Day 2 – Niarbyl to Jurby
First of all, a correction to part 1.
The cafe I mentioned is the Sound cafe, not the Sands cafe. It
overlooks the Sound leading to the Calf of Man. My mistake.
Back to Niarbyl. Back to the rain. In
fact, it was pouring down. The forecast was that this would clear,
but it was going to take some clearing! First stop was the beach to
see the white line on the rock where the earth's American plate meets
the European plate.
There were more hills to begin with,
but they were nothing like as bad as yesterday's. After following the
road for a mile or so, the path veered off the road and down into
Glen Maye. It was very pleasant with nice scenery, but when you reach
the bottom, the bridge that looks like being the obvious place to
cross isn't the place to cross! The crossing is a little way
upstream, but the pleasant glen makes the walk through it fully
worthwhile. After the glen, one final hill led to Peel. The views of
Peel from the top were quite something, and the views of Peel Castle,
like the view of Port Erin yesterday, would have been all the better
had it not been raining!
I descended on the castle side of the
hill, and didn't stop, as, in the rain, Peel looked wet and miserable
(I visited it later when the sun was out and it looked much nicer),
so I decided to press on.
Most of the route from Peel to Kirk
Michael was on a disused railway track. It was muddy. By now, the
rain had stopped, but I decided to keep the waterproof trousers on as
they were making a good mudguard! In fact, this was quite a squelch
all told!
The track suddenly stops, and a path
leads to the road. After a brief visit to the beach, the village of
Kirk Michael is reached. Now, prepare for a blast from the past. It
was early closing! Remember that? That's a phrase I haven't heard for
about 30 years! Fortunately, a garage was open, so I did get to top
up my supplies of chocolate!
There had been a brief visit to the
beach earlier. The next 22 miles were nearly all beach, covered over
the rest of day 2 and going into day 3. More of that later. For now,
what I noticed most was that the map and reality don't always bear a
good resemblance to each other. I'm not saying that the map is
inaccurate, but it does look to be a nice, long, smooth curve. The
reality is that there are quite a few rocky headlands along the way.
At least the weather was now fine, the waterproofs were off and I
could enjoy an afternoon on the beach, even if it did mean 2 hours of
walking rather than sunbathing!
On the headland, Jurby church could be
seen. It sounds interesting, but my destination was just a little way
beyond that, Sartfield. This was the pre-arranged meeting place with
John, and happily, we arrived there at the same time. Something else
that was pre-arranged was the need for a change of clothes in the
car, as John had arranged for me to visit Peel Cathedral and have a
go on the organ before evening prayer. Thanks to all who worked
behind-the-scenes for that to happen :-)
Day 3 – Jurby to Ramsey
This was beach all the way, and also
landmarks all the way. Although they didn't come thick and fast, they
were always there in the distance. Indeed, after the initial
excitement of seeing them had died down, you did wonder if they were
ever going to get any closer!
An hours walking along the beach is an
hours walking along the beach. It did, though, lead me to the Lhen
Trench. Now the guidebook says that you need to jump it. It may be
the case that the author of the guidebook is an experienced,
award-winning long-jumper. If that is the case, good on her! There
was no way I was prepared to take a running jump at that. So, being
thankful that I had shorts on, I took my shoes and socks off and
waded through. That woke me up! Some friendly dogs came to say hello
as I was putting my shoes back on, and I did have a brief chat with
their owner as well.
I said that this stretch is
predominantly beach – the next bit is actually a combination of
heathland and a concrete road just above the beach. It certainly
makes the walk easier than if it was on soft sand all the way.
At this point I had my first glimpse of
the Point of Ayre lighthouse – the northernmost point of the
island. I had a glimpse of it for the next hour. With the terrain
being flat, and with only grass and sand between me and it,
conditions presented the optical illusion of landmarks appearing to
be closer than they actually were.
On the final approach to the
lighthouse, the weather worsened. I had seen a black cloud
approaching for some time, and when the wind got up, I knew that it
was here. On with the waterproofs! It was all over in 5 minutes –
I'd also seen the blue sky behind the cloud approaching, but for
those 5 minutes, it was a bracing, wet and windy time. Happily, the
wind was at the back of me, so I wasn't battling against it, and
whilst my back and left side were dripping wet, the front right side
of my waterproof coat was bone dry!
The storm passed and the lighthouse was
here. It's south all the way now! Not bad going to say that it was
only 2 days ago I was at the Sound Cafe.
The sun was out all afternoon, but it
was deceptive – there was also a cold wind blowing. It was also
high tide, but I did have enough beach between the sea and the cliffs
for me to not be in danger. Also, the tide was going out, so had the
worst happened, all I would have needed to do is wait a while.
Happily, it didn't come to that. After a brief stop for a sandwich
and to take a phone call from Radio Wales (!) I could see Ramsey in
the distance. Like the lighthouse this morning, it always seemed to
be in the distance and never seemed to get any closer. It took a long
time to get there, but, of course, I made it in the end.
Rendezvous with John today was in
Gophers cafe. Mango and white chocolate scone while I wait? I don't
mind if I do!
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