Crosby

"Under new management"

Monday, 11th March, 2013 

    The walks are "under new management".  After reading another set of dire weather forecasts for the week ahead, I sent the following email to Dorothy and Trevor.

 

Sent: Saturday, March 09, 2013 7:32 AM

Subject: Future walks

Dear Dorothy and Trevor,

 

    Another cold and windy week looms and yet again I don't know what to suggest.

 

    I think I have been planning the walks for too many years and have completely run out of ideas.  My brain has gone on strike!  It is time that I resigned as "secretary" of the walk group.  Dorothy, perhaps you and/or Trevor can take over and come up with some new routes this year?

 

Bye,

 

Coleen

 

    So this week's walk was a bit of a lucky dip as far as we were concerned.  Trevor suggested meeting at Crosby on Monday and I must admit that I was rather apprehensive about their choice of a day after reading this forecast for Monday.  "Comments:  Severe wind chill, especially on hills (Temperatures starting around minus 5 or 6 Celsius on hilltops, with wind chill equivalent close to minus 20 Celsius). Penetrating frost/ but only small risk ice on roads. Strong winds."

 

    There was a debate about dogs before we left.  Tim thought it was too cold and we should leave them at home and Alexander looked at me as though he would report me to the MSPCA for cruelty if I even thought of taking him on a long hike.  I tended to agree with Tim until he mentioned that Danny seemed to have a slightly upset stomach.  I don't like to leave a dog with digestive problems shut in the house for the whole morning.  So I wasn't sure what to do and decided that it might be best to take him with us.  Danny must have read my mind because he came into the bedroom, looked at us, jumped on the bed, picked up Tim's tracker hat, shook it vigorously to "break its back" and grinned.  He knew he had played his "upset tum" trump card and won the argument. 

 

    I was wearing so many layers of clothes when we left that I looked almost as wide as I am high.  Not a fashionable look but excusable under the circumstances.  The temperature reading on the car dipped down to minus 1.5 degrees C on the drive down to Crosby.  The tops of the hills above Kirk Michael were white but the sun was shining and there was no ice on the main west coast road, although the Mountain Road was closed. 

 

    Trevor had chosen a route from a book of walks.  It started up the Millennium Way route from Crosby towards West Baldwin, an uphill climb which was ideal to warm us up.

 

  

The views were lovely - bright blue sky, white clouds and snow on the tops of Colden, Carraghan and Beinn-y-Phott.  Snaefell must have been living up to its name, but it was hidden behind Carraghan and Beinn-y-Phott and the top was obscured by cloud.

 

 

 

   We were even high enough to see across to St Luke's church in solitary splendour on the ridge between the East and West Baldwin valleys with Mullagh Ouyr in the background.

 

   

 

    We left the views and turned south towards Union Mills along Upper Trollaby Lane, which became a footpath through a farm before becoming a road again and turning into Trollaby Lane.   " . . . the Trolls are beings who unite preterhuman strength with demoniac malice. They are bigger and stronger than men, with fiendish tempers, and are of deformed and hideous appearance. They dwell in rocks and caverns. In their intercourse with men they are usually cruel and mischievous, and take vengeance if they have been slighted or insulted. But sometimes they can be thankful and reward such kindnesses as they may have received from men, and even do them services of their own accord. Whoever is fortunate enough to do a Troll a service is sure to be lucky for the rest of his life. They know things man does not, such as the whereabouts of hidden treasure, though, generally speaking, they are stupid and devoid of reasoning powers. They hate Christianity and the sound of church bells, so much so, that any one pursued by a Troll can get rid of him by ringing the church bells. Trolls were probably once well- known by name in Man, as they still survive in place-names such as Trollaby."  http://www.isle-of-man.com/manxnotebook/fulltext/folklore/ch04.htm    Not having a church bell with us for protection, we were lucky that we didn't come across a Troll.  We did come across some impressive mud but maybe a friendly Troll was about because the mud was frozen and we got through with clean boots.

 

    Tim took this photo of Dorothy by a gate into a sea of churned up mud.  There was a footpath sign pointing into the field but it was not our route, thank goodness.

 

    And I found some mysterious old abandoned gate posts set amongst wild garlic and snowdrops.

 

    The rest of the walk was along the main road to Union Mills, where there was access to the footpath along the old railway line which took us back to the cars at Crosby.  Danny enjoyed the walk and didn't seem to be worried by the cold weather and ice on the puddles although he wasn't too happy about sharing the path back to Crosby with a very energetic and friendly puppy.  Tim picked Danny up as the puppy approached so we avoided any embarrassing anti-social growling.     

 

    It had only warmed up slightly, to plus 1.5 C, as we drove home but Trevor had chosen a good walk, mainly sheltered from the cold north easterly Arctic wind, so we didn't freeze.    The morning turned out to be the best part of the day with wintry showers passing over during the afternoon.