09-Jul-2026
Last week we did the stretch of the Millennium Way that takes you from Crosby to The Bungalow.
Today we tackled another bit. Which went like this:
-- First, walk into town, and catch the bus to Laxey.
-- Give yourself a little energy boost at the Laxey Station Cafe (very nice Bakewell slice), because you won't get lunch for a while. Prepare to take the Snaefell Mountain Railway to The Bungalow,
-- Fret a bit about the large quantity of mist which (contrary to the forecast) is still lingering. But we had a brief chat with the tram guard we'd met last week, and he said it was beautifully clear up top...
-- Trundle up on the tram. We never tire of riding these venerable vehicles.
Interesting bits of a mountain railway...
The tram's beautiful wooden ceiling
A mist-shrouded version of Laxey Wheel
-- Walk back down the road to the point where it's crossed by the Millennium Way, and head north.
The countryside is looking beautiful again
Rounding up the sheep
-- Find a good spot for lunch.
Fills the bill very nicely...
-- Carry on across the moorland... It's not easy to follow the path on this stretch. Not easy at all. Even with your map and your compass, you suddenly find that the path-marker is up there, and you're down here, and you can't quite figure out where you went wrong... Still, the compensations are the larks (is anything quite so heart-stirring as a lark?), and the clouds of tiny butterflies (I called them ghost butterflies, because as soon as you start to follow one specifically, he disappears), and the views. The views...
That mist never quite wants to go away, but we stay in the clear throughout
-- Pick up the greenlane that takes you to Skyhill (the beginning -- or in our case, the end -- of the Millennium Way). You'd think we would be grateful to now be going mostly downhill, on a track that was impossible to lose, with beautiful views out to the north of the Island. And we were. Kinda... But it's knee-grindingly down, down, down, and you have to be vigilant, because the track is rough, and you can easily come a cropper.
Marking the Battle of Skyhill. The plaque says: "The Chronicles of the Kings of Man and the Isles record that in 1079 a Norseman, Godred Croven, mustered a great number of ships and came to Man where he joined battle with the people of the land. Defeated twice, on the third attempt he landed his army by night at Ramsey and hid 300 men in the woods on Skyhill. Next day, at the height of the battle, the hidden forces attacked the Manxmen from behind and victory for Godred was assured. He treated the Islanders mercifully and established a Norse dynasty that ruled Man until 1265"
-- Emerge onto the main road to Ramsey. Pause to straighten your knees out...
-- Then carry on in the direction of Ramsey, and turn right into Milntown. Here they'll do you a very fine pot of tea, and the best strawberry-and-white-chocolate cake EVER. Best enjoyed in the courtyard.
-- Carry on into Ramsey, and catch the bus back to Douglas. And -- because you've already been on your feet quite a bit -- treat yourself to another bus back up to Farmhill.
***
In theory, being shorter, and having lots more downhill sections, this should have been an easier walk than the last one. Actually, we both found it more tiring... We'd started a bit later (to fit in with the tram schedule), and it was a bit hotter, and the track, for various reasons, was a bit harder to negotiate. It's always hard to predict these things. Still, it was magnificently scenic walk, and I absolutely wouldn't have missed it.