakes and coffee but scavenged sea spinach from the cliffs encouraging us to taste a morsel of this salty herb. There was plenty of sea glass amongst the pebbles that interested some and some fascinating patterns in the stones, one in the shape of a cross on all sides. He told us about a hidden lake, so hidden that it is impossible to find unless you have a boat, so please don’t go looking for that! If you fancy a walk with a difference, they have a website and a FB page with details of forthcoming outings: https://www.facebook.com/happyexploreriom/

To finish, here are a few photos, none which should give away too much 🙂

This was intended to be Port Erin to Castletown, but I really hadn’t thought it through; not only for the distance, which would have been 12 miles, but for the difficulty of the task. Hold on, you say, I’ve walked that many a time without any difficulty. True, I would reply, but not in winter when we have had weeks of rain. I hadn’t given this latter thought any consideration as I set out yesterday morning, to do the first walk in well over a year that I have been able to do entirely for myself with no hidden agenda.

It was slightly warmer that it had been, with no rain forecast and not particularly windy, so I was expecting great things. My first photo shows Port Erin looking its glorious self as I headed down Dandy Lane. The light was lovely, with the sun peeping out from the clouds, highlighting different parts of the cliffs, and in my first photograph the tiny lighthouse. My expectations were dampened as soon as I reached the coastal footpath. There was literally a torrent of water hurtling down the footpath and surrounding cliff as if there was no tomorrow. I just stood and stared it for a while; in all my times of walking this route, I have never seen anything like it. Don’t get me wrong, it was never going to prevent me carrying on, but what a sight. I could see a lady on the road below thinking I was absolutely nuts! It’s a good job none of my friends had been able to join me on this occasion, as I imagine some at least would have turned back.

It took a little negotiating. The photos don’t show full amount of footpath under seige. The rocks and steps were slippery and in places there really was no foothold on dry ground, but I got through and remained surprisingly dry. Above the wall, the stream was still gushing down but at least it didn’t trouble me any more. I guessed that there would be more of this to come, but I was wrong. Yes, there were some very wet and boggy patches but where I had to cross streams, they were perfectly passable. In some ways, the narrow paths were the worst, as they were slippery and uneven. But, what does all this matter when you stop and take a look at what is around you. The light was stunning, giving me my own personal light show, as it lit up different sections of the countryside as I went past. Looking down at my feet, there were three varieties of fungus competing with the grasses, moss and ferns for space.

I arrived happily at the Sound, but didn’t stop until I reached the next headland, Spanish Head. The climb up wasn’t bad at all, the footholds not too muddy, but now the footpaths did become very muddy and awkward, with deep puddles that were unavoidable. And still, I had seen no-one to spoil my enjoyment of the countryside, and indeed this continued to be the case until I reached the Chasms Cafe (5 miles into the walk). People often walk from Cregneash and Port St Mary up to this very special place, so it was unsurprising that I met two couples at this point. I sat in the shelter and had my coffee. Looking out to sea I could just see Anglesey in the distance. The routes down from here have lovely views of the south from Port St Mary to Castletown and beyond, but the walking is not comparable with the terrain I had just been walking on. Given that I have a jippy left knee and sciatica in my right leg, I thought enough was enough and there really was not a lot to gain by continuing on past Port St Mary. I could have shortened the route home by going up through Glen Chass or across the golf course, but I satisfied myself that I wanted to see the village and then take the back route home.

Total distance: 8.5 miles; 1352 ft of ascent; 1434 ft descent.

I have such a lot of nice photos from this walk, I have created a slide show for you. I had intended to edit a couple of them, but my computer won’t let me, so you have the raw versions.

My left knee pain seems to have resolved itself, but if anyone has any home remedies for sciatica, which has been plaguing me for a week now, do let me know!