Ohio

Third time lucky?

Tuesday 15 January, 2013

 

    I was not exactly optimistic about the walk this morning.  The forecast was ambiguous.  "Showers at first, with sleet / snow on hills, then becoming dry. Sunny intervals."  After the first two walks of the year, which were wet for various reasons, I was beginning to think that 2013 was an unlucky year for hiking - and people do say that difficulties come in threes.  So, I was expecting at least a blizzard this morning.  But it turned out to be a lovely morning.  Cold - but only a thin film of ice on the puddles - no wind, and towards the end of the walk it was sunny.  The only snow in sight was across the Irish Sea on the Scottish hills.

 

    Our route was a fairly short one which we have walked often over the years.  Just up to the Lezayre tops and then back down the Narradale Road.  So I have cut down on the number of photos this week.

 

    We parked at the Sulby Claddagh - a camping and picnic site overlooked by Cronk Sumark.  Most of the parking areas were closed on account of the soft, wet ground but we were able to park near the Sulby River at the west end of the Claddagh.  The clouds were still tinged with pink but it wasn't quite as dark as it appears to be in this photo.

We followed the usual route along the road past Ballameanaugh and up the farm track to Ohio Plantation.  Looking down from the edge of the plantation we could see patches of sunlight on the northern plain - one of which was illuminating the Jurby church.

The battery sign on my camera started flashing red - so the rest of the photos were taken on Tim's camera. 

 

Instead of walking up the main track to the top of the plantation, we turned left onto a narrow mountain bike trail which led to the east side of the plantation.  There were good views across the northern plain to the Scottish hills.

Above the plantation we came across some familiar puddles.  The traditional Manx field boundaries - banks made from turfs - are flat on top and are very useful for bypassing frozen puddles.

I couldn't resist one more photo of the Scottish coast - with the snow-capped mountains of the borders behind the Burrow Head cliffs.