Dave Byrnes

Round Ireland - 2016

Overview Planned Schedule Map Diary Pictures

Day:	081
Date:	Monday, 13 June 2016
Start:	Portaferry (walking from Strangford after ferry crossing)
Finish:	Ballykinler
Daily Kilometres:	35
Total Kilometres:	2254
Weather:	Overcast and foggy with light rain until mid-morning, then warm and mostly sunny for the rest of the day.
Accommodation:	Number Nine B&B, Downpatrick
Nutrition:	Breakfast: Cereal, scrambled eggs & sausages, toast & jam Lunch: Egg & tomato baguette, muesli bar, Snickers Bar and chocolate Dinner: Chicken & pasta, salad, cheesecake
Aches:	Sore feet
Highlight:	Today, I seemed to have more people than usual stopping to ask me what I was doing, including one guy who parked his car and ran down the road to catch me and a priest who greeted me at his front gate, having driven past me earlier in the afternoon, with a glass of cold water and some fruit.
Lowlight:	I was suspicious that a coastal section of the Lecale Way, which I am currently following, would not be particularly interesting and would be slow going. There was a tempting shortcut by road, but I decided to do the coastal section in case I missed something. After 500m, I knew I should have taken the shortcut. The trail was overgrown, little-used and rough, and the scenery was unexceptional compared to earlier in the day. I persevered for another kilometre, then spied a way to cross a field and get to a road, and took it.
Pictures:	Here
GPS Track:	Here
Journal:	Ferry's leave Portaferry for Strangford at 15 and 45 minutes after each hour. My B&B host said two other residents were catching the 7:45am ferry after breakfast at 7:15am, so I joined them for breakfast and then walked down to catch the 8:15am ferry (it takes me 15-20 minutes to finish packing after breakfast). It was a foggy and cool morning with some light drizzle. The ferry carried about 20 school boys in uniform along with a dozen cars, and I was amused at how the last schoolboys sauntered slowly down to the ferry despite departure time already having passed. At the other end of the 10 minute crossing they all piled onto a bus, while another group of schoolboys, in different uniforms, boarded the ferry for the return trip. I set out southwards from Strangford on a quiet rural road in what became light rain with the Strangford Narrows often visible to my left. The forecast was for unsettled weather so I was mentally prepared for a wet day, but an hour or two after I started walking it began to clear up. The Lecale Way, which I am now following, stayed close to the coast and after the village of Ballyhornan, joined a foot trail right on the coast and occasionally across pebble beaches. It was very pretty, with low rocky headlands and reefs, punctuated with little coves, and a mirror calm sea. I reached the historic village of Ardglass around noon and bought a nice fresh-made baguette for lunch from the deli in a small supermarket before adjourning to a picnic bench beside the picturesque working harbour for lunch. It was now getting sunny and warm. After lunch the Lecale Way followed backroads around to the very pretty village of Killough from where it joined another coastal foot-trail. I was tempted to take a backroads shortcut, and soon regretted my decision not to go that way. The foot-trail was little used and slow going, and the coastal scenery was less interesting than earlier. I also had in the back of my mind that I had to reach Ballykinler, my destination for the day, before the bus to Downpatrick, where I had booked a B&B, passed through at 5:35pm. After a while, the trail followed the edge of a large field across which I could see a farm gate, so I detoured to the gate and climbed over it onto the farm road which saved me a little time. From there it was mostly backroads to Ballykinler, during which I took a second pleasant break on a beach watching a kite-boarder go back and forth on the hard sand with the beautiful Mountains of Mourne as a backdrop. I reached the bus stop at Ballykinler with about ten minutes to spare and duly caught it, as the only passenger, for the 15 minute ride to Downpatrick. My B&B was in the suburbs, 1.5km from the bus station, and my feet were protesting the whole way. I checked in at 6:15pm, and told Angela, the host, that I would have to leave early in the morning to catch the bus back to Ballykinler. She insisted that she would drive me to Ballykinler and suggested breakfast at 8am, which I agreed. Later I walked to a nearby small supermarket, not wanting to make the trek back into town, and bought myself a salad for dinner.