Day 28: Strandhill to Knocknarea and back: (12.5 miles)

I woke late this morning, proving once again that I'm in a good place now with this walk. Today I was south of Sligo Bay at Strandhill. The sun was splitting the rocks as I made my way to the car park overlooking the beach. Strandhill is a trendy surfer town with quaint shops and a really laid-back feel to it. It's also in one of the most beautiful areas I've ever visited.

After locking up Minty I made my way towards Sligo Airport which is the home of the Air/Sea Rescue helicopter, a flight school and also a private airstrip. I walked out along the dunes to the headland where I found the ruin of an ancient church and graveyard called Killaspugbrone. The site apparently had a relic of St. Patrick himself at one point in its history.

 

I walked around the tip of the headland back into the town then carried on along the beach, which stretched for miles around Mussel Point into Culleenamore Strand. The beach itself is famous for rip tides and all along it are warning notices that it is dangerous to swim there and that there are no lifeguards on duty. Apparently this doesn't apply to surfers though because the surf school was out teaching!

The water was crystal clear and so inviting. In the height of summer it must be difficult to resist.

It seemed to take forever to cross Culleenamore Strand. The sand was incredibly soft and sinky. I was told where the exit would be so I kept my eyes focused on a tiny yellow house far in the distance and kept walking.

I was exhausted by the time I left the beach and met solid tarmac again. It was a huge physical effort to walk those miles of beaches but MAN! they were so beautiful!

I turned onto a narrow but busy road and started what would be an epic climb up to Queen Maeve's Cairn on the top of Knocknarea. My thighs were like concrete after the miles of sinking sandy beach and the narrow twisting roads demanded a huge amount of effort.  The heat of the day was so intense that the roads were bleeding oil and my shoes were sticking to the tarmac.

Eventually I made it to the start of the REAL climb up to Queen Maeve's Tomb.  It was a calf-burning steep climb over loose rocks and uneven ground. I took several breaks as I climbed to catch my breath and survey the view.

Thankfully although very steep and tough to scale, it didn't actually take too long until I made it to the summit.

The views from the top were utterly breathtaking!

I walked around the entire thing  and looked at the magnificence of it all. It had been hard work but so worth it!

Then I had to go down again. Rather than going the same way (I hate covering the same ground twice on my walks!), I went down the other side of the wee mountain (all 1250' of  it), back to Strandhill. The other route had clearly been recently paved. Where the way up had been jagged with large loose stones under foot, this way had neat paths with gravel. After an initial gentle slope downwards the route suddenly got steeper. The graveled path gave way to steep wooden steps that zig-zagged back and forth down through a steeply sloped forest of pines.  My edge tremors were on over-drive! There were no hand rails!

Eventually I emerged from the forest and the gravel path appeared again.  By now my blister on my left foot was screaming at me as my foot was continually thrust forward in my shoe because of the steepnesss of the descent. This was was far far longer than the way up. I'm very glad I hadn''t chosen to walk up it. When I finally got to road level again I was hot, limping and my back was desperate for me to sit or lie down. It was still a bit of a walk back into town.

I stopped in a gorgeous little restaurant called Shells directly opposite the beach for a quick sandwich before getting into Minty and coming back here to my Sligo Sanctuary.

It was a fabulous day. My body worked incredibly hard but it was worth it. Tomorrow - will be a short walk because I'm going home for the weekend to see my husband, children and doggies. I can't wait. I miss them all so much.



Total mileage: 385.2 miles

Raising money for the RNLI on www.justgiving.com/Jane-Volker