Monday 10th and Thursday 13th February, 2014
It was one of those awkward weeks when we were all busy on different days. Dorothy wrote to say "Trevor can't walk on Monday and I can't on Wednesday.
The forecast for Tuesday isn't looking good at the moment. Time for that to change."
Well, we couldn't walk on Tuesday so we finally decided on a short walk on Thursday to visit the snowdrops and then explore the Curraghs, a swampy area near the Wildlife Park between Ballaugh and Sulby. I asked Dorothy whether we should bring wellies in our backpacks and she replied "Wellies or Waders if you have them! I haven't been to the Curraghs for a while, but I can imagine."
The weather on Monday was surprisingly good so Tim and I decided to take advantage of the conditions and go on an extra exploratory walk around Sulby Dam to check on the larch felling at Tholt y Will. There have been reports in the local newspapers about a fantastic machine which has been brought to the Island to "kick-start" the felling. They claim it can reduce a tree to mulch in between 30 and 90 seconds!
It was cold when we drove up Sulby Glen. The car said that it was 1.5 degrees C but it didn't feel too bad because there was no wind. We parked in the usual place, near the old Chapel.
While I was waiting for Tim to change into his boots, I wandered round the car park and started wondering about this immensely tall conifer. Most of the conifers had side branches, or at least stumpy bits where the dead side branches had fallen off, but this tree and about five or six others at the edge of the plantation had obviously had their side branches neatly trimmed. My mind boggled at the idea of climbing so high - just to do a bit of cosmetic tree surgery.
We walked up the track past the old schoolhouse. There was no sign of any tree-munching but the thought occurred to me that the steep sides of the glen might be unsuitable terrain for the vehicle. Also, most of the larches in Tholt y Will plantation are interspersed with plantings of other types of conifers so they will probably have to be tackled with chain saws.
The gate to the main path up through the plantation was securely taped shut.
We weren't concerned because we intended going up the forestry track to the dam. But when we got there we were confronted with a lot more more red and white tape. We are more timid about ignoring warning signs when we are on our own and the only other way up to the dam was through a water authority area marked "authorised personel only". So we walked back to the car park, checking all the gates into the plantation on the way. They were all securely taped - so we got back in the car and drove up to the dam.
There was no scary red tape at the top of that forestry track from the end of the glen road up to the dam even though it had been taped at the bottom - so we walked down the hill until we got to the track leading up to the Druidale Road.
Both sides of this exposed track look as though they have been hit by a tornado but the devastation was caused by the worst winter gales that we have experienced since we moved to the Island. They occurred in midwinter at the end of 2004 and caused widespread damage.
Across the valley we could see a pale patch amongst the trees where the tree muncher must have been working - but no sign of any current tree felling activity.
We walked up the Druidale Road to see whether we could get a closer look at the munching site, but the next entrance to the plantation was also closed.
We spotted this digger before we left the plantation and wondered whether it was working on the ditch alongside the road. But it was parked on private land and had apparently been working on a channel to divert water around the edge of the field.
The ditch next to the road had been deepened and "improved" recently but the high volume of water from the recent rains had eroded the banks and in one place the edge of the road had been undermined.
The advisability of dredging drainage ditches is being discussed constantly on the news because of the floods in Somerset and the deepening of these ditches does seem to have caused problems. But the erosion is probably due to the speed of the water running downhill - not a problem they are likely to encounter on the Somerset Levels.
There is a low point in the road shortly before the junction with the path through Druidale Farm and there was evidence of more water damage from recent flooding here.
Above the road is the smallest lime kiln that we have seen on the Island.
I took another photo of the area where the larches had been mulched - using the zoom.
The path to the dam turns downhill past the avenue of ancient Druidale beeches. We were relieved to see that the bridge had survived the recent floods.
The bridge is a good place to take photos of reflections on the water with Snaefell in the background.
Looking back from the car park at Druidale farmhouse with its wonderful view across the dam. If houses had memories, this one must somethimes think that the outlook is very different from the original view when it was first built on the steep hillside above the wooded glen with its tumbling mountain streams.
The Thursday walk started from Ballaugh. The name 'Ballaugh' derives from the Manx "Balley-ny-Loghey" or "the place of the lake" so we were expecting a wet walk and we weren't surprised that the snowdrops at Broughjairg Beg were finding it difficult to keep their heads above water!
Tim took this photo of the impressive display just inside the gates to the farm house.
We walked back along the footpath to Ballaugh and then carried on along the old railway line towards Sulby. There were some massive puddles and plenty of mud along the track so Dorothy suggested leaving the footpath at the Wildlife Park and continuing along the main road.
We turned off the main road before we reached the crossroads at the Sulby Glen Hotel. The side road had a cul-de-sac sign where it crossed the old railway track so we rejoined the railway footpath until we reached the A14 - exactly where the road was unexpectedly blocked by a massive tree!
The infrastructure men were there setting up Road Closed signs and checking the overhead power cables which were sagging but still appeared to be intact. They were further down the road and hadn't started working on the tree yet. There was no suitable alternate route to the Curraghs - so we quickly ducked under the tree before anyone noticed us . . .
. . . and continued down the road until we reached the minor road which led to the Curraghs.
The Ballaugh Curragh is the last remnant of an ancient lake that formed in the lowland between the Bride Hills and the Manx upland.
The lake was drained when the Lhen Trench was excavated. During the ice-age this was a melt-water channel flowing north to south (into the lake) from the melting ice front. It then largely silted up until it was dug out a couple of hundred years ago. The water now flows (very slowly) northwards and out to sea at the Lhen.
After the exceptional rain this winter some of the fields near the road appeared to be reverting to shallow lakes.
There were deep ditches either side of the road which must have been connected with the drainage network.
We continued until we reached the beginning of the trail through the Curraghs. I was slightly dubious about tottering along the narrow planks which marked the route through the bog but Dorothy looked confident so we set off. It wasn't too bad as most of the planks were above water!
The dead fern fronds lining the path belong to Royal Ferns (Osmunda regalis), stunning giant ferns which flourish in the Curraghs.
And Dorothy says that the green leaves, just below the surface of the water, belong to bog beans Menyanthes trifoliata
Bog beans were described by Manx poet T.E. Brown in a letter to his friend, S.T. Irwin dated 12 May 1895.
“Yesterday we were at Ballaugh Curragh to get the bog-bean. It was most glorious. The flower was in perfect bloom, just at its akme, and we could have gathered cart-loads. Probably no daintier beauty decorates the British Isles. It is so delicate, so complex, and so distinguished. We also found the bog-violet in great abundance.”
T.E. Brown had written to another friend, J.R. Mozley in January of the previous year, enthusing about the Curragh.
“I discovered a new country, the flat land lying between the hills and the north shore, more particularly that portion of it which we call the Curragh. The Curragh is a green bog, many miles in extent. It is full of bog-plants : for instance, there are whole acres of that most lovely flower the bog-bean. I had conjectured the beauty of this level space, with its sweet winding ways . . . Now I know it."
I have never seen the bog beans in flower but I am determined not to miss them this coming spring. But even in winter the landscape is fascinating - with the dark, peat-stained water and the moss-covered branches of the willows reflected on the water.
But it is probably quite a different scene from that enjoyed by T.E. Brown. David J. Radcliffe has posted an old photo of the Ayres from the 1890's on this link http://www.flickr.com/photos/ballaugh/4298069897/in/set-72157622809469454 and comments "Note the complete absence of willow which now dominates the scenery of this low-lying marshy area."
(If you like old photos, David Radcliffe has a set of Old Manx Photos on this link http://www.flickr.com/photos/ballaugh/sets/72157622809469454/detail/ )
Tim and I walked ahead until we reached a T-junction. While we were waiting for Dorothy, the local expert, to tell us which way to go I took a photo of this old stone - perhaps an old gate post next to the sod field boundary.
But I lost interest in the stone as soon as Dorothy arrived and asked if we had seen a wallaby! We hurried back along the path and were incredibly lucky. It was still there, a fair distance from the path but with the miracle of zoom almost close enough to touch . . . one of the descendents of a pair of wallabies that escaped from the Wildlife Park about fifty years ago.
If you would like to read more about the Curraghs and the wallabies - this is an interesting site http://www.willowmann.im/
We suddenly realised that we had been so carried away by our surroundings that we hadn't noticed that Trevor was missing! We made our way to the main path back to the road and Dorothy noticed footprints - coming in from the road and returning. So we assumed that Trevor had gone on ahead. We walked back to the road along the grassy path alongside the Killane Trench which takes water from this part of the Curraghs to the Killane River.
Then Dorothy remembered that she had a mobile phone in her backpack and called Trevor. He was well on his way back to her house so we hurried after him. The route back was uneventful - all along minor roads although there was still one very large puddle to climb around. I was surprised that I managed to get home with socks that were only slightly damp.
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