Old mines

Old mines, an unexpected tractor and a gate with a name.

Monday 18th February, 2013

 

There is a high pressure system blocking the prevailing winds from the west this week - so we are expecting a cold, dry spell of weather.  This morning a cold wind was blowing from the east and the air was very hazy.  I don't know whether the haze was due to moisture or whether it was partly due to polluted air blowing across from the mainland and Europe.  Usually the prevailing winds come in over the Atlantic and our air quality is good.

 

We met at the old station car park at St. John's and set off in a southerly direction. The route which we had chosen follows the track which traverses the east side of Slieau Whallian - an old farm road now badly eroded and mainly used by walkers, mountain bikers and scrambler bikes.  There wasn't much of interest.  The views down into the Foxdale valley were very murky and the stony track was bordered by banks covered with straggly gorse.  One invisible bird, probably a robin hiding in the gorse, was singing a cheerful song but otherwise there wasn't much to distract us from the prospect of a long uphill slog to the Garey crossroads - until we came across an unexpected hazard.  We have grown accustomed to dangers on previous walks . . . like nettles, brambles, deep mud, puddles, ice and even a few overly-inquisitive cows (one of which may, or may not, have been a bull) but this is the first time we have encountered a firmly wedged tractor blocking the path.

We think it must have been clearing gorse from the top of the bank on the right, in preparation for putting in new fence, when the driver lost control and it slid down the bank onto the track. 

 

It was just possible to climb up the bank in front of the tractor and squeeze past.  Tim took this photo of me finding a way round, with Trevor and Danny looking on.

 

Further up the track we passed one of the many old, deserted upland farms.  Now home to just a few sheep.

Just above the farm was a gate which intrigued me.  It was a perfectly ordinary farm gate (albeit with a couple of nasty warning signs) in the middle of nowhere - but it had a name.  Not the name of the owner, or the farm - but apparently the name of the gate!  It was called "Andy Smith Gate". 

 

Being incurably inquisitive, I tried Google.  The only possible Andy Smith who might have been "honoured" by having this gate named after him is a side-car racer who has competed in the TT races.  This is a long way from the TT course but there is a series of off-road side-car trials races where competitors compete for the "Andy Smith Trophy".  Some off-road events are held at Carnagrie, a neighbouring property, so there may be a connection.

 

Once we reached the crossroads at the end of the footpath we turned up the road until we reached the entrance to Arrasey Plantation.  Then we walked down through the plantation to the road which follows the river through upper Glen Maye (or lower Glen Rushen.  I am not sure where one ends and the other starts but I noticed that the end of the road near Beckwith's was marked "Glen Rushen Road").  Our targets were two mines above Foxdale on the slopes of South Barrule but first we stopped briefly to look at the skeletal remains of this old terrace of cottages which were built to accommodate mine workers.

Next stop . . .  Beckwith's, which used to be famous for its leaning chimney.  The Manx version of the tower at Pisa.  Unfortunately the chimney was blown down last spring 

http://www.iomtoday.co.im/news/isle-of-man-news/demise-of-mann-s-leaning-tower-1-4513001   I haven't visited the mine before but I did take a photo from across the valley in November 2010.

Then . . . . 

. . . and now, just a sad stump remains, surrounded by scaffolding  . . .

From Beckwith's we climbed further up the hill until we reached Snuff the Wind aka Cross Vein Mine.  This morning it was living up to its popular name and the wind was bitterly cold so we didn't linger.  I would like to return and spend time exploring both mines but not today.  It was a long walk and we had already been on our feet for three hours by the time we reached Snuff the Wind.

 

We headed down the Gleneedle Road, the most direct route back to the cars.  It was downhill nearly all the way and there wasn't much of interest except for a couple of high-flying birds.  We stopped to watch them.  They weren't close enough to make a positive identification but I am almost certain that they were a pair of hen harriers.   One looked white against the sky, with black on the wings, like a male hen harrier, and the other was darker - probably the female but too far away to spot the white band at the top of her tail. 

 

The theme of the last part of the walk turned out to be birds.  While we were discussing the hen harriers, a Vee of geese flew overhead - and then we passed a long row of herring gulls perched on the ridge of a roof near the car park.  I have trouble photographing birds.  They are either too nervous, too fast moving, or too far away and hard to pick up with the zoom.  But a row of sitting gulls should have been easy.  Of course, while I was getting my camera out, most of them flew away and a photo of a couple of herring gulls on a roof is not worth emailing.

 

We were all tired after a four hour walk . . . even Danny, who disappeared and was found enjoying a long, refreshing nap on my bed!