2023 Ireland - Day 2

 

Wednesday 19th April 2023

Day 2 Belleek to Pettigoe - 17 miles

The morning started well, a bit blowy but sunny. Denise & I left our home-from-home reasonably early to travel via Ballyshannon to Belleek. There was method in our madness. Belleek boast an amazing little coffee shop, The Thatch, where I aimed to grab a bacon & egg sandwich and a coffee before starting walking.

Imagine my disappointment when we got there to find it was closed!! 

We checked the opening times – 9am to 5pm – it was just after 9 but it was VERY closed!! 

Oh well – I keep complaining that I put on weight doing these walks – enforced dieting today!!

Today is a day of lakes (Loughs), hills and roads. I was going to walk in a very wet, stony, peat-bogged area of Ireland. No chance of any “off-piste” routes as I’d have been up to my neck in water & bog!! 

After yesterday I wasn’t looking forward to the constant pounding my poor feet were going to get; however, some of the roads were very small, underused tracks with grass growing down the middle or with flat, grassy verges so I got some respite.

Dotted around, few and far between, were houses and cottages, some permanent residences and some holiday homes/lets. 

Their views were amazing if you like wild and secluded.

My walk started in sunshine with a blustery breeze. It also started reasonably flat but lulled me into a false sense of security as I was faced with a hill. 

Not what I’d wanted to see a third of the way into my walk!! 

It was one of those hills that went on, . . . . . and on . . . . .oh good I’ve finished . . . . oh no it goes on . . . . and on!! 

The higher I climbed the windier it got. 

The windier it got the cooler it got (despite the climbing!) 

The cooler it got the more I regretted starting out in a thin walking-top and my Pancreatic Cancer T-Shirt) 

Back on went my fleece. 

When I reached one of the supposed summits I had a glorious view over the Lough towards the hills I had been walking yesterday (Red Arrow marks the spot).

I had a late lunch break by some empty Holiday Properties. They afforded me some shelter from the wind and a step to sit on whilst I munched on my sandwiches whilst I wrapped myself in every available bit of extra clothing I carried!!

As I continued towards Pettigoe I came across the Tully Custom & Excise Patrol Station which was built c.1930. When I looked it up they think it might have been moved from another place  along the road but it was used , probably up until 1990’s.

After many more uphill’s and downhill’s  I came to an area of peat bog which is quite extensively being “farmed” for peat logs.

Unlike the peat bricks which I have seen being dug out at some considerable depth this seems to involve “scraping” the surface with a machine that then produces the peat as what frankly I would describe as “turds”!! 

Along with the stripping of the peat surface there seems to be a load of detritus involved, mainly wooden pallets and loads of white, heavy-duty bags.

By journeys end I felt thoroughly battered by the wind. The last half of my walk was directly into the teeth of the wind and the sun had all but disappeared.

Never mind, a cuppa and another of Julia’s coffee and walnut muffins soon put the world to rights.

Another chunk off my total mileage and a visit to a spiritual setting on the cards for tomorrow.

If you would like to sponsor me you can donate to my Give as you Live page at: 

https://donate.giveasyoulive.com/fundraising/margs-ireland-100-mile-charity-walk-2023