Dave Byrnes

Round Ireland - 2016

Overview Planned Schedule Map Diary Pictures

Day:	085
Date:	Friday, 17 June 2016
Start:	Dundalk
Finish:	Dunleer
Daily Kilometres:	21
Total Kilometres:	2370
Weather:	Mild and overcast all day
Accommodation:	St Jude's B&B
Nutrition:	Breakfast: Full Irish Breakfast Lunch: Egg & tomato baguette Dinner: Cheesburger & chips, apple pie
Aches:	None
Highlight:	I stopped at a small service station/convenience store in Castle Bellingham to treat myself to a fresh baguette from their deli for lunch. I was behind a couple of tradesmen in the deli queue, and one of them said 'Walking around Ireland are you?', and I replied that actually, I was. Before long, the six or seven staff and customers in the deli were all engaged in animated and interested discussion about my trip, my tan, and the weather.
Lowlight:	None
Pictures:	Here
GPS Track:	Here
Journal:	I went to bed very tired last night, and despite lots of internet research, had still failed to book my last few nights accommodation to Dublin. After a good night's sleep, and a hearty breakfast, I spent some more time on the web and phone and got it all satisfactorily sorted out. I could spare the extra post-breakfast time, because I only had to walk 21km today. Breakfast had been interesting, in a sad way, since it quickly became apparent that the other residents at breakfast, a woman on her own and a family of three, were being housed in the B&B by social services. The woman was quite talkative, though with a speech impediment that made understanding difficult (added to a thick Irish accent), and told me she had to move to a different B&B every three days while waiting for more permanent accommodation, and that her dinner last night was two cans of soft drink and a tin of camp pie! I started walking at 10:30am and passed several colleges and commercial areas before reaching the edge of Dundalk and the flat rural countryside. My route for the day was going to follow the R132, a busy regional road, but to my relief it either had a footpath/sidewalk or a wide road margin most of the way so I didn't have to constantly worry about traffic. But it was noisy. Around 1pm, I reached the village of Castle Bellingham, and noticing a convenience store with some picnic benches outside, bought myself a freshly prepared baguette for lunch. Shortly after, with only 8km to go and plenty of time in hand, I spied a village barber shop and enquired what it would cost to get a haircut and beard trim. Ten Euros seemed a good deal and I emerged thirty minutes later looking much more civilised, at least from the neck up. After the very flat morning walk I enjoyed some undulating countryside with occasional views during the afternoon. The land is mostly devoted to crops, as opposed to the cattle and sheep I have seen in most other areas, and many of the fields were large. I reached the village of Dunleer soon after 3:30pm, checked in to my B&B, and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon catching up on some chores with one eye on a Euro 2016 game on the TV. Later I bought take-out for dinner again, not that sorry that it will be one of the last for this trip, and began preparing mentally for a long day tomorrow.