Peel

A blue skies walk . . . with a sting in the tail!

 

Tuesday 11th September, 2012

 

The predicted weather for Tuesday was "changeable", a favourite term with the local met office because it covers most possibilities.  It usually means windy with rain showers - so we chose a low level walk.  We decided to repeat the walk that we did at the end of January - starting near Peel Castle.  But this time we did the walk in reverse and started out in a northerly direction, across the footbridge which links the castle and the town, and then along the promenade to the sandstone cliffs beyond the town.  The wind was fairly strong but not as bad as we expected and the sky was almost cloudless!

I was concentrating so hard on trying to zoom in on these cormorants, sunning themselves below the cliffs, that I failed to notice a man with a large black dog approaching along the path behind me.  Danny wasn't on the lead and he usually reacts very badly to strange dogs, but for once, thank goodness, he behaved well and just stepped off the path to let them pass. 

 

    A the end of the coast path we crossed the main road and walked up a small side road to the old railway line. The footpath along the railway line was very wet, muddy and slippery.  Not as bad as ice - but we had to walk carefully at times.  We stopped for a while to watch some swallows flying over a large puddle in a field.  These huge puddles always make me think of the golfing term "casual water".  They are almost like small shallow lakes which disappear after a dry spell.  I tried to photograph the swallows but they were flying far too fast.  They won't be with us for much longer as autumn is almost here.

 

    The scenery was more typical of spring than late summer/early autumn.  Only the bales of hay in these fields gave a clue to the season - but the mowed grass was already bright green again.

And there were other clues to the changing season.  The bright red fruits on the hawthorn won't last long.  The flocks of fieldfares and the blackbirds will see to that.

Picking our way carefully around the muddy margins of the puddles, heading back towards Peel. 

It was warm and sheltered along this part of the path - not a breath of wind to disturb the surface of the dark, boggy pools under the willows alongside the path.  I couldn't resist this reflection on the water which resembled an upside down tree.

After leaving the railway line we came to the uphill part of the route.  At first the gradient was fairly gentle, through farmland  and past Knockaloe.  Over a hedge, I glimpsed a huge flock of gulls on a newly ploughed field.  I thought they must be feeding on the upturned worms and insects but, when I got home and saw the photo on the computer, I realised that most of them were just sunbathing.  They were also enjoying the unexpected warmth.

The only drawback with hiking the route in this direction is that by the time we approached the steepest part of the walk we had already been on our feet for at least three hours.  My legs were aching as we climbed up the back of Peel Hill and I stopped for a short rest.  Tim took this photo of me, while I was seeing if I could identify all the hills on the horizon . . . .

. . . and he also took this one when we eventually we reached the top of the last uphill stretch after the little dip between Corrin's Hill and Peel Hill.

After that it was downhill all the way - with views of Peel on our right.  All the expensive boats in the marina seem to indicate that the richer section of the population haven't been affected too badly by the recession.

 

    The only "changeable" thing about the weather was that it changed for the better instead of becoming worse.  But the good weather didn't last.  We had a couple of showers about half an hour after we got home.