Region 29 The Isle of Man
We could hardly have chosen a worse day to tackle our 4 unclimbed Marilyns in the Isle of Man. The ferry from Heysham had arrived 2 hours late in gale force winds the night before. The morning promised no better but with only 2 days on the island we went ahead anyway in typical peak-bagging fashion. The friends we were staying with had no such motivation but they still accompanied us up all the hills. Mull Hill was easily bagged by a simple stroll from their house in Port Erin. A narrow lane leads up the hill and a grassy track on the left goes up to a fence inside which is a quite impressive neolithic burial ground consisting of a ring of chambers, now open to the sky. From here it is only a couple of minutes to the top, crowned by the more recent remains of a wartime pillbox lookout point which occupies the very summit of the hill shown in the picture below. There should have been views of the Calf of Man but visibility was less than one hundred metres with beating rain and a gale force wind.
Sadly the weather remained awful for our quick ascent of Bradda Hill from the tiny parking area in Fleshwick Bay. We did get a glimpse of the sea as the narrow track through the bracken reached the crest of the ridge. We even met two other walkers but they were clearly not Marilyn baggers since they did not bother to visit the summit cairn which lies just above the path. This top could most rewardingly be visited during a complete circuit of the Isle of Man on the long distance coastal path, or on a short circuit from Port Erin via the tower on Bradda Head which overlooks this attractive small resort. The picture below shows the view in this direction as we dropped out of the mist on our simple return by the shortest path.
South Barrule was the craziest of all our acquisitions on a day when to speak of 'inclement' weather would be an understatement. There is a clear and easy path up from the west. The top is crowned by a hill fort and a trig point. We left it as quickly as possible, scarcely able to stand up there in the wind and driving rain.
Slieau Freoaghane is also short and easy. We had dried out a bit on the drive north and the rain had almost stopped. From the summit we glimpsed the coastline and the town of Peel although mist was still swirling around over the hills. The curious post on the top of this hill, shown in the summit picture below, was probably used to carry a beacon.
We had climbed Snaefell before. Indeed our only previous visit to the Isle of Man had been made expressly to reach this summit which was included in George Bridge's tables of the two-thousand foot hills of England and Wales. Alan Dawson however treats the Isle of Man as a separate country. On this occasion we had come up from Ramsey, probably over North Barrule. We could not quite remember though and since North Barrule is now a subMarilyn (ie. one which misses the requisite 150m drop by less than 10m) we determined to visit it on this trip. Fortunately our second day on the island was one of splendid weather and the walk out and back from the Black Hut layby along this attractive ridge was thoroughly enjoyable. Then we went up Snaefell itself again. There were several people on the top which is one of only two in the British Isles which can be reached by railway. The pictures below show Snaefell as seen from Clagh Ouyr on the ridge to North Barrule, the summit and the summit station. We enjoyed a celebratory cup of tea in the summit restaurant. Given one's own transport it would be quite easy to bag all the Manx Marilyns in a single day in the summer but some of them, especially Bradda Hill, are really worth a longer visit, given reasonable weather!
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