Dave Byrnes

Round Ireland - 2016

Overview Planned Schedule Map Diary Pictures

Day:	082
Date:	Tuesday, 14 June 2016
Start:	Ballykinler
Finish:	Meelmore Lodge
Daily Kilometres:	30
Total Kilometres:	2284
Weather:	Cool and overcast with occasional drizzle to mid-afternoon, then warmer and drier.
Accommodation:	Meelmore Lodge Hostel
Nutrition:	Breakfast: Full Ulster Breakfast Lunch: Fried chicken & chips Dinner: Sandwiches and chocolate
Aches:	Sore feet
Highlight:	Most of today's trail was off-road, which was a welcome change.
Lowlight:	Wasting time messing around looking for a supermarket in Newcastle to get supplies for tonight and tomorrow. Mobile phone reception was poor and I couldn't use Google Maps and didn't want to stray too far from my route. (Of course, I could have asked someone!)
Pictures:	Here
GPS Track:	Here
Journal:	Breakfast at the B&B was very social with the other guests, a German couple, and the B&B hosts, Angela and Edmund, all engaged in a wide-ranging conversation. It turned out that Edmund is playing golf this morning with the priest who kindly offered me water and fruit during my walk yesterday. Given there are 10,000 people living in Downpatrick, that is quite a coincidence! After breakfast, Angela very kindly drove me back to Ballykinler, where I finished my walk yesterday, and I was on the road again by 9:30am on a cool and dreary morning. There was very low cloud and rain threatened, but I was hopeful of an interesting day since the map indicated much of it would be off-road and I would be entering the Mountains of Mourne. An hour of road-walking brought me to an old railway bed that had been turned into a walking trail along the shore of Dundrum Inner Bay. It was nice for walking and a very peaceful scene with the tide largely out and extensive mudflats. Further along, I could see red flags flying on the opposite bank near Ballykinler, where there was an army camp, and later I heard shooting from the range there, though it was very muffled. The Lecale Way passed through the village of Dundrum and then took some old roads along a levy bank before reaching the Murlough Nature Reserve where it crossed the dunes on a well-maintained wooden path to the beach. I met some researchers collecting samples of something as well as a small school group that I suspect were on a Biology excursion. I set out along the wide hard sand beach for Newcastle, the end of the Lecale Way and the start of the Mourne Way, which I could see in the far distance, reaching there about 12:30pm. Newcastle is a summer beach destination as well as the northern gateway to the Mountains of Mourne, and was definitely oriented towards holiday-makers with multiple ice-cream shops, games arcades, cafes and fast food joints. However, on a bleak grey damp day, it all looked a bit forlorn. I walked down the main street hoping to find a supermarket where I could buy some food for the next two days. There is nowhere to get dinner at tonight's accommodation, nor will I see any shops tomorrow, so I needed to stock up. I was also ready for a break, but didn't really fancy the idea of huddling in the cold and drizzle on a beachfront bench. Suddenly, I found myself walking into a warm and dry fast food joint for a lunch of chicken and chips, justified on the basis that I did not have hot food last night and probably wouldn't tonight. The food was just OK, and was accompanied by the happy chatter of a dozen 11-12 year old girls on a nearby table. Why weren't they in school? Who was supervising them? After lunch, I walked to the far end of the long shopping centre without finding even a small supermarket, so retraced my steps to the other end, which I had by-passed when on the beach. There I found a Lidl and bought some supplies, but couldn't find any sandwiches for dinner. These I found in a nearby small supermarket, packed it all in my pack, which was now much heavier, and found my way to the Mourne Way, around 2:30pm, probably an hour later than necessary. As often happens, it was hard to get going again after a break and my feet, especially the right one, were quite tender. My boots are very worn now, both the soles and the uppers, and my socks are showing some holes, so this may account for my feet being more sensitive than normal. I haven't had a day off for a while either, but there's only five days to go now. Anyway, the pain was offset by some lovely scenery for the last 10km of the day as I climbed onto the slopes of the Mountains of Mourne along a mix of forest roads and foot-trails through forests and beside streams in shady glades. The markings for a trail marathon along the Mourne Way last weekend, participated in by my Terrigal Trotters clubmate, Ciaran, who is visiting family in Ireland, were still out. I reached Meelmore Lodge, where I had a dormitory bed booked in the hostel, at 5:30pm. I'm the only dormitory resident and seem to have the bathrooms and lounge to myself, so not too bad, even though it was only sandwiches for dinner. There's Wi-Fi here, but no internet connection, and I do not have mobile phone coverage, so this will be posted tomorrow.