I started late this morning - partly because I wrote yesterday's blog when I woke up instead of last night, and partly because I just didn't have a clue where I was going to walk today and I spent half the morning staring at maps trying to figure it out. It was a bit tricky because the three maps I was looking at were all different. Seriously. The coastline was different. They didn't have the same villages on them. Roads were missing. It was very confusing. My local knowledge guru, Carmel, has been on holiday so I was on my own. Eventually I just decided to make my way past Ballina and just have a look and see what I might find.
I drove to Killala. As soon as I crossed the border into Co. Mayo the sun disappeared and a dense mist descended over everything. Half the landscape disappeared in front of my eyes. I stopped at the Quay in Killala but decided to move on a bit further north to the Lacken area where it looked like I had more of a chance of finding a circular walk.
It was already lunchtime when I arrived and I hadn't taken a step yet. Lacken strand was vast but I couldn't see much of it.
But I did find these lovely little pink flowers growing wild in the coarse grass.
I left Minty in a car park near the church and put on my yellow jacket and set off up the road. On the wall of a little picnic area I saw a sign saying "Lacken Trails". So as I walked I Googled it and found out there was an actual mapped out walking trail, right there. Of course none of maps had it on them (it's a source of constant frustration to me how difficult it is to find information.) So off I walked up the hill and I promptly missed two turns because the mist was so dense I didn't even see them. Not to fret - I just went the long way. When I eventually caught up with the official trail it was a joy to walk on these perfect walking trails. The sun had by now burnt off the mist and my lack of hat was a bit of a bother.
The following photographs are of megalithic large stone monuments from about 2,500 BC.
8.5 miles of perfect walking roads.
I even found new plants on this walk. I have no idea what these ones are but they were on ground level and such vivid colours.
And this was my first foxglove of the year.
I'm not sure what these blossoms are but they were stunning.
Lots of cattle in the fields slightly surprised by the woman in the backpack who wanted to strike up a conversation.
By the time I got back to the beach the mist had been replaced by miles of sandy beach and blue skies.
I returned to Minty at about 3.45pm. I looked to see where else I could go to continue the walk. I was hobbling slightly because I have a new blister on my left big toe. I settled on traveling to the other side of the beach. and set off in Minty. The area was very green and lush and had a lot of houses and a school but no pubs or cafes and by now I really, really needed a bathroom. I made my way to a beautiful pier and had a mooch around but there was no way on earth that I could have gone off on a 6.5 mile walk (as was my intention) without using a bathroom first. It was getting late in the afternoon and I needed to get to Ballina before the shops closed so I decided that that was enough for the day.
I'm glad I went to have a look there because it was a very lovely spot. Tomorrow I think I'll go to the Ceide Fields which is a settlement that's even older than the Egyptian Pyramids.
Total mileage: 416.5 miles
Raising money for the RNLI on www.justgiving.com/Jane-Volker
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