Niarbyl

A Tale of the Tail

 

Tuesday, 23rd April, 2013

 

The Sunday email from Dorothy read "How about the walk from Niarbyl, coast and through the plantation on the way back etc.    Tuesday seems the best weather forecast this morning."

 

The forecast was right.  Monday was windy and drizzly.  Tuesday was a bright, sunshiny morning.  I searched for my sunhat but that was over-optimistic because it turned out to be a bit too breezy for a sunhat.

 

It took us forty-five minutes to drive to Niarbyl, on the west coast, just south of Dalby.   It was a lovely drive.  The fields are greening at last and the buds on the trees are swelling.  The new leaves were unfurling on the horse chestnuts at Ballakillingan.  They are always the first trees to come into leaf.  Blackthorn was flowering in the hedges.

 

Niarbyl used to be a busy little port which served the herring fleet which fished in the Baaie Mooar but its importance declined after 1850 and there are just a few cottages left.  Now it is best known for being frequently photographed for Manx calendars and also for being on a geological fault line.  "The Iapetus Suture, also known as the Niarbyl Fault on the Isle of Man, is the separation between the former Laurentia and Avalonia paleocontinents, predecessors of present-day North America and Europe. As such, it is humored locally that at this spot one can have a foot on both continents at the same time."  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Iapetus_Suture_-_Niarbyl_Fault_-_Isle_of_Man_-_kingsley_-_23-JUN-09.jpg  

 

The sign by the road leading down from the Dalby road to the coast said "Bayr yn Arbyl - Road of the Tail of Rocks".  The correct translation of the Manx would be simply Road of the Tail.  We hadn't realised before that Niarbyl is a corruption of "yn Arbyl".  It is interesting how similar sounding words crop up in different languages "an" in English, "yn" in Manx (and even 'n - Afrikaans).

 

The Manx National Trust has taken over the old cafe above the bay and has created a good public parking area where we left the cars.  We got our first view of "the tail" as we walked down the road from the cars to the shore.  It doesn't look very tail-like from this angle.  The gulls were taking advantage of the warm sunshine and a whole crowd were basking on the large flat rock. 

 

 

 

The little row of cottages above the beach wasn't looking as picturesque as usual because they were partly obscured by scaffolding.  It looked as though the roofs were going to be re-thatched.  So we turned our backs on them and walked south along the path towards Traie Vane (White Beach).

 

 

 

The beach gets its name from the pale colour of the pebbles . . .

 

 

 

. . . which really do look white in the sunshine.  Tim took this photo which shows the contrast between the dark rocks and seaweed and the light pebbles.

 

 

 

There is a sweet little waterfall falling almost onto the shingle.  Well, I liked it - but I am not sure how T.E.Brown our Manx poet who died in 1897 would have described it.  In a pamphlet "How to spend seven days in the Isle of Man" he mentioned two of our better known waterfalls . . .  Glen Maye "See the waterfall (which, by-the-bye, is only a ruin of its old self)" and Spooyt Vane "It is not worth much.".   He wasn't a great fan of Snaefell either "You can, if you choose, climb the mountain. I do not recommend that. It is an unsatisfactory view, and the mountain itself is a very ugly stupid affair."  He must have been in a bad mood when he wrote the pamphlet!

 

 

 

Traie Vane is a lovely, secluded little beach and we were reluctant to leave the shore and face the steep climb above the cliffs.  A grassy path led up from the waterfall and followed the top of the cliffs until it met up with the official Raad ny Foillan (coastal footpath) route to the south. 

 

Looking back, we could see why the rocks at Niarbyl were called The Tail.

 

 

 

We passed a couple of sheep that must have died during the big snow but there also seemed to be a fair number of live sheep around.  A few were grouped around a kissing gate.  Tim had Alexander on the lead and didn't want to approach the sheep in case they panicked so I walked ahead.  When I got closer, I could see that one of the sheep had become entangled in some baling twine which was tied to the gate.  It was struggling but couldn't free itself.  I grabbed the sheep and found that the twine was looped around its neck about half a dozen times and was also tangled with some bits of bramble which were stuck in its wool.  I managed to pull the loops of twine over its head one at a time and then Trevor helped me pull off the bramble.  The sheep shot off - but came to an abrupt stop because the twine was also caught around its leg.  Trevor managed to pull the twine free of its legs but the sheep just lay on the grass for a while.  I hoped that it wasn't injured but I needn't have worried.  Sheep are very good at panicking but also know when to submit.  It just took it a while to realise that it was free, and then it strolled off to join its friends who had watched the proceedings with interest. 

 

 

 

Further along the path we came across an interesting rock with a hole.  It was opposite a pillar at the end of a stone wall.  There must originally have been a gate across the path but the hole looks big enough to take a round wooden post.

 

 

 

We continued climbing until we reached the Raad ny Foillan and then the path zig-zagged down the slope above the sea almost down to sea level before we crossed the little stream at Glion Mooar.  Tim carried Alexander across.

 

 

 

After that we had to face another steep and really tiring climb up to Eary Cushlin.  Tim had to pick Alexander up again as we approached the top.  There was no way that he would agree to walk past these big dogs!

 

 

 

It was a relief to turn into the Kerroodhoo Plantation and to be walking downhill again but it was rather wet and slippery underfoot.

 

 

 

After leaving the plantation, there was still one uphill stretch - Bedstead Lane.  It was given this nickname because the remains of some old beds have been used to reinforce the fence above the bank on the east side of the road.  Last time we walked this way it was hard to see them through the summer vegetation but on Tuesday I saw so many that I lost count.  There were at least seventeen that I saw and probably more that I missed.  This is one of the ones that I saw.

 

 

 

At the top of Bedstead Lane we turned left and walked down the road to Dalby until we reached the Bayr yn Arbyl.  As we walked down to the car park, we were amazed to see that all the potholes in the road had been filled while we were hiking.  Tim had difficulty avoiding them when we drove down just before nine o'clock.  The TT races are due to start at the beginning of June and all the stops are being pulled out to get the Island's roads ready in time.  Most of the attention is paid to the course, but the touristy areas also get their share.  Roads are being repaired, hay bales placed at dangerous points around the course, the hedge cutters are out in force . . . soon there will be road signs in German telling us to please drive on the left!