Dave Byrnes

Round Ireland - 2016

Overview Planned Schedule Map Diary Pictures

Day:	040
Date:	Tuesday, 3 May 2016
Start:	Rathkeale
Finish:	Limerick
Daily Kilometres:	29
Total Kilometres:	1131
Weather:	Cool with sunny periods and one brief rain shower
Accommodation:	Limerick City Hotel
Nutrition:	Breakfast: Leftover apple pie Lunch: Tuna & sweetcorn wholemeal roll, muesli bars and chocolate Dinner: Hamburger & chips, donuts.
Aches:	None really
Highlight:	Getting to Limerick and finding my hotel for two nights, though a bit more expensive than I would like, is very well-located and I have a large and well-appointed room with a nice view over the River Shannon.
Lowlight:	One curvy two-kilometre section of my roadwalk along the busy National Highway, N21, where it narrowed to have no margin for walking and every time a car, and particularly a large truck, came along I had to scramble up a steep bank to get off the road. As always, when the vehicle drivers saw me, they slowed and indicated they were moving out, but it was still quite stressful, especially on the blind corners.
Pictures:	Here
GPS Track:	Here
Journal:	I realised a couple of days ago that today would mark thirty years exactly since I set out to hike the Appalachian Trail in the US. It was a life-changing experience for me and I still have vivid memories of various parts of that four-month journey. It's probably one of the main reasons I am here now doing what I'm doing. Click here for the diary of that first day. I left the hotel about 8:15am, having eaten for breakfast the balance of the apple pie I had for dessert last night. I then stopped in at the deli in the small town supermarket and bought a fresh-made roll for lunch to make up for the smaller breakfast. Again, my selected route required travelling along some busy roads, if I wanted to avoid extra kilometres. In particular, I had to walk many kilometres along the N21 National Highway. Although it would be busy and noisy, my previous experience was that the National Highways had a wide breakdown lane that made for safe, if uninteresting, walking. That's how it turned out until the last few kilometres into Adare, when the highway narrowed through a winding section and the breakdown lane disappeared. It made for stressful hiking as I was constantly climbing the bank to make way for oncoming cars and trucks. Adare itself was a very picturesque village, with lovely parks, historic buildings and many tourists. I stopped in the town park and had an early lunch, followed by a quick look around the Heritage Centre, before continuing. On the way out of town I passed the old Augustinian Priory (14th Century), Desmond Castle (12th Century) and the well-patronised Adare Manor Golf Club. Soon after, I left the N21 for a more minor road which gradually became busier as I got closer to Limerick, and the last hour was spent in suburbia. It was school closing time and there were lots of students about in the southern suburbs. Students are the same everywhere - some hanging out on street corners, others doing wheel stands on their push bikes, and some holding hands as they walked home. I reached my booked hotel at 3:30pm, finding it bigger and more modern than I expected, and checked in with the girl behind the desk being very helpful, despite my road-worn and odiferous appearance. Later I went out for a look around town and to find a laundromat for tomorrow. Didn't have much luck with the latter, but have some possibilities to follow up tomorrow. I stopped in at a burger place for dinner on the way back to the hotel and later watched another UEFA Cup semi-final match.