Raad ny Foillan

Still not guessed where I am? I know that some of you know but for the rest I am in the Isle of Man!

Today we have had sun again (It can't possibly last) and so we have done a bit of coastal walking.

Raad ny Foillan means -Way of the Gull and it is a 95 mile round island walk sticking, wherever possible, to the coast.

We got the steam train (yes steam) from Port Soderick into Douglas this morning and then walked back to Port Soderick on what is known as 'The Marine Drive'. It is largely a paved route on the cliff tops built by the Victorians for carriage drives to the little beach resort of Port Soderick. There you could take a fenicular down to the beach and promenade around the bay before taking tea.

All this is long gone. Much of the drive itself has eroded and therefore is not accessible to vehicles along the entire route. The promenades are similarly now fenced off, there is no sign of the fenicular but there are steps down to the beach where the tea rooms have long been boarded up.(Another discarded building is a place where scallops used to be prepared for sale)
The sea views are delightful and there are some interesting geological cliff rock formations along the way. Looking back here you can see the gated entrance to the drive in the distance and just make out the route along the cliff tops.
I'm afraid we only did the first four and a half miles of the first section from Douglas to Castletown and although the book assures us that the round island trip can be easily done in 8 days (yes I know some of you have done it) this was enough for today.

We returned via Port Soderick Glen - the glens themselves are worth walking here on the island - and saw these yellow berries Anyone know what they are? I wondered if they are Artist Annie's yellow raspberries.