This is a walk of contrasts – so different from the coastline of the south and Peel with its hills and cliffs of manx slate, sandstone and limestone. To the north of Peel we encounter miles of sandy beaches and sandy cliffs doing their best to fall into the sea. It is here at Kirk Michael that the remains of the ancient Giant Deer has recently been plucked from the crumbling cliffs and is being examined by the Manx Museum.

I parked in Kirk Michael and walked along the main road with a completely different plan to the walk I actually did. Passing by the church on the left with its signpost to the Bishops’ Graves I turned left on a road towards a camp site. This was a wooded road with a stream running down to the sea – or it would have been if we had had any rain in the last two months. It was bone dry today.

 

When you reach the coast you are filled a sense of peace as the vista opens up into a massive expanse of sea, sand and uninterrupted cliffs. The tide was in, so I walked cautiously along the foreshore for 3-4 miles to the north, accompanied by the sand martins, seagulls, terns, oystercatchers, shags and cormorants who flew on ahead of me every now and again. I also happened to come across a seal that had been washed up onto the shore.

The cliffs are described as precipitous with danger of falling rocks. There was evidence all along of major slippages and I wouldn’t have cared to stop and stare too long there with the wind blowing as it was.

 

As I reached the far end, the cliffs  fell away into sand dunes where I stopped for lunch and enjoyed the views. There is a car park here for those who might like to do part of this walk.

 

 

To the north, I could see Jurby church just a stone’s throw away, but I had walked far enough and the rain clouds were gathering, so I decided to start the return route, this time slightly inland, following country roads and the heritage railway track. These were not disappointing as they afforded wonderful views of the local hills and Snaefell even with its unattractive topping of pylons and ugly buildings. It is hard to spoil any view around here.

As I walked along the Orrisdale road, there were sandy fields to left and right, and I wondered in years to come what other mystical creatures might be unearthed from its bowels. The heritage railway track, which in former times went from Ramsey to Peel was very pleasant. There were loads of butterflies but most fluttered by me before I had time to work what they were. The blues were in evidence everywhere. In fact, blue seemed to be the colour as there were little clumps of harebells on the wayside.

All in all, a gorgeous walk. I shall return to the Cronk car park and continue northwards along the beach another time.

I am having a lot of difficulty uploading photos so I can only show you certain ones. I shall have to investigate….

Well, it has taken me a few days to get round to blogging about the sensational figure of eight walk across the Carnanes up to Cronk Ny Arrey Laa on Tuesday.

This 7.75 mile /1440 ft walk starts at the picnic spot overlooking Carrikey Bay on the Port Erin to Round Table road. It is just a short walk along the road until you cross over onto the moorland of the Carnanes. There is no climbing involved at this stage as you are starting from high up. Of course, if you want a longer walk with more ascent you could start at Ballafesson, Surby or Fleshwick and take the green route to the starting point.

I followed the lower path around the Carnanes as this is relatively flat and a good stretch to warm up the legs. It joins the green road after about half a mile and then there is a good wide grassy path all the way to the Sloc where the green road meets the main road. With the lack of rain this was easy today, but in winter it can be quite muddy and rutted. Scuttling through a couple of gates, I then began my ascent around Cronk Ny Arrey Laa.

I took the footpath to the north-east that follows high above the road in order to have even more fantastic views on the return route. Even so, this is still beautiful as you have uninterrupted views of the south of the island and can see the variety of landscapes. As you climb gradually along this path South Barrule comes into sight, peaking above the closer hills. At the top  (about 3 miles from the start), we meet the main road where this turns right, and the footpath goes left to take you to the top of Cronk Ny Arrey Laa. This is about another half mile or so of uphill. You can’t miss the top as there is both a trig point and a cairn, ever increasing in size.

 

This makes the perfect lunch stop though it is likely to be a tad windy.

You can see all the big mountains to the north, including Snaefell, make out the contours of the coastline in all directions, and to the south the magnificent cliffs create wonderful shapes in different lights. It is even possible to see across to Ireland in the west, Scotland in the north, and Anglesey to the south! If you go past the cairn just as far as the path continues (otherwise you will drop into the sea!) you will be rewarded with stunning views and photo opportunities. 

 

From this point, I headed south – another day I shall continue to Niarbyl, but that’s another story – down the moorland and the well delineated path. I met a lady walking from Port Erin to Peel, a distance of 14 miles and some considerable ascent and descent. I also met the ground at one point as when I placed my foot on some turf it just disappeared. So there was I, sprawled on the ground, looking most unladylike, splattered out like a flat fish:-) Fortunately no injuries and I was soon back on my feet.

I did a slight detour because there is a path to nowhere at the centre point of the figure of eight. This wasn’t desperately exciting, but it is possible to climb some rocks up to the old fort and any spot around there is lovely for a picnic.

Then upwards again over the Carnanes. 

There is a fairly steep climb initially but it doesn’t last long. I just love this set of hills at this time of year, and the closer you get to Fleshwick the more heather and Manx gorse. It was so beautiful, and hardly anyone seems to come up here, at least not while I’m there. I nearly always have it to myself. You can vary the route across these warm hills, and once up there is no more ascent, so if you don’t fancy the full route, the Carnanes makes a great short 4 mile walk on a good day

And what a good day it was!!