The weather was pleasant so we were looking forward to the day. There was varied terrain that kept us on our toes.
10.26 miles, partly cloudy, 1272 elevation gain, 57 degrees, 83% humidity.
Richard’s ReLive for the day is here: https://www.relive.com/view/vrqDyLoNgLv
At breakfast, we noticed hurling pictures in the dining room. It seems to be everywhere!
Pilgrim friends Johannes, Michel, and Patrick were at breakfast.
The trail this morning leads along a stream with big shade trees. What a perfect name for it! Lots of moms with kiddos getting exercise.
We’re intersecting with several trails now. People come from miles around to hike/bike the Mourne Trails.
We are starting to climb, and continue to look across the valley to try to recognize landmarks from our hike yesterday.
Rob and all you bicyclists: these next two pictures are for you. At least part of the trail that is shared by both bicycles and hikers is actually split so bikers can speed without running down the hikers. Looking at the bike off-road maintenance, it seems to me that both you and your bike would have to be in great shape!
Someone had a sense of humor! I hope they had another pair.
Uh oh! The trail is heading up and no more wide road.
More rocks! Our pace is slowed as we deliberately place each step.
Finally we are through this hard part traversing the mountain, and are back on a better trail.
We so seldom see anyone on the trail and now we meet these four! They’ve climbed in the area where we have an option of going, so we pepper them with questions. We find out that they live near Armagh, where we were three days ago. I ask where they will be tonight, and one explains his evening plans with his wife. Silly me! I forgot that Armagh is only about an hour away by car!
If you look closely, you can see the zigzag trails up this mountain. The rock structure at the top is called the castle. After consulting with the guys and checking our remaining daylight, we elect to take the road instead of the mountain.
The road still has beautiful scenery but the pavement is tiring and there’s still traffic to avoid.
The Mourne Mountains are broken rock with a thin layer of soil that washes out easily and leaves a stream.
Finally we reach our B&B for the evening after dodging rush hour traffic on the highway. Ciara was surprised we didn’t call for pickup since she usually picks up her guest hikers at the car park. No one told us!
What a view from the front yard. I could get used to this!
Ciara ran us into town so we could have dinner. Richard had spaghetti Bolognese, and Jan had prawn sizzling stir fry.
8 Responses
All righty then, I have caught up with your blogs. Rocks and more rocks. But you are tough. You seem to be meeting very kind people on your trip. I see all the terrains, the churches, the atmosphere of the locals. I hope you are sleeping well. Keep walking.
It does seem strange to concentrate so much on rocks, but they do influence each area and certainly are foremost in a hiker’s mind. Meeting the people is always a highlight for us, and the Irish do not disappoint. We’ve met some great storytellers, reminding me of some of our Jones kin. We are sleeping well each night, waking up rarin’ to go!
It is so interesting you seem to find the roads more tiring on the legs. Some of the trails are so rugged it seems like they would take a greater toll on you. Liked the picture of Richard in Fairy Glen. With his legs cut off in the picture his shorter version almost looked fairy-like! Richard, I’m so impressed with how well your selfies at meals turn out. Are you using a photo stick? Great that the weather was so much better! Dan
I think we go slower on the very rocky trails so perhaps that is why it is not so taxing on the feet and legs (assuming no turned ankles). We have walked a lot on roads and asphalt and it really wears on us. Funny I never noticed that I cut off Richard’s legs at the Fairy Glen sign. I took it partly for my granddaughter who loves the little fairy houses and toys some folks put in their yards.
We don’t have a selfie stick and I’m not a fan of them. Richard is king of the selfies!
Rugged trails at least do not require dodging cars. Beautiful country!
It’s not fun on the roads, but not like the US. We’re very careful.
The mountain-bike type path you noted, Jan, reminded me of Tahoe’s west shore trail, where I rode last week (Sept 11) They are resurfacing parts of it, but in the meantime, parts of the path on the west shore are rough, and one needs hybrid tires at a minimum for safe cycling. Would be fun to ride Ireland, and safe, too…but only if I could stop the townspeople from handing me pints.
I cannot imagine riding on some of the bike trails we’ve encountered, but good for you riding similar trails! Ireland had the most bikers we’ve seen this trip, and I’m sure they would welcome you — with a pint or two!