Fleshwick

The fifth leg of the Raad ny Foillan - The way of the chough

 

Monday, 20th July, 2009

 

Monday was another gusty day.  I think we are so sheltered in Glen Auldyn that we are bound to be impressed by the blustery weather on the south-west coast of the Island.  I am always grateful that the prevailing winds are onshore because it would be terrifying to be blown towards the tops of the cliffs.

 

This section of the coastal walk is the most impressive of the whole coastal footpath - rugged scenery and spectacular cliffs.  I love looking down to the sea, and having a "bird's eye view" of the gulls flying way below us.  It always reminds me of our first walk on the Island - my first cliff walk ever - from Glen Maye to Peel.  On Monday we kept hearing the distinctive call of the choughs - handsome black members of the crow family with bright red beaks and legs.  They are quite common on the Island and we like to brag about them because they are fairly rare on the mainland.  They are mainly seen flying above the cliffs, where they nest.  Their aerial displays confirmed the opinion of my bird book, which says that they are "masters of aeronautics".

 

 "The tough one - part 2" came a close second in this week's competition for a title for the walk.  There was no single climb to compare with Cronk ny Arrey Laa last week - but there were four notable climbs - and according to Tim's pedometer this leg of the walk was about eight and a half miles. 

 

We started from sea level at Fleshwick Bay and after a short walk up the road and a stroll along the edge of a barley field, we tackled the first climb up the north side of Bradda - for the second time this year.  I thought of attaching a photo taken from the barley field but it didn't give an accurate impression of the steepness of the path - so I chose one taken from the top of the climb instead . . . looking back at the farm near the road above Fleshwick.  In the foreground you can see how well the heather is growing back in the area which was burned a few years ago.  Dorothy was just approaching the top of the hill when I took the photo because she had stopped on the way up to take photographs - and had been waiting for a patch of sun to light up a particular part of the view.  The clouds were moving so fast that she didn't have to wait long.

  

 

I thought of trying to record the difference in vegetation on either side of the "big burn" line, but the men were obviously trying to reach the stone wall at the top of the climb without stopping for a rest.  I had never managed to do that before, decided that it was "now or never", and plodded up after them.

 

This is the view back towards Bradda Hill from the path towards Bradda Head and Milner's Tower. 

 

 

This area seemed to be very popular with local dog-walkers.  First we met a woman who thought she had lost her dog - but it turned up quite quickly.  Then we passed a couple with two large dogs on leads.  One dog was well trained but the other dog barked aggressively at us as we passed.  Dorothy muttered "The owner said it wouldn't touch me . . . but its teeth missed my hand by half an inch!"   Then near the tower, we met a very talkative local man with a couple of dogs.  He insisted on explaining our route through Port Erin (which we already knew) in great detail.  He warned us about head-high heather by some of the paths - which intrigued me.  Well, it turned out that he was half right.  The vegetation was head-high (even for Tim) but it was bracken not heather.

 

Port Erin beach has always been a favourite destination of the granddaughters.  On Monday, the beach was almost deserted.  The only living souls in view were a few herring gulls at the edge of the water.

We started the second climb, up Mull Hill, along the path which starts behind the Marine Biological Station and climbs the hill past the house where Nigel Mansell used to live.  He had a running battle with the local authorities after he created a huge earth bank to act as a wind break on the west side of the house.  Part of the bank remains but I think it was reduced in size.  Not long after the row, Nigel Mansell sold up and left the Island.  I don't know whether his decision was influenced by the disagreement.  There is a lovely view of Port Erin Bay from the path up Mull Hill.  The V in the hills behind the bay shows the start of our walk - Fleshwick - between the Carnanes on the right and Bradda on the left.

 

The next section of the path - shortly before reaching the Sound - is the roughest part of the walk.  We stopped here for a tea break and were joined by an unusually polite herring gull.  He perched on a nearby rock and watched hopefully until we continued the walk. 

  

 

We didn't see any basking sharks this week but we did spot a couple of distant seals on the rocks between the Sound and the Calf.  The strength of the currents between the main island and the Calf was obvious from the choppy water and it was easy to see why this used to be a notorious place for wrecks.

 

We left the Sound and approached the third climb - up Spanish Head.  The next photograph shows the imposing bulk of the cliffs at Spanish Head, photographed from Burroo Ned, a promontory between the Sound and Spanish Head.  Burroo Ned is the site of an Iron Age fort with a rampart on the landward side. 

 

I had to rush up Spanish Head to catch up with the others, after stopping to take photographs on Burroo Ned, but it was worth it.  The views from the top were stunning. The final photograph shows the view back towards the Sound taken from the path down the east side of Spanish Head.  The cairn on the top of the hill is just visible near the right edge of the picture.    The new tearoom and the parking area at the Sound are hidden behind Burroo Ned on the left-hand side of the picture.  The bell heather was colourful but it was a bit too early for the ling (Scottish heather) and western gorse. 

And finally - the sting in the tail of the walk.  There was one more long climb to negotiate.  It is easy to forget that the path drops down a long way between the top of Spanish Head and the beginning of the climb up to the Chasms - and the climbs at the end of a walk always seem longer than those at the beginning.  But we survived!  And the next section of the walk from the Chasms to Scarlett is either downhill or almost flat.  It is hard to believe.