Weather: Spells of rain heavy
at times through the middle of the day dying out for a while this evening.
Wind: NW backing W 10-15 this
morning then veering NW for a time this evening and overnight before backing SW by this time
tomorrow.
Visibility: Good, becoming
moderate or poor in rain or drizzle.
Temperature: Min. Air 12°C and
Max. Air 15°C
Rainfall (mm): 5-10
Comments: Heavy
rain.
It didn't bode well when there
were a few drops of rain before we even left the glen. We allowed an hour for
the journey which was a good idea because morning rush hour traffic in Douglas
is always a bit of shock for us country dwellers from the north of the Island.
Dorothy and Trevor were already waiting at the Pigeon Stream parking area on
Marine Drive when we arrived. We walked along the road and through the old
arches that mark the start of the tramway which used to run along the cliffs to
Port Soderick from Douglas. The tramway opened on 16
July 1896 and closed in 1939. After the war it was sold to the Manx
government and was converted to a roadway in 1956. The new road only remained
open to traffic for twenty years before part of it was closed to traffic on
safety grounds.
Some interesting notices about
the wildlife in the area had been erected near the arches since we last walked
along the road four years ago and we stopped to read them.
The road continues past the old Douglas
Head Hotel which has been converted into apartments, a restaurant which has been
converted into offices . . . and the Manx Radio building, a square box which is
unlikely to win any design awards - unless there is an award for the most boring
building. We stopped to photograph the view of Douglas. Behind the entrance
to the harbour in the foreground is the Tower of Refuge which was built
on Conister Rock in 1832.
Sir William Hillary, who settled on the
Isle of Man in 1808 and lived at Fort Anne on Douglas Head, had a good view of
the many wrecks in Douglas Bay and "In around 1824 he
conceived the concept of a life boat service manned by a trained crew. The idea
was new, but soon prompted the creation of the Royal National Lifeboat
Institution." A few years later he realised that a place was
needed for sailors to wait for rescue in Douglas Bay and the Tower of Refuge was
built. There is a statue of Sir William on the hillside where I took the next
photo.
As you can see,
the clouds were ominous but it wasn't quite raining.
We turned off the road and Tim took this photo as
we walked down the steps to the South Quay and the new Millennium bridge which
replaced an earlier pedestrian bridge. We didn't cross the bridge because our
route led upstream along the south side of the river.
I liked the contrast between this modern anchor .
. . and the old buildings across the river . . . and the pretty hanging baskets
of flowers.
A closer view of the buildings on the North Quay
shows the hotch-potch of architectural styles - which will no doubt be added to
by the new building being erected. This is the oldest part of Douglas but none
of the earliest buildings have survived because the whole of area of "old
Douglas" was demolished in the 1930's.
We continued upstream leaving the urban landscape
and walked along the Old Castletown Road until we reach the entrance to The
Nunnery footpath. I believe that The Nunnery is one of the most impressive
buildings on the Island but the house is not visible from the footpath. It is
said to be the site of a 12th century nunnery which was closed during the 1540
dissolution ordered by Henry V111. It later became the home of the Heywood
family. One member of the family, Peter Heywood, was accused of being involved
in the mutiny on the Bounty and was condemned to death but was subsequently
pardoned.
Later The Nunnery was purchased by John Taubman.
The house was rebuilt either at the end of the 18th century or the beginning of
the 19th century, accounts differ, and remained a family home with various
owners until the end of the twentieth century when it was purchased by the Isle
of Man Business School. The only structure in the grounds that we could see
from the path is a memorial to Thomas Leigh Goldie, Lt Colonel of the 57th
regiment, who fell in the Battle of Inkerman (Crimea) 5 November 1854. The
memorial was originally topped by an impressive obelisk which was destroyed by a
falling tree in the 1970's.
This is an engraving of the house and the
original memorial dating from the 1850's.
We continued along the pleasantly wooded path
running between The Nunnery grounds and the river. The leaves on a horse
chestnut were starting to change colour - a sign of the end of
summer.
It was very peaceful but there was quite a row
about the use of this footpath in the past. The following extracts are from a
research blog by David J. Radcliffe MA http://manxresearch.wordpress.com/2012/11/14/the-nunnery-footpath-between-douglas-and-old-kirk-braddan/ "The Nunnery footpath itself became a problem to the owners of The Nunnery in
the 1830s/1840s when walkers were redirected around to the new western driveway.
However by the 1870s, when the numbers of tourists to the Island surpassed the
100,000 per annum mark, most of whom stayed in Douglas, the main problems would
have been firstly the sheer amount of pedestrian traffic using the route on
Sundays in order to get to Kirk Braddan (the nearest church), and secondly, the
promenaders who walked that way on fine summer evenings, and no doubt created a
lot of noise."
There were even songs written about the
dispute with Sir John Senhouse Goldie-Taubman, Speaker of the House of Keys and
proprietor of the Nunnery
. . . and one song ended:
Now I think that if his title
Has been won by deeds like that,
In the very next big battle
He should be shot down flat,
For a man that will rob his townsmen
Of their favourite little stroll.
I think it very nearly time
That his bell began
to stroll.
The Nunnery footpath came to an abrupt end and
our route turned across an industrial estate and a busy road. I was rather
confused because I had no recollection of this part of the route. I wondered
whether my memory was defective until we returned home and I found out that the
industrial estate had only been built recently and I haven't walked along this
path since the puppies were born over 13 years ago. So I didn't forget it - it
just wasn't there last time I hiked that route. Luckily there was a footpath
sign across the road and we picked up the route which followed the Middle River
along the edge of the Pulrose Golf Course.
Then we turned up the road until we reached
another footpath leading to Oakhill. This is the footpath leading to the "real"
fairy bridge.
Now the Fairy Bridge that everyone knows is
situated on a main road, the New Castletown Road, and is pointed out to all the
tourists driving between Douglas and the airport in the south. Visitors are
told that it is customary to greet the fairies when passing the bridge. There
is even an urban myth that taxi drivers will refuse to pass the bridge unless
their passengers say "Good morning Fairies!" But this is not true
- although superstitious locals might mutter a greeting. Anyway, according to
Miss S. Morrison, "A
good Manxman does not speak of fairies — the word ferish,
a corruption of the English, did not exist in
the Island 200 years ago. He
talks of the Little People, or Mooinjer-Veggey
or,
in a more familiar mood, of "Themselves," Guillyn Veggey, or " Lil Fellas." In contradistinction to
mortals, he calls them Middle World Men, for they are believed to dwell in a
world of their own, being neither good enough for Heaven nor bad enough for
Hell." I wonder whether I am a "Middle World" person. The
description sounds rather
appropriate.
But
there is another fairy bridge which is considered to be the "real" one because
it is marked on the old ordnance survey maps. It is a mysterious bridge because
there is no longer a road crossing it. The route must have been diverted many
years ago and the little bridge across the Middle River sits on its own amongst
the trees. The new river crossing is a ford and a footbridge but there is a
narrow path worn along the bank of the river to the old bridge which is about
twenty yards upstream.
The side of the fairy bridge facing the footpath
was decorated with various notes, tat and items left by superstitious visitors
who must have been hoping their offerings would bring them good fortune. There
was even a little decorative metal structure with the message "For the fairies
to rest . . . From Julie-Lynn". It was surrounded by scallop shells. I didn't
know that fairies liked scallop shells. One learns something new every day. I
walked further upstream and took a photo of the bridge from the other side. I
preferred the view without the embellishments.
We continued up the footpath until we reached a
junction of four paths where we turned left towards the Old Castletown Road.
After a short walk down the road we reached another footpath leading to the
coast. We passed a few signs. The first one urged us not to feed the donkeys
and the next one, at the end of the donkey field, asked us to close the gate in
order to keep the sheep out. Then it was fairly easy to follow the railway line
until we reached the end of the path. Or it would have been if we hadn't turned
off slightly too soon and ended up climbing over a barbed wire fence. We joined
the road near the top of the steps down to Port Soderick but decided to head
back to the cars. We had kept remarkably dry considering the forecast but there
were the occasional few drops of light rain and we didn't know how long our luck
would last.
The tide was out and Tim took this photo of the
lovely bay at Keristal. I noticed a zig-zag path from the road down to the
shore at the far end of the bay. I took a photo of it and commented to Trevor
that the photo would remind me to come back in future and walk down to the
beach. He knew the path well and said that we could go down before returning to
the cars if we liked. So we turned off and walked down to the shore.
While we were on the beach, Trevor told us about
a man who once spent a year camping in a tent on the rocks jutting out into the
sea below the cliffs. I asked him to point out the camping site and he climbed
up to show me. He said there was another route up to the top so we all followed
him.
It was rough going and steep. When Trevor
suggested that I walked across these sloping rocks to the little round platform
in the centre of the photo where the tent was pitched, and which looked hardly
big enough for a small tent, I decided that I had a good enough view from the
so-called path . . . that it was threatening to rain any minute . . . and last,
but not least, I don't like heights.
So I struggled up towards the road after Trevor
who must be related to a mountain goat . . . and Tim very kindly took this
rather unflattering photo of my endeavours.
The rest of the route was easy . . . along Marine
Drive. The rain was still light but I was nervous about using the camera too
often although I took a photo to illustrate the reason for the road being
closed. The layers of slate are twisted and fractured and the area is prone to
falling rocks and landslips.
I think the Mooinjer-Veggey must have liked us.
After an almost dry walk, the heavy rain arrived as soon as we were safely back
in the cars - and then it belted down!
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