After watching Rupert Soskin’s Standing with stones episode on the Isle of Man I tried to look up the enigma that is the Devil’s elbow, sadly it was not on here, but fortunately was on the Portal. Combining information from the portal with the streetmap facility on here I was able to pinpoint it’s location, and if I were ever able to get to the ace place that is Man I would go.
It can be quickly glimpsed above the A4 to your left when going south, but I did not know that, so I asked for help from a bloke who was gardening in his front yard, he pointed it out right behind me, feeling slightly foolish, we drove back north parked in a car park on a bad bend and walked back to the farm track that leads up to the cairn.
The gardening bloke said we could probably sneak or ask for permission to have a look, but there was no house and no one to ask, so we followed the winding track up the hill until the big cairn was right in front of us.
For the most part it really is just a big cairn, maybe eight feet in height, with an odd step at it’s lowest part, but it’s little hidden gem is on its north side. A large chunk of quartz juts out at a vaguely jaunty angle, with an open space below it disappearing into the mound. I squeezed myself on my back through the gap and found myself in a squarish chamber made entirely of quartz, room only for one or possibly two but only if your both very much in love if you know what I mean. I didnt stay in long, getting out was harder than going in and I’m now quite dirty.
Standing atop the mound I can see far off Ireland and Scotland, and to the south is Peel castle (also worth a visit). I do love getting to places that Ive been waiting a long time for, almost as if the waiting makes the arrival all the sweeter.