Day 19: Glenclumbkille to Carrick via Malin Beg (14.6 miles)

God I had a great sleep last night! It was so peaceful and I had sheets and a blanket and a quilt on my bed instead of a microfibre duvet. I love sheets and blankets. LOVE THEM. I was toasty warm but not hot. I always get too hot with man-made fibre duvets. Just another reason why my stay at Ionad Siul Hostel was so good. When I came down this morning the lovely Cliff was up and working already. He offered me breakfast and we had a chat about my walk. I forgot to mention, yesterday, when we were chatting that I was raising money for the RNLI as I walked. I know (slaps head on the nearest desk)! I haven't been pushing the fundraising very much yet because these three weeks in Donegal have been a testing ground for me to see if I can actually do the whole thing. I wanted to make sure I could do it first before I started asking people to part with their cash.  I want to live up to my end of the bargain. But you know what? I'm fairly confident I can now. Cliff kindly said he'd help promote my walk through the Ionad Siul Facebook page which is, y'know ... brilliant! I'm feeling so very fortunate to have met Cliff and stayed at the hostel. I was genuinely sad to leave. When I come back again for a holiday I will definitely be coming back here.

The sun was shining as I hit the road. My first stop today was to be Malin Beg. It's one of the spur roads on the Wild Atlantic Way. The thing about spur roads, when you're walking, is that you essentially walk them twice - once on the way there, and then again on the way back. I've actually cut out a lot of these detours because they cost me so much time. However, today I had the time and the mileage in hand and it was gorgeous and sunny and I headed for the beach! I actually found my first beach a short distance from the hostel. It was tucked behind a mound of sand dunes opposite the Folk Village (an opportunity to see what life was like in Old Ireland), and I didn't know it was there till I'd walked past.

The window tax meant that poor farmers could not afford 

windows and these old stone cottages were often very dark.

With the ocean on my right I continued out of town on the now-familiar undulating roads through a lonely boggy landscape. I'm just so in love with it now. It seems to have its own music. Off to my right a lonely Island came into view with a lighthouse perched on it. You may marvel here at the wonders of my X30 zoom lens! (I almost sound like I have a clue how to use a camera don't I?)

Malin Beg itself was around the headland a wee bit. I was beginning to think I would never get there when the familiar rusty Wild Atlantic Way marker came into view. From the road it looked like I'd walked all this way to a lay-by! But when you looked over the wall ... WOW! Another hidden treasure uncovered. Whoever researched all these viewpoints for the Wild Atlantic Way was a genius.

I didn't go down the hundred-odd steps to the beach but decided, instead, to sit on a lovely bench perched high above the beach. I had a drink of water, took some photos and just drank it all in. I was still looking out on beautiful blue skies when I felt rain falling on my hat and then my trousers started to spot up. I turned around to see a weather front had  come in from behind me and it was about to pour. I gathered up my belongings and headed for a cafe I passed a small jog back the road. The Village Shop and Coffeehouse (Siopa an Bhaile & Siopa Caife), owned and run by the very affable Christopher, was just the thing! I really didn't need a blackberry and apple crumble and a cup of coffee but the rain was coming down hard outside and I was having such an engaging chat with Christopher about life, the universe and everything, I really didn't have much of an inclination to leave!! I must have stayed more than an hour. The weather front had left and most of the rain had dried up before I set off again. If you ever find yourself in Malin Beg make sure you stop by and say hello!

With the sun back in the sky again I walked back the road I'd not long before walked down. It's funny how it looked completely different. A little over half way along I turned right to go to Carrick. It was a pleasant little road through a valley with Sliabh Liag towering over it to the right. It had the usual up-and-downy rhythm to it and it was a working bog - by that I mean that it was being actively dug out for peat. There were little hillocks of turf sods drying out along the miles of road. The fields that weren't being worked were populated by the usual sheep. I was so happy singing my song of the day (I Got My Heart Set On You by George Harrison) on a loop and wondering what kind of business I would have if I lived here (carrying on from my conversation with Christopher) as I walked along that I didn't really notice the miles go by until, of course, my feet reminded me. The mountain grew ever taller as I neared the end of the road. I'd passed a little lake on the way to break up the view. As I turned back on to the R263 there was a large field with scattered sheep. One of the sheep on seeing me started Baa-ing very loudly and the next thing I knew all the sheep in the field started running toward the fence. They followed me as walked along all joining in. I took a little video of them which you can see on my Facebook page. I'm afraid that my technical manager (Tim) isn't with me and I have no clue how to get the video up on the blog. They didn't stop following till they ran out of field. I felt like I had my very own cheering squad!

Eventually I saw the sea again with what I think could have been distant views of Ben Bulben in Sligo across the bay. The road turned and led me down into Carrick where I found my abode for the night. My room is small but comfy and the sounds happy music from the bar below are reminding me of when I was little and we lived in Emmett Place in Limerick - there was a bar on the corner of our street and I often went to sleep to the sound of the cabaret in full swing. Not many people can say that they consider Delilah and My Way to be lullabies.

I had just taken off my shoes and socks to let my poor throbbing feet breathe when my phone rang. It was a journalist from the Donegal Democrat newspaper who had heard about my walk and had read this very blog and wanted to do a little piece for Thursday's edition. I was a little taken aback but agreed as I thought it'd be a great way to get the ball rolling on the fundraising. We seemed to have a nice chat. I was very tired and I'm afraid I was rambling a bit but I do remember being asked what was special about this part of the world. I don't know how well I answered because I'm not a very eloquent speaker but I will say now that the kindness and the willingness to go out of their way to help a stranger, is a special quality of the people I've met so far on this trip. I have a firm belief in the goodness of people generally but there's a warmth here that's very special, and I'm so pleased I came.

Tomorrow I walk to Sliabh Liag (Slieve League). The Wild Atlantic Way's website says of the cliffs:

Some of the highest and finest marine cliffs in Europe, County Donegal's Sliabh Liag (Slieve League in English) are not to be missed.[...] As you climb toward the top of Sliabh Liag - which at 601m high is not a place for the faint-hearted - there are terrific views of the Atlantic Ocean, Donegal Bay and the Sligo mountains.

I'm not sure I'll make it all the way to 601m! The forecast is for wind....


Total mileage: 257 miles

https://www.justgiving.com/Jane-Volker