Ballacuberagh

Best laid schemes . . .

 

Monday, 15th October, 2012

 

    During last week's walk, Trevor mentioned that he had heard that there had been storm damage to the track through Ballacuberagh Plantation in Sulby Glen.  I had a feeling that Dorothy would want to go there to have a snoop, so I checked the government road closure website when I got home to see whether the track was closed and saw the following notice: 

	"The U100 Ballacuberagh, in Lezayre, will be closed to vehicles from its junction with Sulby Glen Road to its junction with Druidale Road, from 2.30pm on 1 October until 6.00pm on 15 October 2012 or until the water damage repair work is completed, whichever is the earlier."

 

    When we discussed the route for the next hike, I wasn't surprised to get this suggestion from Dorothy " We haven't walked from the Wild Life park for a while.    Round up Sulby and over the hills above Ballaugh etc." . . . .  because that route includes the path down behind Mount Karrin and through Ballacuberagh to Sulby Glen.  I thought it should be all right because the roadwatch website only said that the track was closed to "vehicles" and didn't mention walkers.  Anyway they apparently expected to have finished the repairs on Monday evening . . . or earlier.  But I should have known better.

 

    We met at the wildlife park and started off along the old railway line to Ballaugh Village and then crossed the main road near Ballaugh Bridge and walked up the tarred road to Ravensdale, at the entrance to Ballaugh Plantation.  We were feeling quite virtuous because we used to take a short cut along a muddy track which bypassed the village . . . until we were informed by an officious young man that it was a private road.  I don't know how we were supposed to guess because there was no sign to inform us of its alleged "privacy" and the narrow road passed a number of properties.

 

    We were too busy dodging puddles and mud along the railway line to take any photos and there wasn't much of interest along the glen road except for these berries on an old Lords and ladies flower spike (Arum maculatum).  These plants have a variety of common names - all having a sexual reference - Lords and ladies, Adam and Eve, Sweethearts, silly lovers.  One book says that they were called Cuckoo Pintle (which was later "cleaned up" by abbreviating it to cuckoo pint) in the sixteenth century.  No one is sure whether this referred to the alleged lustful behaviour of the male cuckoo or whether it was derived from "cuckold".  Anyway, the flowers are insignificant compared to the garden arums, but the bright, poisonous berries stand out against the background of wet autumn foliage.

    The path through the plantation above the duck ponds is starting to look slightly autumnal.

  We were looking out for fungi but didn't see much except for this pair of baby Fly agarics (Amanita muscaria) under the conifers.

    After emerging from the east side of the plantation and walking up the Druidale Road for a while, we turned off onto a track across a rather featureless hillside towards, Bullrenney, an old ruined farmhouse.  Tim, having an interest in classical music, has nicknamed this hill, Bare Mountain.  It may be bare (or bald, which is apparently the literal translation from the original Russian) but the views are superb, particularly when the air is clear on an autumn morning.

 

  This is Trevor, looking a bit "Heathcliff", contemplating the Scottish coast . . .

. . . and this is the view to the north with the Mull of Galloway on the horizon.

    The hill may be bare but it certainly isn't dry!  Tim took this photo.

    As we approached Bullrenney, we could see the outline of the blue and distant Cumbrian mountains.

    We stopped for a short break on a dryish bank near the gate to Bullrenney and then picked our way along a sodden, rutted path and through some very wet heather until we reached the gate to the path leading down to Ballacuberagh.  This is where things really started to "gang . . . agley".  We came across a large "Road Closed" sign and red and white tape across the locked gate.  Further proof that one shouldn't believe anything one reads on the internet.  Even government websites are misleading.  I checked the site again on Tuesday morning and the road closure warning had disappeared although the repair work definitely hadn't been finished.  I am almost certain that  they hadn't  even started repairing the track.

 

    On Monday morning there appeared to be some work going on near the footpath ahead but we were too far away to see what was being done.  No one was keen on retracing our path back to Ballaugh, so when Trevor climbed over the gate we followed like a herd of sheep.  It didn't look as though our law-abiding principles at the beginning of the walk were going to be maintained.  The top of the path was no different from usual and it became apparent that the earth moving equipment that we had seen was working on roads and drainage ditches on the farmland alongside the footpath.  A nice young  tractor driver took the trouble to stop and warn us that the path was dangerous further on.  He wasn't joking.

 

    I had hoped that we would be able to walk down with care but the ruts were too deep and narrow and had undermined the sides of what remained of the path.  Trevor climbed over the fence onto the new farm road which ran parallel to the path at that point and the rest of us followed.

    We continued down the farm road, because the "public footpath" was getting worse and worse, until we reached  a couple of vehicles parked just above the plantation, where the new farm road turned right before zig-zagging down the route of an older track to the Sulby Glen Road.  I was contemplating the possibility of climbing over the fence into the trees but Trevor spoke to one of the men standing by the vehicles, pointed down the road and asked "Is it all right if we go this way?"   "You might as well" was the slightly grudging reply.  So we continued down their road.  We had walked this way "slightly illegally" on a couple of previous occasions after climbing Mount Karrin (also slightly illegally) but that was before the zig-zag road was "improved" and the whole area was still pretty much deserted apart from a few sheep.

 

    We continued down the tarred road through the glen, towards the cluster of houses near the end of the glen, discussing the new developments on Mount Karrin farm; wondering why they were spending so much money on roads and drainage; and wondering whether their new drainage had diverted water to the footpath and caused the recent dramatic erosion.

 

    Right in the middle of the little village we saw a hedgehog, curled up on the pavement near a wall.  It wasn't an ideal location for hibernating and I wondered whether it was dead.  Trevor touched it and it opened one sleepy eye - so we took some photos and left it in peace.

    We rejoined the railway line and survived the mud until we got back to the cars.  It was a very wet walk underfoot but we were so lucky that the rain held off for the whole morning.  If we had walked on Tuesday or Wednesday we would have been absolutely drenched.  It has been raining on and off for the past two days and some of the showers have been very heavy and prolonged.  I hope the little hedgehog found a more sheltered place sleep before Tuesday morning.