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Natural beauty and adventure on the Isle of Man

'Let go of the rope and take a step back.' Sounds like the easiest thing in the world, except that I was perched on the top of a cliff and my brain was refusing to send the message to my legs!

Anyone who knows me knows I'm not a natural athlete. I'm about as far from fit as a sumo wrestler is from size zero, so quite how I found myself attempting to abseil is beyond me. Bravado had got the better of me, but I've a stubborn streak, so I was going to do it, come hell or high water. I'd already tackled sea kayaking, archery and rock climbing (with limited success) and wasn't about to give up. After one dodgy attempt involving some undignified floundering, I finally persuaded my feet to move and launched myself off the cliff.

I'm a firm believer of stepping out of your comfort zone every now and again, and walking backwards down a cliff was a first for me! It was surprisingly easy to control the speed I was going at, and isn't as scary as you'd think.

Climbing in the Chasms
Visiting the Isle of Man feels like being let in on a secret. I couldn't believe how beautiful the place was, or that I had not visited before. I was climbing in an area known as the Chasms, in the far south of the island. You have to be a bit wary about where you put your feet as the Chasms are deep cracks in the rock, but paths are fairly easy to pick out.

It's very much my kind of landscape - ragged cliffs dropping into the sea and views across wide open spaces. A little way out to sea lies Sugarloaf rock, a 100ft-high stack that has broken off from the island. It's home to guillemots, fulmars, razorbills and kittiwakes in the spring, when these birds arrive to nest and breed on the rugged shores.

There are plenty of places where the adventurous can climb the rocks, but only before the breeding birds arrive. Nature plays a large part in what the Isle of Man has to offer. Puffins also nest there, and while sea kayaking around Garwick, grey seals bobbed around beside me, seemingly enjoying my awkwardness in the kayak as they splashed and swam with complete ease.

In the summer months, basking sharks visit the area and you can paddle your kayak out to see these 40-foot long giants (note to self, get a bit less wobbly in the kayak before attempting this). Dolphins and porpoises are also spotted regularly.

Learning to kayak
There's something incredibly peaceful about being in a kayak. You're forced to slow down and take things more gently. An added bonus is that concentrating on not falling in stops your mind focusing on work or personal niggles, which in my case made a nice change. Apparently the key to kayaking it is not to try to hard and use the paddles lightly. To begin with it's tempting to dig them deeply into the water, but this makes you wobble alarmingly. But once you've mastered the action, it's really good fun paddling round the rocky shores and exploring the little coves.

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