10-Mar-2022
A really brilliant little walk takes you from the bottom of Ballaglass Glen down to the sea at Port Cornaa, and then, via Cashtal yn Ard, back to the top of the glen, which you follow down the hill to return to your car.
Tumbly river, crashy beach, and a neolithic monument: What's not to like?
Even below the official "glen", the river is still super-pretty
Through a wooded stretch
The remains of the never-finished bellite factory, part of a late-19th-century plan to manufacture this mining explosive locally
The river emerges at Port Cornaa
Port Cornaa beach
A pretty nice location...
Heading back up the valley, on the other side
Another of the Island's splendid hedgerows
Cashtal yn Ard or Castle of the Heights (which certainly sounds better than its 18th-century moniker, Cashtal y Mucklagh y Vagileragh, or Castle of the Field Pigsty...) is a dramatically situated Neolithic tomb, dating back to around 2000 BC.
Technically a "megalithic chambered cairn", it encompasses five chambers, stretches over 40 metres, and would have been used as a communal burial place for chieftains and their families.
With its superb mountain backdrop, it's incredibly atmospheric, especially on a looming day:
We've grown to love the Island's tholtans (abandoned homesteads). This one, near the burial site, is particularly picturesque:
Heading back down the hill via this extraordinarily steep road...
And now we're on a path above and parallel to Ballaglass Glen. Moss will be one of my abiding memories of the Island...
You emerge by the Manx Electric Railway station (sadly not back in action until later in the year), and finally head off down the glen proper...
... which is stunning
Half way down, we met these two characters. Presumably they're experienced at navigating the fast-flowing river and the slippy boulders, but they didn't necessarily give that impression...
The duck distraction over, onwards again
Another red-letter walk. They just keep coming...