Dave Byrnes

Round Ireland - 2016

Overview Planned Schedule Map Diary Pictures

Day:	043
Date:	Friday, 6 May 2016
Start:	Killaloe
Finish:	Sixmilebridge
Daily Kilometres:	29
Total Kilometres:	1187
Weather:	Cool to warm and mostly sunny
Accommodation:	Bridge Side B&B
Nutrition:	Breakfast: Fruit & yoghurt, scrambled eggs & smoked salmon, toast & jam Lunch: Muesli bars and chocolate Dinner: Pizza and ice-cream
Aches:	None really
Highlight:	Beautiful spring morning in lovely countryside
Lowlight:	None really.
Pictures:	Here
GPS Track:	Here
Journal:	As I left the B&B at 9:00am, Ray and Helen, two other guests I hadn't seen to that point, stopped their breakfast and introduced themselves. They were from Sydney on a whirlwind tour of Europe and we chatted for a while before I headed out on a beautiful spring morning. I encountered a lot of activity down the road in the village and asked a woman who said hello to me, what was going on. She said it was just the mothers dropping off their kids at school. A few kilometres later I realised that the school drop-off preceded exercise when I met a number of groups of women running or walking on the same road as me, having done a loop from the opposite direction. One of them was the woman who had said hello earlier, and they all gave me a cheery greeting. It lifted my spirits to see them all enjoying themselves and exercising, and I envied them their choice of beautiful quiet running routes in this part of the country. I had modified my route for today to sync with the available accommodation for the next few days and it was going to be a mix of the East Clare Way and some other back roads that would take me to Sixmilebridge where I had a B&B booked for the night. The morning roads were very quiet through picturesque rural countryside that climbed gradually over a saddle before descending to the village of Kilbane. I stripped to T-shirt and shorts early on and by the afternoon was actually raising a sweat in the warm sunshine. There was some excitement during my first break. As often happens, I had stopped on the grassy access to a field gate at a break in the seemingly endless hedgerows along the narrow road. Because I'm a metre or so off the road, cars usually whizz by without seeing me. On this occasion, a small van passed, then stopped as it encountered a car coming from the other direction, and reversed back into the gateway access where I was sitting below the sight-line of the driver. I had to jump up and make myself known very quickly before she went too far and squashed my chocolate.......or worse. I often think I should be rewarded in some way for the entertainment and excitement I am providing to the dogs of Ireland. I'm sure, that for some of them, weeks go by without anything happening at all and then this guy has the temerity to walk past their territory banging his trekking poles on the road as an incitement. Usually, I just try and ignore them and most either stop at the boundaries of their properties or are prevented from leaving by fences. But every day there are some that come out onto the road to see me off, though they rarely do more than bark. Today, however, I actually had to fend two off with my trekking poles when they decided to give chase after I had passed. I know people love their dogs, but controlling them is a responsibility that comes with ownership. Although I would definitely prefer less roadwalking, if does make for faster travel and I reached the busy village of Sixmilebridge at 4:30pm and checked into the somewhat basic B&B. Later, I visited the local pharmacy and bought some ibuprofen (Voltaren is not available over the counter in Ireland) which I plan to experiment with to see if I can lessen the heel pain I get every afternoon, and then had a pizza at the shop across the road before returning to my room for the evening. Ireland has finally sorted out a minority government after ten weeks of wrangling and lots of rain is forecast for tomorrow.