Day: |
032 |
Date: |
Monday, 25 April 2016 |
Start: |
Dingle |
Finish: |
Dunquin |
Daily
Kilometres: |
24 |
Total
Kilometres: |
902 |
Weather: |
Cool with alternating light showers and
sunny periods all day. |
Accommodation: |
Dunquin Youth Hostel |
Nutrition: |
Breakfast: Cereal, fruit, scrambled
eggs and smoked salmon, toast and jam Lunch: Muesli bars
and chocolate Dinner: Pasta carbonara with tuna and
noodles, jam tarts |
Aches: |
Muscle strain/tear behind left knee |
Highlight: |
The "dress circle" walk through farm
paddocks high above Slea Head with the calm blue Atlantic far below,
stirred by the occasional zephyr, and brooding islands near and far
intermittently obscured by localised rain squalls. |
Lowlight: |
Somehow straining/tearing a muscle/ligament
just below and behind my left knee after a few kilometres.
What I thought was a niggle rapidly became worse and I ended up
limping in pain for the remainder of the day. Hopefully it
will improve somewhat overnight. |
Pictures: |
Here |
GPS Track: |
Here |
Journal: |
I stayed up late last night trying to fix a
self-inflicted computer photos problem with a recent, and not very
good, Arnold Schwarzenegger movie going in the background. I
think I have fixed the problem, but I was very annoyed at my
stupidity and went to bed unhappy.
Knowing it was a
relatively short day, I dallied in the morning and didn't start
walking until 9:45am. Before I had even got out of Dingle
there were two short light rain showers, interspersed with warm
sunshine, and that was the way the weather worked all day. As
one shower abated and the sun appeared, it was possible to look into
the mountains and see the next shower on its way.
After a few
kilometres on the road, the Dingle Way left to follow a farm path
for what seemed like an unnecessary detour on the map. Given I
had time, and the detour involved gaining some altitude, and
therefore views, I decided to follow it. Almost immediately,
as the climb began, I could feel some minor pain behind and below my
left knee. It grew worse as I climbed and by the top was very
painful if I didn't take care. There wasn't much I could do
about it, and since I had plenty of time for the day, I soldiered on
walking at a slower pace and limping to protect the leg.
The
views down to Ventry Beach from the top of the climb, and back to
Dingle, were very good, and the knee wasn't quite so bad when
descending. The low-tide limp along the length of the wide
sandy expanse of Ventry Beach was a new experience for this trip,
but it was hard to concentrate on the scene as I pondered what the
knee problem could mean. I'm not in a race, and can alter my
itinerary if necessary, so it's not catastrophic. Assuming
it's a soft tissue tear/strain, if I nurse it for a few days, it
will probably gradually improve and in three weeks be a memory.
But I wouldn't fancy any long kilometre days with my speed cut by
about one kilometre per hour. Also, limping is aggravating my
ever-present right heel problem.
Near the end of the beach I
exchanged waves with a girl taking a break, sitting on her pack on
the edge of the dunes, and saw her a few more times during the day
before we both checked into the hostel at the same time. She's
an American student from Iowa who has just graduated from college
and has an internship starting in Minnesota shortly.
After
the beach walk, the Dingle Way followed some old farm paths
including one extremely narrow one, less than a metre wide, with
walls of stone and briars several metres high on both sides.
Then, after a short roadwalk, it climbed high onto the side of Eagle
Mountain and followed a stone fence contouring through grassy
sloping stone-walled sheep paddocks with the tourist road and the
Atlantic far below. The views were awesome, though the knee
pain made any climbing a test. At one point, I rounded a
corner to find a ram with its horn caught in a wire fence,
desperately trying to free itself. As I approached, feeling
the need to try and help the animal somehow without getting kicked
or gored, its terror increased to a frenzy. Frantically
jumping up and down, it thankfully broke free and scampered away.
Whew!
At two other places, the Dingle Way passed just above
beehive stone forts, probably dating from around 1200AD, and built
by inhabitants dispossessed of their more fertile lands by the
invading Normans. Another piece of an incredibly long and
complex Irish history.
After passing high above Slea Head,
the Dingle Way turned north and descended to the tourist road and
then some back roads before passing right by the Dunquin Youth
Hostel, supposedly the most western hostel in Europe. I
arrived at 4:30pm and had to wait until it opened at 5:00pm, but was
glad to be off my feet and left knee.
After checking in, I
had a tepid shower, and cooked the dinner I had carried with me from
Dingle. The only other guests are the American girl and a
European girl I haven't managed to speak to yet. Looks like
being an early night with some reading. |
|
ADVENTURE LIST
Round Ireland
(2016)
Hume & Hovell Walking Track
(2013)
Via Alpina
(2012)
Australian Alps Walking
Track (2011)
Land's End to John O'Groats
(2010)
Round Oz Bike Record Attempt
(2009)
Round Oz Bike Record Attempt
(2008)
Round Oz Bike Record Attempt
(2007)
Australia Tip to Top MTB
(2006)
Adelaide to Darwin MTB
(2005)
Sydney to Melbourne MTB
(2004)
Three Peaks Race
(2004)
Appalachian Trail
(1986)
Alpine Track
(1983)
|