14-Mar-2022
Today we filled in the last piece of the Manx Northern Railway, which we've been steadily chipping away at since we arrived.
We parked at Ballaugh, followed the (currently pretty boggy) railway route to where it ends in Sulby, and did the return journey via quiet lanes.
The railway used to go all the way to Ramsey, of course, but the walking track unfortunately doesn't. Although there are plans to reinstate the final section, it sounds as though it won't be an easy task given the highly splintered nature of the current land ownership.
This section is not as dramatic as some of the cliff-side stretches, and you do hear the busy Ramsey road quite a bit. Nevertheless, it's still very scenic:
We were slightly surprised by this guy -- until we realized that the track goes past the Curraghs Wildlife Park
The old line just after the Curraghs
The only tunnels now are the tunnels of trees
Jurby Church, visible from everywhere
Looking one way, the land is flat
Looking the other way, you get great views of the hills
Nearly-the-end-of-the-line palm-tree
Last views from the track
Looking back
And now we're heading back, via peaceful back roads. Notice how the weather is changing...
And finally, we're back at the New Church of St Mary de Ballaugh (as opposed to the old one). This modern version was built in 1832, at a cost of GBP1714... It is "remarkable for its tower which is described as a smaller version of the Boston Stump in Lincolnshire". Hmmm... Maybe...
Raining by now. We have this joke that if we wear our overtrousers, it doesn't rain. We call them magic trousers. Well, they nearly slipped up today. The drops began to fall before we'd quite got back to the car. But we did stop to talk to some people on route, so I guess that might have confused their timing a bit...