Port Erin

A walk in the south 

Part 2 - The Sound to Port Erin

 

Tuesday 20th August  2013

 

We were reluctant to leave the seals but we still had more than half the walk to complete so we pressed on. 

 

The first interesting place on the next section of the route was Burroo Ned - a headland which was the site of an iron age promontory fort.  I read in the encyclopaedia that there was a large group of huts inside the fort.  Another source just says "Promontory Fort on high ground with rampart to landward, enclosing house foundations. Unexcavated."  And yet another that it " . . . contains of a group of structures, both round and rectangular. At least 40 cup markings in 12 different locations have been found within the the enclosure, and others found on the outcropping rocks in the vicinity."  I have never had time to look for all these features as we usually pass Burroo Ned during a long walk.   We don't like to delay the walk long enough for a thorough investigation.  At a casual glance it just looks like a normal bit of cliff top - with outcrops of rock.  Only the remains of the rampart bank on the landward side can be detected in this photo - just above the grazed field.

The previous photo was taken when we had climbed about half way up the steep side of Spanish head.  On a really tough climb it is a good policy to stop and take photos.  It looks less wimpish than admitting that you are too tired to take another step - but it probably doesn't fool the other hikers.

 

Between Burroo Ned and Spanish Head there is a deep inlet with sheer rocky cliffs on the Spanish Head side.  It was obviously a favourite place for a group of choughs which were doing acrobatic aerial tricks and perching on the rock face.  I tried to get a photo but the results would be of more interest geologists than ornithologists.  Just a few black blurs in front of the rocks.

 

There was a small flock of Loaghtan sheep grazing on the west side of Spanish Head.  They looked at home in the rugged landscape.

The heather and western gorse on the top of Spanish Head definitely lent enchantment to the distant view of Cregneash. 

  

I got left behind as usual  because I saw a Wall Brown butterfly and stopped to take his photo.

Tim took the next photo as we approached the climb up towards the Chasms.  I loved the colours.

And the next photo is also one of Tim's.  The heather on Spanish Head reminded him of a line from W.B. Yeats' poem, The Lake Isle of Innesfree.   "There midnight's all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,"  We felt as though we were walking through a purple glow.  It also reminded us of another walk - years ago - with Colette, a friend from Ireland.  Tim quoted that line from Yeats' poem and was impressed when Colette promptly recited the whole poem.

We were rather intrigued by this little boat that spent some time at the base of the Sugar Loaf Rock.  The Sugar Loaf is a detached, conical pillar of rock about a hundred feet high near the Chasms.  Because the layers of slate at the base of the Sugar Loaf and the nearby cliff face are almost horizontal they provide convenient ledges for nesting seabirds.  It is very popular with kittiwakes and guillemots.  It isn't possible to get a close view of the birds from land but I am tempted to follow Dorothy and Trevor's example and take a boat trip to the Sugar Loaf next year during the breeding season.

Just when I thought Trevor was planning a "Full Monty" walk to the Chasms, we turned off through the fields towards Cregneash.  Cregneash is still a village with some private homes - but the houses are gradually being bought up by Manx Heritage.  It is described as "a living museum which shows the typical way of life of a small Manx village in the 19th century".  The first cottage to be restored and opened to the public in 1938 was Harry Kelly's cottage.

We walked along the road through the village and stopped briefly to admire some very free-range hens scratching in the dirt and then we were joined by a Manx cat.  It walked up the road with us for a while before jumping over a stone wall.  It refused to look at me.  So I took its's photo from a rather unbecoming angle - a good view of its lack of tail though!

 

From Cregneash we walked down Mull Hill and then took a short detour to the Mull Circle.  I have read that this Neolithic tomb is unique in the British Isles.  It consists of six T-shaped pairs of burial chambers arranged in a circle which has a diameter of about 66 feet.  The ancient Manx name for the circle was Lhiac ny Wirragh  which means "stone of the meetings".  Like most Manx antiquities its origins are shrouded in mystery.

 

After visiting the circle, we headed down the narrow tarred road to Port Erin. 

 

There was just one more unexpected treat.  We saw a small flock of birds flitting amongst some thistles in a field.  They were too far away to identify with the naked eye but I used the zoom and took a few photos - hoping to be able to identify the birds on the computer when I got home.  I thought they might be goldfinches, feeding on the thistle seed - and they were.  This is the clearest of the photos - not great . . . but good enough to recognise the species.