Dave Byrnes

Round Ireland - 2016

Overview Planned Schedule Map Diary Pictures

Day:	058
Date:	Saturday, 21 May 2016
Start:	Bangor Erris
Finish:	Ballycastle
Daily Kilometres:	40
Total Kilometres:	1604
Weather:	Overcast with a few showers in the morning and partly sunny in the afternoon
Accommodation:	Keadyville B&B
Nutrition:	Breakfast: Cereal, scrambled eggs & smoked salmon, toast & jam Lunch: Muesli bars and chocolate Dinner: Steak & vegetables, apple pie & cream
Aches:	Sore feet
Highlight:	None really
Lowlight:	Finding out, as I entered the small village of Ballycastle at the end of a long day, that my B&B was nearly 2km further on, and not in the village as I thought.
Pictures:	Here
GPS Track:	Here
Journal:	Evelyn, the B&B proprietor had dried out all of my gear, and that of the two Swiss guys, in the boiler room overnight and after breakfast I set out in dry gear. Because I had ended yesterday's walk in the wrong place as a result of an earlier navigation error, I had given myself an extra 9km of roadwalking for the day to get to my originally planned starting place. My B&Bs are booked ahead, and amending my schedule would have involved rebooking which is a pain in the butt, not that there were any shorter options available for today anyway. The extra 9km of roadwalking was going to make it another 40km day, the second in a row, and not an attractive proposition. I was confident I could do it, but knew that by the last 10km I would be cursing. I actually felt better than I expected for the first road miles considering that I had hiked 12 hours yesterday, on mostly very challenging trail, with only two 20 minute breaks. The two Swiss guys at the B&B had told me that my trail for the day was relatively easy with not too many boggy bits, so I figured if I could maintain a good pace where the walking was easier, I might be finished between 6pm and 7pm. The initial 9km passed quickly and I turned left onto the Western Way around 11am and then didn't see another person all day until I reached Ballycastle. In contrast to yesterday, today's walk was generally flattish as it passed through the Sheskin Forest and across Knockmore. Sometimes I was passing through long sections of pine forest and at other times was crossing high moorland that gave expansive views to the north, east and south. I enjoyed the isolation and views, but my feet didn't like the compacted rocky forest roads. There was some relief on a long section of boardwalk that crossed a boggy area, but otherwise it was forest roads most of the way, and only a few boggy sections. I wondered how the Swiss guys were dealing with the bogs that I had negotiated yesterday. If they went all the way to Newport, as they intended, they were in for a longer day than me. They were younger and had lighter packs, but I don't think the terrain would have let them travel much faster than I had been able to on the Bangor Trail. As expected, with 10km to go, I had had enough and the last forest section seemed interminable, offset by the occasional view to the ocean ahead. Arriving at my B&B around 6:30pm looked likely as I approached the village of Ballycastle, but when I checked my smartphone, I found I still had nearly 2km to go, which was demoralising. I passed through the small and quiet village seeing only a small shop open and a couple of pubs. Finally, I reached the B&B at 7pm, and Barbara, the proprietor told me that there was nowhere to get dinner in town, but that she would be happy to prepare something for me. I gladly accepted her offer, and was happy I didn't have to trek back into town. After I had a shower, I ate dinner in her dining room before retiring to my room to put my feet up, feeling generally very tired and needing a good night's sleep and a shorter day tomorrow.