1st October 2011

After the glorious sunshine and blue skies of the last couple of days, I had high hopes for this morning and then I got out of bed.... Thick fog with the sun trying vainly to break through.

Dave arrived and we decided for our first stop to be Ramsey beach for some potentially interesting lighting effects. On arriving at the beach, I discovered in my rush leaving (I discovered my bladder pack leaked all over the hall carpet just as Dave arrived), I had forgotten my tripod. Ah well, some nice views anyway, with the pier looming in the mist

As it was so foggy, we decided instead of our original idea, (which was to walk up a hill in Ballaugh) to head to Santon to do a walk along Santon Burn.
We parked near the church then headed along the road towards the Blackboards, turning onto a greenway track before we got that far. This track brought us out by Santon Station but, no sign of any trains. We crossed over and soon found ourselves under the trees alongside the burn

Near here was a number of wildflowers, unfortunately the light was not very good so, few pictures

We carried on along the track that is quite overgrown in parts, finally coming out onto the road and heading towards Broogh Fort. It was a bit of a disappointment - a big grassy mound surrounded by other grassy bits. We carried on down the road towards Newtown before finding a footpath and heading off across country again. After a brief visit to Santon Station (this time saw a train but the engine was going backwards)

We arrived back at the car, pausing only for some hay bales

As Maughold Church is setting up for harvest, we decided to call there on our way home, especially as the rain had started.