The Ayres

The Location

The Ayres are about 6 miles north of Ramsey on the very northern tip of the island.

What's there

An 8 mile long flat walk by the sea, easy in places, but the beach is stony and can be difficult to walk on. You can shorten the walk by driving to the visitor centre, as the route is easier here, over flat dunelands.
While not directly on the walk, there is an excellent cafe in Bride Village.

How to get there

Postcode for Satnav - IM7 4BS is the Point of Ayre lighthouse.
Take the A9 north out of Ramsey, then turn right onto the A10, signposted 'Bride'. follow the A10 north, through Bride and Cranstall villages. You will see a tall red and white lighthouse ahead, then two smaller ones on the right. As you approach them, take a right hand turn on a rough road to a car park. For better disabled access, take a left turn in Bride village by the tea room, then about a mile along the coast road, turn right up a narrow road signposted 'Ayres visitor centre'. This will take you to the central carpark shown on the accompanying map.

The Walk

Click here to see a detailed routemap of the walk. It will open in a new tab.
From the car park by the lighthouses, head over the dunes to the stony beach. Here we were treated to the sight of about 20 gray seals, who followed us up the beach for a while. Follow the beach around past the lighthouses and foghorn, then right along for nearly two miles until you see a raised viewing platform in the dunes. If you find the rocky beach too hard going, you can walk on paths behind the dunes, once you get past the lighthouses.
Turn down past the visitor centre for the nature reserve, then take a path on the left into the flat area behind the dunes, called 'The Ayres'. This path runs along past a small wood, then continues on for about another 2 miles, past more woods and gorse bushes, until you finally reach the last car park on the Ballakinnag road. If you make it this far, now retrace your steps, but you can find alternate paths through the dunes.