Dave Byrnes

Round Ireland - 2016

Overview Planned Schedule Map Diary Pictures

Day:	050
Date:	Friday, 13 May 2016
Start:	Carran
Finish:	Kinvara
Daily Kilometres:	30
Total Kilometres:	1353
Weather:	Warm and sunny all day with an occasional cool breeze.
Accommodation:	Fallon's B&B
Nutrition:	Breakfast: Cereal, toast & jam Lunch: Muesli bars and chocolate Dinner: Pizza, ice-cream
Aches:	None really
Highlight:	Sitting on top of Mullagh More (200m) in brilliantly sunny weather with expansive views over The Burren in all directions.
Lowlight:	The last 10km of the day through less interesting scenery on exposed roads under a warm sun with tired legs and feet.
Pictures:	Here
GPS Track:	Here
Journal:	While eating my breakfast in the hostel kitchen, a tradesman who I had seen working at the hostel last night came in to prepare his own breakfast. It turned out that thirty years ago he had lived for a time at Gosford, 10km from my home at Terrigal on the NSW Central Coast, and had played for the victorious Central Coast Irish hurling team in a Sydney-wide tournament on St Patricks Day. Small world! I started walking at 8:30am on a beautiful sunny morning following minor roads eastwards and climbing gradually. After an hour I turned onto an old farm road that followed the bottom of a wide shallow limestone canyon for a couple of kilometres before emerging onto a broad rocky plain. Ahead was the clear light green Lough Gealain with the white rocky mountain of Mullagh More as backdrop in the Burren National Park. My route took me past the lake and up a very rocky ascent of Mullagh More. A bit of rock scrambling was required in a couple of places and great care the whole way to avoid ankle twists and stumbles. It was a slow climb but rewarding and I stopped frequently to admire the views. At the top, I took my first break for the day and enjoyed basking in the warm sunshine and taking in the 360°view. The descent down the northern side of Mullagh More was also rocky and technical, and I was quite tired by the time I reached the base and not looking forward to the long road walk I had to Kinvara, today's destination, in the warm sunshine. There was some shade early on, but as the road climbed out into the sunshine, it became just hard work. I took a second break in some shade with 11km to go, then just put my head down for the last few hours through rocky farmland, eventually arriving at Kinvara on the shore of Galway Bay at 5:00pm, and very happy to finish. After a shower, I found a tick on the back of my left calf and managed to leave its head buried in my leg when trying to carefully extract it (later remembering that I should have smeared Vaseline over it and it would have removed itself). Using my pocket knife, I dug the head out and then dabbed some antiseptic on the wound, hoping that it will be OK. I got a fresh-made pizza from the deli in the local supermarket plus some other food and drink and returned to my B&B to rest my leags and feet. More warm weather and more roadwalking for the next few days as I make my way north from The Burren Way to the Western Way in Galway.