Dave Byrnes

Round Ireland - 2016

Overview Planned Schedule Map Diary Pictures

Day:	065
Date:	Saturday, 28 May 2016
Start:	Manorhamilton
Finish:	Belleek
Daily Kilometres:	24
Total Kilometres:	1778
Weather:	Cool and overcast in the morning and warm and mostly sunny in the afternoon
Accommodation:	Fiddlestone Bar B&B
Nutrition:	Breakfast: Cereal, yoghurt, scrambled eggs, toast & jam Lunch: Muesli bars and chocolate Dinner: Hamburger, coleslaw & chips, fruit trifle.
Aches:	Nothing new
Highlight:	Crossing the border into Northern Ireland, a significant milestone on my journey around Ireland.
Lowlight:	None really, although the B&B claimed, when I arrived, that my booking had been for last night. Nevertheless, they found me a reasonable room even though they were fully booked for tonight. A check later of my Booking.com confirmation showed that I was right and they had made a mistake. Because I'm generally booking some way ahead, I often worry that I will get a night wrong, and always double-check before confirming. So far, so good!
Pictures:	Here
GPS Track:	Here
Journal:	I now have two days of road-walking to get me to my next trail, the Ulster Way, and most of it will be on reasonably main roads, since the backroad alternatives add quite a lot of distance. I left the B&B at 9am, farewelling Amanda, who had looked after me well during my stay, and walked through Manorhamilton which seemed exceptionally quiet for a Saturday morning. There was a viable backroad option soon after leaving town and it proved to be a very pretty and quiet single-lane road that for much of the time was quite high on a hillside giving me good views of the scenic rural Ballagh River valley to the west. After a gradual descent I rejoined the main road which continued down through lush green farmland to the shore of Lough Melvin, a vast lake with a single fishing dinghy slowly puttering across its placid surface way offshore. Soon afterwards, I crossed into Northern Ireland, although the only indication was a small sign welcoming me to Fermanagh. I hadn't expected any formalities, but thought there may have been more than that. Apart from passing the sign, I didn't really notice much difference as I continued on, though it did seem busier (but it was later in the day). A little further on, I found some rocks by the lakeshore to sit on while a I had a nice break admiring the scenery and knowing I didn't have all that much further to go for the day. On resuming, I passed a picnic area by the lake where there was a large gathering of motorcyclists who looked like they were assembling before heading off somewhere, and I also saw a few small cycling groups who I surmised might be doing a lap of the lake on the marked Scenic Drive. I reached Belleek, which was busy with tourists, around 2:30pm and checked in to my B&B after they found me a room, having at first said that my booking was for the previous night. They were helpful, and my room was fine. After a shower I walked up the street and got some Sterling from an ATM and also a UK SIM card for my phone, though I was warned not to install it until I got further from the border unless I wanted to get ripped off by roaming charges. I think there may be part of a wedding party staying in my hotel B&B and there were a few of them enjoying a drink between the ceremony and the reception. The wedding cars were hot rods, and they made a few noisy passes up and down the village main street during the afternoon. Could be a noisy night. I bought a hamburger for dinner from McDonnell's, a take-out shop next to a butcher's of the same name, so figured their meat was likely to be pretty good. It surprises me how many small traditional butcher shops there are in the villages, often more than one. Maybe they are protected somehow because the small supermarkets in the villages generally sell meat as well.