Sunday 29th January 2012

This morning, after being awake early but, not rushing out of bed, Chris and I headed up to the Point of Ayre. From our usual parking spot, we could see what looked like a lot of debris at the high tide line so, I decided to brave the elements and get out of the car. I found a number of interesting items whilst walking along.

Of course, there were the usual rubber gloves, lighters and shoes

As I went along the beach, I found a lobster pot that was almost buried under the stones

Further along and quite close together, I came across a comb, toothbrush and cassette case. Do many people still use cassettes?

Further still along the beach I found another little pocket of items. These included a piece of Lego, a leg from a Sindy or similar and a skull

I then headed back to the warmth and shelter of the car with numb nose and fingers from the biting wind

Saturday 28th January 2012

A while back, we parked at South Barrule plantation, aiming to walk to Crigle along the forest track. On that occasion, we ended up going in a big circle and found ourselves (after about two hours of walking) above the quarry and ten minutes from the car.

This time was going to be different. Armed with a print out from Google maps (more reliable than Dave's sense of direction hopefully) we set out from the car.

We first went down to the fire pool where you could see across towards Snaefell.

There was some ice on the pool but it was only thin. The temperature had been showing as two degrees when we arrived in the car park. We decided to consult the print out to ensure we were on the correct route. After some discussion, we came to the agreement that we should have turned up the path just after the car park so, we headed back and went along it.

As we went up the path, we came to an area we recognised - this is where we had gone wrong last time. We turned off the main path onto another broad path - how had we missed it? Soon we came into a more open area with views across to Langness

We then entered Corlea plantation

As we got to the far side of Corlea, we paused to decide which way to go next. The print out didn't reach this far

We took the path to the right after consulting the map and walked along looking for a track that would lead us down to Cringle. After some time, we found a track through the trees. It was quite dark and wet under the trees so, no pics. After some time, we emerged by Cringle.

After lunch we headed back towards South Barrule, walking along the road for a short while before picking up the path then partially retracing our steps. It was a nice walk and the weather was more pleasant than had been forecast.

Saturday 21st Jauary 2012

Despite the forecast, the morning was bright, though windy. Dave had heard on the radio that the Cronk-y-voddy ploughing match was on today so, we decided to go to Peel first then head to the match.

We parked near the footbridge, walked across to Fennella then got blown around the castle. A final walk around the harbour before heading back to the car. Peel on the whole, was quite dull with the odd bit of sunlight breaking through.

We then headed to the ploughing match. We wanted to be there early as, in the past we had arrived as it was almost over. The sun came out in parts, brightening up the field. There were a lot of people with DSLR's plus a couple of video cameras. There were a lot of opportunities for capturing candid shots

After lunch, we headed to Onchan Park. There were nice views across to Douglas Head but, little else to capture our imagination

From there we headed to Laxey for a walk along the beach.

We headed back into Ramsey. As the tide was out, we thought we would have a wander along the harbour to see if we could find the Kingfisher. On arrival in Ramsey, the cold wind soon changed our minds about being outside so, we headed home for coffee.

Saturday 14th January 2012

Today Dave and I had decided to head down south. As we left a grey and dull Ramsey behind and headed over a greyer and duller Mountain Road, we hoped we'd made the right decision. As we dropped down over the other side, it looked as though we had as there were blue skies and sunshine. So, off to Langness.

We got out of the car and headed along the coastal path until we got to the first arch, which we went down to

Whilst down there I found a camo pattered croc in amongst the debris that must have been washed up at some point

We carried on, towards the lighthouse then went off over towards the right. Part of this is only accessible at low tide. As we were taking pictures, I noticed a couple of seals in the surf with the waves crashing just in front of them

We noticed the remains of a wall. It looked as though it was a building at some point. Though there were nice views it was very exposed and not somewhere you could imagine living

We walked back across towards the lighthouse then over to the other side. We went towards the fog horn but, the pictures I had in my head unfortunately didn't work out so, we abandoned that and carried on along the coastal path

As we carried on along the path, we noticed a chimney built into a fissure in the rocks. There didn't appear to be any other machinery or any indication as to it's use.

We carried on, towards the Herring Tower. It's a surprise that nobody has put a door on this to prevent people getting in

From the Herring Tower, we could see across the bay to Scarlett, which we would visit later.

We headed back to the car for some lunch and then took a walk along the road towards the golf course. As we walked, we saw a Little Egret. We started heading carefully forward, hoping for some pictures when, we noticed two women walking across the grass towards the bird from a different direction. Unfortunately, as they were so visible, they flushed the bird and it flew off. No Little Egret pictures then so, we had to make do with some Shelduck and Mallard that were drifting past.

As we carried on, we noticed a large flock of Curlew, there were probably about 100 altogether. I am reliably informed that this is a common sight in winter

We headed back towards the car and decided to head across to Scarlett.

We didn't see much at Scarlett so, drove around to Fishers Hill in order to take a walk there. As we went past the farm at Poyll Vaaish, we saw some Chough on the beach. They were hidden by grass but, one of them flew over to a water trough for a drink.

After a while, we turned around and headed back to the car, still hoping for a sunset. However, a low band of cloud had come in making it unlikely that it would be as spectacular as we hoped. We took a few shots but, after a week of being in work and seeing some wonderful colours through the window, it was a little disappointing.