Day 2: Greencastle to Culdaff (12.8 miles)

Well today was awesome!  It was hard going again but for different and way more rewarding reasons. I walked over a wee mountain.  My GPS thingy that's logging my walks says that I ascended 562m and descended 625m. I'm not totally sure what that means either but there was a lot of uphills and a lot of very, very steep downhills. But oh! the views! ERMAGERD! It is so freaking beautiful here.  It was another bitterly cold day but the sky was blue and littered with Toy Story clouds. I like it being cold because I generate so much heat when I'm walking up those hills.

For reasons I will now explain, I veered slightly from the actual Wild Atlantic Way today and I have every intention of doing so again when I feel like it.  Initially, my plan was to walk the route.  I was going to walk every mile and that was the challenge I set myself ... until I had a closer look and realised the Way itself actually misses quite a bit of the coast out and as it's a driving route it has chosen the best route for cars and that means busier roads.  It didn't take me long to figure out that if I stick rigidly to it I would miss out on a lot of awesomeness and also put myself in a lot of danger.  So I decided that I would use the Wild Atlantic Way as a template, a starting point as it were, and I would create my own personal Wild Atlantic Wanderings around it.  So for instance today, I cut a corner out. It would have meant leaving my B&B walking out 3.7 miles to a headland to see a lighthouse that I'd seen already and then walking back to the road my B&B was on (a total of 7.2 miles - just to say I'd done it rather than gain a novel experience), before setting off over the wee mountain. I knew it was going to be a tough challenge today so I made the decision to cut the first bit out.  Then I decided that I was not going to follow the Way when it turned inland, but instead follow the narrower and far more interesting road around the coast. Even though the route I chose was harder I felt the rewards were infinitely greater. And so they turned out to be.

Tim, my husband, was around until 2pm at which point he set off back to Derry Airport. We both set off from the B&B at the same time - me, on foot and he, by car.  I decided to go with full backpack today to start getting used to it.   Despite my effort to lighten the load it was still bloomin' heavy.  Tim went off to Moville in search of grub and we said we'd meet at Kinnagoe Bay a little later. Well the road took no prisoners - it immediately started to rise and rise and rise. So I walked a bit, stopped to catch my breath, walked a bit more, stopped a bit more, then walked, stopped, walked, stopped, till I reached the top and the blue sea came in to view before me.  That first glimpse of the sea was so emotional I teared up. The road downwards was so steep they could've put steps in it and it would still have been a steep staircase! It was at this point that I lost all cell coverage. No signal whatsoever. Tim had installed an app on my phone to log all my walks called "Trails", which doesn't need cell coverage as it just connects to a GPS satalite. Before we left the B&B that morning he'd purchased detailed maps of the area and installed them on the app.  With all the tiny lanes and the complete lack of road signs this app was a lifesaver (well I wasn't in any literal danger - but it certainly save my feet because I didn't get lost). As I came to the end of the doenhill bit my road veered left and I saw that in order to reach Kinnogue Bay, (which I could now roughly make out) I was going to have to climb again before going back down, down, down again.  My backpack was starting to dig in to my shoulder again, so I found a handy rock, took my pack off and rested up for 5 minutes. The sun was beating down and I swapped my glasses for my shades, drank deeply from my water, put back on my pack and set out again.  I'd climbed a little bit when a shiny black car that I recognised, pulled in a little ways before me. "Hello, did you get bored waiting for me?" He hadn't got bored exactly. Having driven to the beach and seen what the road was like ahead of me, he decided to find me to make sure I hadn't got lost and to see if I wanted him to take my backpack.  I didn't need to be asked twice! With that weight off my shoulders I practically skipped the rest of the way!

The beach had a bit of activity, including some kids who had clearly been in for a swim!!! But mostly it seemed to be couples out for a romantic walk.  It was a beautiful beach filled with rocky outcrops of a dark stone with layers of a marble-like white stone within. I wish I could remember my geology from university but I can't so I just declared it basalt with granite layers! If you don't know for sure - just make it up right?

La Trinidad Valencera, part of The Spanish Armada was wrecked there in 1588. I do love it when you arrive somewhere and there's a plaque giving you the history! Tim and I both agreed that this was an awesome place for a Valentine's date.

I had to press on, however, so I left Tim again and Mossy Glen (then name of the valley - isn't that pretty?) and still feeling the freedom of being backpackless I hiked on to Tremone beach (over yet another "hill".

A made good time to Tremone and Tim and I ate sandwiches, Taytos and Cadbury's chocolate fingers for our three course Valentine's picnic.  Honestly I couldn't have imagined a better date.  It was extremely hard to say goodbye and walk on to Culdaff.  I admit I got a wee bit emotional.  But on I ventured, just me, that big ol' backpack and the road.

Total miles to date: 27.8 miles.