Dave Byrnes

Round Ireland - 2016

Overview Planned Schedule Map Diary Pictures

Day:	17
Date:	Sunday, 10 April 2016
Start:	Gougane Barra
Finish:	Glengarriff
Daily Kilometres:	28
Total Kilometres:	525
Weather:	Cold with strong winds and continuous precipitation that changed from snow to sleet to rain as the day wore on.
Accommodation:	The Perrin Inn
Nutrition:	Breakfast: Cereal, scambled eggs and smoked salmon, scones and jam Lunch: Jam tarts and chocolate Dinner: Burger with salad and chips, and apple pie and ice-cream
Aches:	None really
Highlight:	Finding a hiker's picnic shelter (haven't seen one for nearly two weeks) by the trail just when I was about to give up on the idea of finding somewhere dry and protetcted for my lunch snack.
Lowlight:	The last hour or two of hiking in steady rain and being knocked all over the road by a strong crosswind when I was tired, cold, hungry and damp.
Pictures:	Here
GPS Track:	Here
Journal:	I was woken several times during the night by the wind buffetting the hotel, and in the morning snow was falling steadily while I had my breakfast. I had checked the forecast and it was for strong winds (gusting to 85kph) all day with snow in the morning gradually turning to sleet then rain. My route, now on the Beara Way, was going to climb to 600m as it crossed a low mountain range, before gradually descending to the sea. The wind was to be easterly, which meant it would be from the side or behind for most of my day's travel, and that gave me some confidence that conditions would be manageable. The hotel owner, Neil, was not keen for me to hike the route and suggested delaying until later in the day, but the forecast didn't really indicate any abatement in conditions and I wanted to give myself plenty of time. So, after repacking my gear to make additional clothing readily accessible, I set off at 9:30am in light snow which was now settling on the ground. The slog up and over the mountain was slow, especially after the route left a farm trail and became a cross-country trek. The snow cover made it impossible to follow whatever trail there was, and instead, I focused on looking for the next trail-marking post and aimed for that. Visibility was limited to about 100m at times, but the posts were frequent. It was extremely wet underfoot with a sort of white/grey slush hiding muddy bogs. I fell over numerous times, though always with a soft landing, and on a number of occasions nearly had a boot sucked off in the morass as a foot sank ever deeper into a gluey bog hidden by white snow. It was very hard to judge what was solid and I generally tried to stick to treading on the low brush and rocks where I could see them. Over the crest of the mountain, the trail turned to the south and the wind was viciously strong and cold from the side. I kept telling myself that everything was OK, I wasn't hypothermic, and that if I just kept moving forward, taking care not to make any navigational errors, I would soon be descending. Finally, I did begin descending, though missed one turn and had to head straight down the mountainside until I picked up another marker at a much lower elevation. I reached a farm and then a country lane. It had taken me three hours to go seven kilometres. I began looking despairingly for somewhere to get shelter and have a snack when suddenly there appeared a hikers' picnic shelter, the first I had seen in many days. I stopped to have a snack and drink, though before long I was shivering and knew I had better get moving again. The remainder of the day was mostly walking on very quiet rural roads apart from one section of very boggy forest trail. It rained steadily and in places was very wind-exposed. There was nowhere to stop, so I just kept walking, apart from a brief detour to look at some Bronze Age standing stones. It took longer than I expected to reach my target of Glengarriff, and one section of road in particular lingers in my memory. It was on a barren high plain, totally exposed to the wind and rain, and it just seemed to go on forever (about 3km, in fact). I found it difficult to walk in a straight line as the wind knocked me around and I could think of many places I would rather have been. However, this is part of hiking and I can remember other days, just as bad, in other parts of the world. I knew that if I just kept moving along I would eventually get to my accommodation, be able to dry out and get some food, and at 5:30pm that's what happened when I arrived at the Perrin Inn in Glengarriff, a seaside village. The two old guys in the bar were very entertained by my dripping arrival, though I couldn't understand most of what they said. I did catch the bit about the severe weather warning being in effect until 6:00am tomorrow. The friendly manageress, gave me a key to my very basic room and I set about spreading out my stuff to dry before a hot shower. Later, after booking accommodation for the next two nights, I returned to the bar and learned the local shop closes early on Sunday, but was happy enough ordering from the resonably-priced bar menu for dinner and including a dessert since there would be no snacks tonight. Breakfast isn't served until 9:00am, so it looks like I will be sleeping in. The weather forecast for tomorrow, though better than today, isn't that good, but I don't have too far to go.