Dave Byrnes' Adventures

Round Ireland - 2016
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Day: 052
Date: Sunday, 15 May 2016
Start: Galway
Finish: Oughterard
Daily Kilometres: 32
Total Kilometres: 1409
Weather: Warm and sunny all day with an occasional cool breeze.
Accommodation: Riverwalk House B&B
Nutrition: Breakfast:  Cereal, scrambled eggs, toast & jam
Lunch:  Muesli bars and ice-cream (chocolate had melted!)
Dinner:  Chicken Szechuan & rice, ice-cream
Aches: Left shoulder aching a bit.
Highlight: The pleasant walk through old Galway on a beautiful sunny morning with the sidewalk cafés and pedestrian malls already busy with locals and tourists.  Pottering around in the old town on such a day would have been nice.
Lowlight: Dodging traffic on the busy narrow two-way road for the last 10km of the day.
Pictures: Here
GPS Track: Here
Journal: The B&B owner was super-impressed with my journey around Ireland and insisted on a photograph of the two of us as I left for today's walk.  It was again a beautiful sunny morning and I enjoyed my walk into the centre of Galway and through the old town.  Although relatively early, there were already a lot of people about looking to make the most of the day.

After crossing the River Corrib that flows through Galway, I followed suburban roads out of town, first through an old inner suburb and then some poorer looking areas on the outskirts, at one point passing a running track in a large park where a number of joggers were doing laps.  Good work!

I had chosen a back road route for the first half of my journey to Oughterard, despite it adding a couple of kilometres to my day.  As I left the suburbs, my road choice proved to be inspired, as it turned out to be a little-used country lane passing through undulating farmland criss-crossed by old stone fences and shared with large well-to-do dwellings.  The time passed quickly for a couple of hours before I joined the main road from Galway to Oughterard and all the weekend traffic.

I took my first break for the day around 12:30pm at the village of Moycullen and sought to replenish some of my snack supplies in the supermarket there before finding a place to sit quietly and enjoy my rest.  After that, it was back onto the main road all the way to Oughterard.  In some places it was easy to walk safely, but in others it was very narrow with little room for me to get off the road.  It seemed to me that the drivers were going faster and tail-gating more than usual, and I wondered how many had had a few Guinnesses in the pub beer gardens with their Sunday lunch.  I didn't take chances and always tried to make eye contact with oncoming drivers, though it gets very tiring after a while.  There were a lot of cyclists also using the road too, and they also seemed very traffic aware.

I reached the very busy village of Oughterard, the starting point for the Western Way that I will follow through Connemara, soon after 4:30pm and found my B&B.  Later I walked back into the village along a pretty river path for dinner then returned to the B&B.

It's hard to work out what makes one day hard, and another not too bad.  Today fell into the latter category despite the road walking, traffic and distance, though my feet are still very tired.  I'm really looking forward to the Western Way and some off-road hiking in beautiful countryside for the next week or so.  As an added bonus the good weather is supposed to hang around for at least another two days.

ADVENTURE LIST

 

Round Ireland
(2016)

Hume & Hovell Walking Track
(2013)

Via Alpina
(2012)

Australian Alps Walking Track
(2011)

Land's End to John O'Groats
(2010)

Round Oz Bike Record Attempt
(2009)

Round Oz Bike Record Attempt
(2008)

Round Oz Bike Record Attempt
(2007)

Australia Tip to Top MTB
(2006)

Adelaide to Darwin MTB
(2005)

Sydney to Melbourne MTB
(2004)

Three Peaks Race
(2004)

Appalachian Trail
(1986)

Alpine Track
(1983)

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You can email Dave directly at dave@davebyrnes.com.au or subscribe to his Adventure Blogs here.

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