Dave Byrnes

Round Ireland - 2016

Overview Planned Schedule Map Diary Pictures

Day:	069
Date:	Wednesday, 1 June 2016
Start:	Gortin
Finish:	Sperrin
Daily Kilometres:	24
Total Kilometres:	1900
Weather:	Warm and sunny
Accommodation:	Gortin Hostel
Nutrition:	Breakfast: Left-over apple pie Lunch: Chicken salad sandwich, muesli bar and Snickers Bar Dinner: Chicken, peas & chips, fruit trifle
Aches:	None
Highlight:	The early afternoon walk along a minor road following the mountainside contour and overlooking the Glenelly Valley. The views were crystal clear and the different shades of green in the rural valley almost luminescent in the bright noonday sun.
Lowlight:	When about to leave for an early start to the day's hiking, finding I had left my trekking poles in the now-locked hostel office when checking in last night. To cut a long story short, I found a coin-operated phone box in the village (no mobile/cell phone coverage here) and called Damien, the hostel caretaker, at his home and he kindly came down and opened the office for me.
Pictures:	Here
GPS Track:	Here
Journal:	My plan to begin hiking at 8am was derailed when I couldn't find my trekking poles and realised I had probably left them in the hostel office when checking in last night. I went over to the office to confirm it was locked then pondered what to do. I was returning to the hostel tonight, so my pack was lighter and I decided I could survive the day without the poles. I left the hostel a few minutes later, but as I was walking through the village, noticed a public telephone box. I had the hostel caretaker's number, so called him and returned to the hostel where he kindly met me, opened the office, and I retrieved my poles. The caretaker, Damian, is almost the same age as me (he asked my age yesterday), and has lots of questions about knees, weight, distances, etc. I can see him doing a mental self-assessment. By the time I had bought a sandwich in the village shop on my way out, it was a little after 8:30am. I had about 23km to go to where the Ulster Way intersected with, then followed, a road along which came a bus that I could catch back to Gortin and the hostel (it's too far to the next accommodation to make it in one day). However, the time at which the only bus came through was in some doubt. Online I had seen 2:10pm and 2:40pm, and at the bus stop in the village the timetable indicated 2:10pm, so I assumed the earlier time was correct. Provided there was no difficult terrain, I should make it comfortably. After crossing the Owenkillew River outside of Gortin, the Ulster Way followed a very quiet country lane up onto the slopes of Slievemore and then followed an even quieter lane along the southern side of the mountain range. There were beautiful views, on a lovely sunny day, across to Gortin and the mountains where I had been yesterday. It was humid and there was no wind, which also made it ideal for the biting midges, especially in the sections shaded by trees, and I was doing a lot of swatting and scratching as I walked along, but that was a very minor negative on such a fantastic day. My road eventually reached Barnes Gap and the Ulster Way crossed to the north side of the mountains high above the Glenelly Valley and then followed a very quiet road eastwards. The views were clear and superb, dominated by the different shades of green in the farms and overlooking mountains, speckled with white sheep, and offset by yellow patches of gorse, white farm buildings and the occasional red or orange farm machine. I had a brief break just before noon to eat my sandwich and calculated that I was on track to meet the bus with some minutes to spare. In the event, I reached Sperrin and the main road intersection at 1:40pm and decided that I would walk a few extra kilometres along the road, keeping an eye out for the bus, to reduce tomorrow's hiking distance. Fifteen minutes later, I was surprised to see a bus approaching and hailed it to stop. It was the right bus, and I later worked out that neither of the timetables I had seen was correct. I enjoyed the fast ride back to Gortin, and was impressed with how far I had walked. Fortunately, I asked the driver where and when I could catch the return bus in the morning and he indicated a spot different to the marked bus stop and gave me a timetable that showed the morning bus was more than an hour earlier than on the timetables I had seen. Good to know! Back at the hostel I showered and washed out a lot of gear, then had a relaxing afternoon which included a cold drink and an ice-cream. One of the hostel guests last night showed me how to access the flakey available wireless internet by sitting in a particular seat in the kitchen with a line of sight across the courtyard to the hostel office where the modem resides. Later I bought some dinner from the nearby take-out and spent much of the evening chatting to Michael, who has lived in Australia though currently resident in Belfast, and is staying at the hostel for a week while he works nearby.