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WALK 3

Slieu Curn and Slieu Dhoo

Start/Finish	Ballaugh (SC 348 935)
Distance	17.3km (10¾ miles)
Height gain	445m (1460ft)
Refreshments	Ballaugh and Sulby
Parking	On-street parking (with care) in Ballaugh

In spite of its length, this walk is fairly straightforward and undemanding, but does offer the option of including Slieau Freoaghane. There is also the possibility of visiting Killabrega, a deserted and ruinous farmstead high up on the western flank of Sulby Glen, although this will entail a longish amount of road walking to complete the route.

In Ballaugh, go down the road past a mini supermarket to a gated turning on the left onto the old railway line. Continue along the trackbed to the first main junction, at a gate, and here turn left and walk out to the main road.

At the road, turn left but after about 100m take the first turning on the right at Ballacob onto a side lane flanked by mature hedgerows. Follow the ascending lane and, when it forks, branch to the right. When the lane turns into Ballacurnkeil at the start of a greenway, the Bayr Glass, keep forward onto a dirt track between gorse hedgerows.

Follow the track, rising steadily onto the northern slopes of Slieau Curn. As the gradient eases, with Snaefell coming into view and, off to the right, the Mountains of Mourne in Northern Ireland and the hills of Galloway in Scotland. Continue to a gate and, through this, bear right on an ascending path onto open hillside.

Continue to a cattle grid and ladder/stile and then beyond continue along the greenway now with a spruce plantation (Slieau Curn Plantation) on the left. The track ascends steadily and levels out at the head of Glen Dhoo, and then keeps forward through a wall gap (old gate posts) with Snaefell in view on the left. Go on to a track junction where the track starts to climb again to meet a rough, stony track near a signpost. Here, turn onto the stony track, ignoring a branching green track on the left. Continue up the stony track, which gradually levels and then descends a little and runs on to a point below Slieau Freoaghane.

Looking back to Slieu Curn from the slopes of Slieau Freoaghane

Extension to Slieau Freoaghane

Anyone wanting to bag Slieau Freoaghane (one of five Marilyns on the island) should simply leave the track here and climb steeply to the summit on a clear, if boggy, path. The top is adorned by a large pole, trig pillar and quartz cairn. This will add about 1km (½ mile) to the distance, plus 100m (328ft) of ascent. Come back the same way to rejoin the broad stony track, heading south to Sartfell Plantation.

About 200m after the junction, between the main track and the extension to Slieau Freoaghane, another clear, rutted track branches left, parallel with a wall and alongside a fence. Turn sharply onto this, still waymarked as a greenway, and follow it across the flanks of Slieau Dhoo.

The track eventually runs down to meet a gate, where the greenway ends. Keep forward with the ongoing track, which descends to meet a surfaced mountain road. Turn left. As the road later starts to bend to the left, leave it by branching right onto a stony track, once more the Bayr Glass.

Again there is a choice. The main route keeps forward across the western flank of Mount Karrin and eventually descends through Ballacuberagh Plantation to meet the Sulby Glen road.

Alternative route via Sulby Glen

This alternative visits Killabrega, immediately leaving the main route by branching right, heading towards Snaefell. The track descends to a five-bar gate near the edge of a plantation. Go through the left-hand one of two gates, and continue on a descending track that goes down to another gate giving onto Manx National Heritage land. Go through a kissing-gate, and walk down a little further to encounter the ruins of Killabrega farmstead. Continue down past Killabrega, going out through a wall gap, and then descending steeply towards the Sulby Glen road below, roughly targeting a standing stone in a roadside pasture on the other side of the valley road. A path leads down through an expanse of bracken (seasonally overgrown) and reaches a fence corner where there is a small step/stile. Over this, continue along a steep, zig-zagging path down to the rear of a cottage. Here, bear right along an indistinct path that shortly turns down to reach the Sulby Glen road.

On reaching the road, turn left and, taking care against approaching traffic, follow the valley road all the way to Sulby, passing the main line of the walk below Ballacuberagh Plantation.

In Sulby, the continuation heads down the Jurby road, to the right of the Sulby Glen Hotel, until the old railway trackbed is once again encountered. Turn left onto this and keep on, passing the Curraghs Wildlife Park, to return to Ballaugh.