Dave Byrnes

Round Ireland - 2016

Overview Planned Schedule Map Diary Pictures

Day:	055
Date:	Wednesday, 18 May 2016
Start:	Leenaun
Finish:	Murrisk
Daily Kilometres:	38
Total Kilometres:	1502
Weather:	Mostly cool and overcast all day with a couple of sunny periods and a couple of light showers.
Accommodation:	Croagh Patrick Hostel
Nutrition:	Breakfast: Fruit & yoghurt, scrambled eggs & smoked salmon, toast & jam Lunch: Muesli bars, Snickers bars and a donut Dinner: Lasagne & salad, meringue, ice-cream and berries
Aches:	None really
Highlight:	Two highlights today. Firstly, despite over-committing in terms of kilometres and time, managing to reach the summit of Croagh Patrick (764m) in fine weather, after it had been enveloped by cloud all day. Secondly, enjoying a delicious home-cooked meal and spending a very pleasant evening with Tracy (sister of Karen, who I had met when hiking Lands End to John O'Groats in 2010), Steve and their boys, and Tracy's father, Kevin, at their home in Louisburgh.
Lowlight:	None really.
Pictures:	Here
GPS Track:	Here
Journal:	Knowing I had a big day ahead, I went down to the hotel dining room right on 8:00am, the designated start of breakfast time, to find the dining room already full of diners. It was annoying to know that I could have breakfasted earlier, but I ate quickly and was on the road by 9:00am. I was looking forward to meeting the family of Tracy, sister of Karen, a long-distance hiker I had met in 2010 when walking from Lands End to John O'Groats, for dinner tonight at her home in Louisburgh, so wanted to get to my Murrisk hostel in plenty of time to have a shower before I was picked up. However, I had a long way to walk to reach Murrisk, including a climb over the shoulder of Croagh Patrick, Ireland's Holy Mountain. If I had time, I really wanted to climb to the mountain peak as well, but that would add an hour. With all of this in mind, I intentionally walked a bit faster than usual, despite the extra pounding on my feet, in the hope that everything would work out. In two places during the first half of the day, I opted to roadwalk where there was a Western Way choice between road and off-road, calculating that any scenery I missed, would be compensated for by the views from Croagh Patrick at the end of the day, should I make it. Even from the road, the scenery was excellent, with grass and gorse covered steep mountains overlooking farmed glacial valleys dotted with lakes. In some places the road climbed high to give great views, and apart from the first 5km, there was rarely a car. Around midday, I got my first views of the impressive Croagh Patrick in the distance, but could see the peak was covered in cloud so figured, that even if I had time, it wouldn't be worth climbing to the peak if I couldn't see anything. I decided to worry about it when I got there. By 2:30pm I was starting to get tired and the roads I was following rarely seemed to take the shortest route towards the mountain, which was a little frustrating. Time was slipping by, and my working assumption was that I needed to be on the shoulder of the mountain by 4:00pm to have time to detour to the summit. This seemed unlikely, but with the continuing cloud cover it didn't matter anyway. The Western Way finally left the road to go cross-country, which was a welcome change for my feet, and at 3:00pm I found a nice spot for another snack as I seemed to be running low on energy. After another kilometre or two of boggy trail along the edge of a pine forest, I reached a series of forest roads that took me to the southern slopes of Croagh Patrick. On the higher slopes I could see the trail to the top of the mountain shoulder I wanted, but the way to get there was not obvious (Croagh Patrick is not on the Western Way official route, so I intended to use other trails). I headed upwards across the grassy slopes, eventually scrambling up a steeper section to reach the trail. I then followed it in the direction I wanted to go, eventually reaching the crest of the shoulder at the base of the final steep climb to the Croagh Patrick summit. I could see some pilgrims carefully making their way up and down the treacherous loose rock trail. It was 4:30pm, later than I wanted to be, but the summit was now clear of cloud. I hid my pack, taking my small pack with my valuables, and set out to climb to the summit as fast as I could, texting Tracy that I would be ready to be picked up at 6:30pm from the hostel. I wasn't far into the climb before it became obvious it was going to take longer than I hoped. It was a long and really treacherous steep trail and I saw several walkers slip and fall short distances. My guess is that the trail has not been maintained since St Patrick climbed it in the 5th Century and fasted for 40 days on the summit and I was very glad of my trekking poles. I reached the summit soon after 5:00pm and the views were just magnificent, in every direction. I did a lap around the chapel that sits on the summit, taking in the views as the sun came out. Magic, and well worth the effort taken to get there. I was impressed by some of the people/pilgrims trekking to the top and had passed one guy, well into his seventies, moving very slowly. It was going to take him many hours to descend, and I hoped he would be OK (his younger wife seemed to be doing it easily). It occurred to me that St Patrick had a sense of humour, making this the pilgrimage site. There would be a lot of easier mountains to climb in Ireland! I couldn't dally long and soon began the descent, travelling as fast as I dared, and picking up my pack on the way. I texted Tracy to make the pickup at 7pm, feeling quite guilty about delaying dinner, and reached the very modern hostel at 6:35pm. I checked in and may be the only guest. I certainly have an eight-bed dorm and bathroom to myself. I quickly showered and was picked up by Steve, Tracy's husband, at 7:00pm. Dinner was delicious and we had a good chat. I learned a lot about various Irish topics, including the school system, that I didn't know much about, and we all got along very well. Steve drove me back to the hostel around 10:30pm. I had had a great day, but I'll be tired tomorrow.