Day 54: Carrigaholt to Loop Head Lighthouse (11.3 miles); Day 55: Ballybunion Loop (10.3 miles) and Ballylongford Loop (5 miles); Day 56: Ballyheigue Loop (10.9 miles); Day 57: Doonaha to Kilrush (12.8 miles)

I must apologise for being missing in action for the last while. There are a few reasons for this - some of them very good and valid reasons, others... not so much.

In the title of this post are five of the walks I have completed; three of them in Kerry which were sandwiched between two in Clare. We have been experiencing some "weather" here in Ireland. The kind of weather you'd expect to see in any other season of the year except summer and my enthusiasm for walking was at a very low ebb. On top of that I was suffering from - how shall I put this - um ... digestive distress. There is a phenomenon amongst long distance runners and power walkers called 'joggers trots'. And despite not running long distances or moving particularly fast I was succumbing to this inconvenience more and more regularly and quite frankly, I was miserable. I have now discovered the source of this irritation and am far happier and more comfortable.

It appears that exercise can exacerbate IBS and lactose intolerance symptoms. I have known for some time that I have mild lactose intolerance. I tend not to eat a lot of cheese although I love it too much to eliminate it completely from my diet. Since being here in Ireland I have been eating a lot more cheese than I'm used to. It's just so damn delicious and convenient and EVERYWHERE. It's in everything! and basically it was playing havoc with my gut. Now that I've figured this out and cut it out of my diet, all is well again.

Sigh. I miss you fromage!

I'm not going to go into massive detail about these walks because 1) they were ages ago and I can't really remember them all that well; 2) nothing really happened and 3) they were kinda boring. So I've lumped them together. Here's a few pictures, few words and then we'll quickly move on the the more interesting stuff.

24th July Carrigaholt to Loop Head Lighthouse

I arrived in Kilkee on the Friday after my walk in Carna. I can't even begin to explain to you how shattered I was. It had been a three hour drive to get there and every cell in my body was begging for some rest. I was very grateful to be able to stay with my brother and sister-in-law. There is nothing better when you're dog tired to have the comforts of home. As I've mentioned before, Kilkee is like a home from home for my family and that's how it feels when I go there.

The next day I woke to heavy rain. That was enough for me. I was exhausted and I needed to take a day before walking again. So I did. On Sunday I got up early and was parked up in Carrigaholt before 9 am and off I set. It was a drizzly, grey sort of day so none of my pictures are particularly interesting. The weather just got worse as I got closer to the lighthouse. About two miles from the end of the walk the skies opened, in Kilbaha, just as I was passing one of the loveliest cafes I've ever been to. I walked in and dripped all over the place. The women who own it offered to take my clothes and put them in the dryer for me. Now that's service. I declined but had a lovely cup of coffee as I waited for the rain to stop. When it did the sky began to clear and by the time I got to the lighthouse, the sun had come out.

27th July: Ballybunion and Ballylongford loop walks

I was not well for a couple of days but decided that I had to get going to Kerry so I drove down on the Tuesday evening. I had booked into a B&noB for a couple of days. This was because there were no campsites but also because I needed a bit of comfort. It was while I was doing the next couple days of walks that I finally figured out what was causing all the tummy problems, so my memory of these walks were that I had a lot of tummy problems.

North Kerry is very green and flat. It is the land of dairy farming and the landscape was a bit dull if I'm honest. I will admit that my impression of it is likely to have been coloured by the inclement weather and the horrendous stomach cramps.

 Seriously this is the best view of the day!

 Carrigafoyle Castle near Ballylongford - my start and finish point

I felt so bad after the first walk of the day that I had to come back to my digs, have a shower and rest for an hour before going to do the second walk near Ballylongford. 

It was alright.

28th July Ballyheigue Loop

I got up late the next morning. I cannot explain to you just how low my energy levels were at this point. I packed up Minty and went to Ballybunion for a spot of breakfast before driving to Ballyheigue and parking up. Ballyheigue Beach is beautiful and it marks the point where Kerry goes from being flat dairy country to being a glorious mountainous kingdom. The promise of more interesting walks lay just across the bay. I would have lots of beautiful pictures to take today!

Alas this was not to be the case because the weather fell on my head like a freezing cold waterfall and the entire bay disappeared as did the mountains beyond. So no lovely pictures I'm afraid. 

I ate dinner in a cafe in Ballyheigue and then drove to Tarbert to get the ferry back to Clare. All my family were away so I stayed in a small campsite in Doonaha. I mention it because the owner Niall, didn't charge me to stay there, instead he said to donate the fee to the RNLI. How lovely is that?

I was up and on the road by 06:20 the next morning. I was going to have to walk on a very busy road so I wanted to get going as soon as I could. By 8am I had made it to the main Kilkee to Kilrush road. It was still early and most of the traffic was on the opposite side of the road so for about an hour I had a very false sense of security. Almost on the dot of 9 the trucks and buses suddenly appeared and my progress was hampered by having to step off the road again and again and again. The road was just wide enough for two cars to pass and the speed limit was 100kph. Along the side of the road, instead of a grass verge was a bank - so I had to step UP to get off the road. I'd see the vehicle speeding toward me, I'd step up on the bank and for extra security I'd grab hold of the long grass that grew there. 

On one particularly straight stretch I saw a mini-bus was coming so, without really thinking I stepped up to get off the road but instead of a bank on the side of the road it was a ditch! In a millisecond my world literally inverted as I found myself completely upside-down in a gully. My bottom and legs were higher up than my back upon which I was wearing a backpack. On top of all this there was nothing to hold on to that wasn't a thorn-covered brier or a nettle. I was stuck. I'd completely disappeared from the road but the traffic was still speeding by me inches from my head. I tried to pull myself up but I have no stomach muscles and my feet and bottom were higher than my back. 

There was much grunting and swearing as I rocked myself into a better position. I got stung and scratched. Eventually I managed to almost sit up. I found a small bit of grass next to the tarmac and used it to pull myself to my knees and suddenly - hey presto! I was upright again. 

I think I may have frightened the shit out of the driver of the car that was passing as I magically appeared. I may have inadvertently uncovered the origin of the leprechaun myth. 

I eventually made it to Kilrush more or less unscathed. It's a lovely town with an attractive marina. I thought that I'd walk to the Lifeboat station to say hello but true to form I forgot to ring ahead and nobody was in. I really must remember to call ahead in future.

 Kilrush marina

 Kilrush Lifeboat Station

I was too tired to walk or hitch back to Doonaha so I called a cab. I was going home for the weekend so I got myself showered and packed up and was ready to go hours before my flight! I decided to go to Kilkee and had lunch and then I drove to the Kilkee Cliffs and got into my bed in Minty and had a two hour nap before going to Shannon to catch my flight.  Just like when I left Carna, I felt a little sad as I drove to the airport because I was now finished with Clare. I'd walked over seven hundred miles and it was time to move on to the final third of my journey.

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

Total mileage: 700.7 miles