Dave Byrnes

Round Ireland - 2016

Overview Planned Schedule Map Diary Pictures

Day:	063
Date:	Thursday, 26 May 2016
Start:	Collooney
Finish:	Manorhamilton
Daily Kilometres:	38
Total Kilometres:	1754
Weather:	Cool and overcast all day with some light showers
Accommodation:	Laurel Lodge B&B
Nutrition:	Breakfast: Cereal, banana, toast & jam Lunch: Tuna & sweetcorn baguette, muesli bars, chocolate Dinner: Doner kebab & chips, lemon cheesecake
Aches:	Sore feet
Highlight:	It was nice to spend a large part of the day off-road on a mix of trails ranging from leafy blossom-covered to grassy to boardwalks.
Lowlight:	None really
Pictures:	Here
GPS Track:	Here
Journal:	There were two tradesmen, working on a local job, also staying at the B&B and their need for an early breakfast (by Irish standards) suited me, with a long day in prospect. Many of the B&B's I have stayed in are clearly owned by practising Catholics, and this one had bibles and other religious literature spread around and religious pictures featuring on the walls. However, there was no proselytizing and the owner, Maureen(?), somewhat older than me, was a likeable down-to-earth character, even if her B&B was a bit old school (on answering that I would prefer coffee to tea, I was given some hot water and a bottle of instant coffee). I left at 8:30am on a cool and overcast morning and was soon out of the village on a quiet country lane that took me to the Union Woods a lovely mossy old forest carpeted with bluebells. The very pleasant walking continued on a succession of trails through both deciduous and evergreen forests with wildflowers aplenty, including groves of pink rhododendron, brightening up an otherwise gloomy day. I was glad the Sligo Way was well signposted, because the maps I had were not detailed enough to pick the correct turns at the multiple intersections I encountered. On leaving the forest, the trail climbed steadily up onto the treeless slopes of Slieve Daeane, dotted with patches of bright yellow gorse, and giving good views to the south and east. The variety of terrain and surfaces kept the walking interesting and this continued with the descent to Slish Woods and the large and placid Lough Gill. I followed a forest road along the shores of the lake before heading inland across more moorland on a boardwalk to reach a series of rural back roads. On one of these, nearing Dromahair, I passed the extensive and impressive ruin of Creevelea Friary, dating back to 1508. At Dromahair, the end of the Sligo Way, I visited the town shop and bought a filled baguette for a late (3pm) lunch, knowing I still had about 14km of roadwalking to go to get to my B&B. My feet were tired, but I was a little earlier than anticipated, and feeling quite upbeat after a good day so far. The roadwalk to Manorhamilton, some of it along very quiet roads, provided nice rural scenery with a backdrop of nearby mountains which kept it interesting. I reached my B&B just before 6pm, and later ventured the 600m into the village and found some take-out for dinner. I am having tomorrow off and a load of washing, a haircut, and a shave are on the agenda, along with some B&B booking.