Mull circle , Chasms and Fleshwick bay ( Places to see near Port Erin in Isle of Man )

If you want to have some adventures and if you are not afraid of paranormal places, you have to go to Mull circle and Chasms. Both of them are walking distance to Cregneash village , a popular tourist destination in South of the island ( Isle of Man ). I have a walking enthusiastic friend called Heather who walks extensively in Isle of Man. Last year, Heather walked more than 1500 miles and she is planning to achieve similar or more this year.  Today, we picked Heather in Port Erin on the way to Mull Circle so that we could  spend time with her while walking. We drove to Cregneash village ( a village which has been maintained the same like 200 years ago with lots of stony houses and farm  ). We parked our car at allocated car parking space near Cregneash village. ( please read my other blog about Cregneash village if you are interested )

We had to walk uphill slowly until we reach the areas where Isle of Man people built look out places in World War II where the soldiers detected traffic of air crafts by using radar system.

remnants of World War II buildings

The view f Cregneash village ( you can see small chimney on the left side of the photo ) and the calf of man ( a small island where you can observe colonises of seals )

Steve and Heather ahead of me

Heather and me , I am still wearing my usual hat even in the summer. 🙂

Mull circle has six pairs of graves and they were built as burial sites for Vikings or important people in late Neolithic time ( 3500 BC ).  It is at such a strategic view where you can see whole of Port Erin town and part of Port St Mary.

Mull Circle with six pairs of graves which are connected to each other with passages

the zoom in view of a big house which belongs to a very prominent figure in Isle of Man ( taken from Mull Hill )

The unusual ring of stones has been well known to local people, but it does not have a good name. People have told stories about sudden disorientation here, weird moving lights, some have heard unexplained sounds – as if galloping invisible horses. Most impressive is the story about a ghostly army of horsemen riding along the stone ring .
Despite its name Meayll Hill Stone Circle (Meayll in Manx means “bald”) is not a true megalithic stone circle (like Stonehenge) – it is a unique group of passage graves.

Local historian P.M.C.Kermode and Scottish scientist W.A.Herdman organized first excavations in the mysterious stone circle – one in August – September 1893 (results published in 1904) and next – in 1911 (published in 1914). A.S.Henshall explored the graves in 1971 (published in 1978).
Findings show that Meayll people were skilled potters who produced diverse, richly decorated vessels. There were found many sherds of these vessels. These urns were used to hold the remains of the deceased – in each burial cist were placed several such urns. There were found also cremated bones, flint arrowheads, knives and – rounded white quartz pebbles. Some of these can be seen in Manx Museum.

As the result of repeated excavation plus attempts of treasure hunters, there is nothing much left in Mull circle apart from those stones which are erected more than 5000 years ago

credit :    https://www.wondermondo.com/meayll-hill/

After leaving Mull hill, we headed towards Chasms and Spanish Head of Isle of Man.

we need to pass through Cregneash village to go to Chasms

Stony cottages of Cregneash village

On the way to Chasms, we can see the man of Calf , a small island of seals again in this photo

Cows enjoying the sunny day

The way to Chasms is a downhill path towards a building called Chasm café ( some people call is Sugarloaf café ). It was quite easy to reach there. But the hard part is going beyond the gate and fence where you need to walk around the deep creeks of the rock . The gate can be found near the café and it leads to the cliff. As the creeks are covered superficially by bushes and shrubs, one can easily fall into the deep creeks into the sea.

The creek in the rock

creek in the rock 

The sign next to the creek “Visitors should be aware that this site could be dangerous without proper care and attention “

Historically, it has been a dangerous place and that is why children and pets are not allowed to go beyond the fence. Recently 51 year old man died after falling into the creek near Chasms.

 

On the way to Chasms, the building in this photo is a café called  Chasms and it has been closed for years

Chasms is an amazing rock formation in Isle of Man which is the home of hundreds of puffin birds. Unfortunately, it is not reachable by public and puffins cannot be observed up close unless you have a good pair of binoculars. Sugar loaf rock can be seen properly if you take a boat trip from Port St Mary to Man of Calf island. As I don’t have good balance, both Heather and Steve , my boy friend prohibited me from walking beyond the gate. So I took some pictures from far.

Chasms and Sugarloaf from far

if you see carefully, you can see groups of white color dots, puffin staying on the rock

 

we did not go beyond the fence as it is not very safe

More than that, I found out there are some hearsay stories about Chasms as some people have witnessed ghostly women walking or running around Chasms . So I would not recommend to go there without any companion and it would be better if one can go there during the day time instead of evening or night time .

http://www.isle-of-man.com/manxnotebook/gazateer/sugarlf.htm

We tried to stay inside the fence and walk around until we can see glimpse of sugarloaf rock formation where puffins live. I could see colonies of puffins but it was hard to appreciate their details. Even without sighting of puffin birds, sugarloaf is still a beautiful thing to observe.

We walked around Chasms and admired people who have courage to walk on the rock with deep creeks. A few of them came back and they looked tired. Steve said falling into the creek is so much different from falling into the open sea as you most probably get injured during fall and nobody will be able to rescue you as the creeks are deep and narrow.

people who are walking beyond the fence on the narrow path of the cliff

The farm land near Chasms

As I am now writing about Mull circle and Chasms, I am going to include Fleshwick bay in this article. Fleshwick bay is a hidden beach near Port Erin, but quite far from Cregneash. You need to drive out of Port Erin Town and go towards Surby road. From Surby road, you need to drive towards the farmer cottages with narrow lanes. Car parking on the road is quite difficult as the roads are narrow. Next to the bay, there is a limited car parking space, but it can be crowded especially during summer.

My favourite of the trip to Fleshwick bay is driving down towards the beach where you can see isolated house surrounded by mountains. It is such a breath taking view and I can never get tired of that view .

On the way to Fleshwick Bay

Fleshwick baby is a gorgeous beach and suitable for people who like kayaking. You can also climb up mountains surrounding the bay and can enjoy panoramic view of the bay.

We saw some ducklings with their mommy duck and Steve was pretty much fascinated by them .

Mama Duck and her obedient babies

Fleshwick  Bay

I will write more about Isle of Man as I have no where to go because of lock down. I hope you enjoy reading this and hopefully more people can visit this beautiful island in the future.

Thank you

Hnin

 

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