We had yet another fall of snow overnight and there was a bit of it left in time for today’s walk which was nice.
It was quite cold but dry for most of the walk aside from the dripping of the melting snow in the forest.
96 km
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Still on my Own
Over the last few weeks I’ve really go into the swing of getting out at weekends and have been averaging more than 3 walks a week. I nipped out on my own for the longer loop immediately after breakfast.
It was a fine winter’s morning – a bit cold but it was dry. Indeed it would have been a very good day for hitting the hills but I wasn’t organised enough. I’m hoping to get out for the day next Saturday. The new boots are still behaving themselves – dry feet again today. I could get used to this.
92 km
Just Me and the Dogs
Normally I’ll have company on the weekend but as it was a bit wet, nobody else wanted to come so it was just me and my regular companions. We don’t mind a bit of rain.
We had a nice walk – it was quite peaceful aside from the distance sound of a chainsaw for the last kilometre or so of the walk.
88 km
Back to the Routine
This was my usual lunchtime walk but as I had company I took the slightly longer route. It was real luxury as it was the first walk with a new pair of boots so I had dry feet. This feeling should last for a couple of months – or if I’m really lucky into the summer when the ground dries up reasonably well.
I tend to save my good hiking boots for day-long walks as the regular walks tends to ruin even the best of boots. With the best will in the world, it isn’t really feasible to look after boots properly if you’re wearing them every day. So I buy the cheapest I can get and discard them after three or four months.
Due to the exceptionally mild winter, we still have holly berries. The same happened last year and it is very strange as they are usually gone by early December.
84 km
And Back to Winter
After the brief interlude of spring, we had a morning of heavy snowfall and it finally began to stick around 12. But by the time I got out, it had turned to sleet and rapidly disappeared
It was actually quite a miserable walk as my boots really are past it at this stage so I had soaking feet within seconds due to the slush on the roads. Hopefully I’ll be able to sort myself out with some Lidls boots in the next couple of weeks.
By the time we emerged from the forest at the bottom, the snow was mostly gone and a couple of hours later, there was no sign of it at all.
79 km
Signs of Spring
We got out fairly early this morning ahead of the band of rain that was looming in the form of dark clouds overhead. It was just the children, the dogs and myself for the loop today. The main feature of this week is the start of frog-spawn season. They were actually spawning on Friday but I didn’t have the camera with me, so I’ll have to content myself with a picture of the resulting product.
The other sign of spring is that the early gorse-flower is firmly in bloom. There are a varieties of gorse up on the mountain, so there is generally some of it in bloom for all but a couple of months of the year. Anyway, it is back and nice to see again.
The rain was just starting by the time we got back so it was a bit of a lucky escape.
75 km
Catching up
I can’t believe it’s been three months since I wrote up here but it has been that long since I’ve got out for a proper long walk. I did manage another 26 walks in 2015, mostly around the forest but didn’t quite finish up my 1000km for the year. I ended up at just over 900km for the year.
Anyway, I’ll try to keep up from now on and as of this morning I have 19 walks done in the forest for a total of 71 km so far this year. I guess that means I’ve got a bit of catching up to do if I’ve a hope of doing the 1000km in 2016.
71 km
Mullingar – Moate by Greenway
Appropriately enough for the day’s walking, I arrived into Mullingar by train at about 8:45 and left got stuck into the walk immediately. The goal for the day was to explore the new greenway that has been laid on an abandoned railway between Mulingar and Athlone.
Mullingar station is a shadow of its former self and the Athlone side of the station is in a relatively poor state of repair. The last service on the line was in 1987 but the line had been in decline from the mid 30’s.
The route starts out along the Royal canal as the last couple of kilometres of railway is still technically active and has been used occasionally for servicing steam excursions. You join the new greenway or “Old Rail Trail” about 2 km out of Mullingar.
The new trail is a tarmac surface and is primarily intended as a cycling route. The majority of people out for the day were cycling with several sets of club cyclists flying along the trail. It was OK as a walker, but I’d be a bit dubious about cycling with wobbly children given the speed that some of these guys were passing.
The trail is laid along the old rails that have been left in place – I assume the scrap value of the rails was less than the cost of lifting them. There is enough space because this was once the Dublin – Galway mainline and so was a double line until the mid 30’s when it was singled due to a shortage of steel an a need for the rails to renew other lines.
As the trail is so new, there is relatively little signage in place except for these very prominent cattle crossing signs mounted on up-ended sleepers.
After a few kilometres I came across a cow who had other ideas about crossing.
The next major feature of note was a short tunnel which was quite exciting. Well, it was somewhere between a long bridge and a short tunnel but as I’ve never walked through a tunnel before I’ll call it a tunnel.
I was making good time at this stage and covered more than 11 km in my first two hours. I was getting ready for a cup of coffee and a spot of chocolate so I stopped at Castletown station 13 km into my trip.
After a quick break and a chat at Castletown, it was back to the trail again. There is a constant but slight gradient uphill all the way to this point but shortly after Castletown the trail peaks and then the gradient is downhill.
The most striking thing about this trail is how arrow straight it is. There are two long sections of almost 10 km each without any sort of a curve on it. This must have been a very fast stretch of railway – much better than the surviving Sligo line which is very twisty in comparison.
All of this straight levelish trail doesn’t make for the most exciting of walks so it was a bit of a relief to come to the ruins of Streamstown station where the old Clara branch split off. This also meant I was past the half-way point between Mullingar and Moate.
Not long after this, I came across the what I think is the Hill of Uisneach.
At this point I was on the home stretch towards Moate. I probably had enough legs to head on to Athlone but I wasn’t in the mood to completely wear myself out and the hard tarmac surface is a bit hard on the feet – particularly when wearing hiking boots.
I arrived into Moate stations just before three which was a good time for 30 km. The station is derelict but very well looked after.
The water-tower is in particularly good condition which is amazing when you consider it probably hasn’t been used for 50 years.
There is also this particularly impressive looking telegraph pole on the edge of the station.
Anyway, I had an enjoyable day’s walking and it was nice to get a new trail mostly done. I’ll probably try to get back another day to finish it off as it does look as if the most interesting section is that between Athlone and Moate.
870 km
Several Weeks’ Walking
The weather over the last few weeks has been somewhat mixed so I’ve not got out for a long walk. However, the local walks have been going on and I’ve managed 12 since my last long walk.
Anyway, it’s been good walking in the forest and the weather for the most part has been holding out so it is quite dry up there.
However, autumn is really upon us now and the leaves are well and truly turned. One good autumn storm and that will be the end of them.
This set of walks puts me near the 850 km mark so it looks like I won’t have too many difficulties reaching my goal for the year.
840 km
Kilronan Loop Again
This walk is becoming a bit of a habit – this is my third time this year doing the entire walk and I’ve done part of it a fourth time. Anyway, it’s a nice walk and quite close to home so it doesn’t require a lot of planning. It is basically a matter of parking up in Keadue and setting off at a reasonable hour of the morning.
After a couple of kilometres of a road-walk towards Arigna, you quickly start to ascend for fabulous views over the countryside.
There is a good steep climb up an old foot-path until you come to a sweat house right by the pass. I had a look in here on a previous walk but I didn’t bother stopping here.
After this, you’re properly up on the mountain in peace an quiet. The heather up here is even more spectacular than that on my home walk. The weather was quite annoying with regular light showers that just got heavy enough to make you put your rain jacket on before stopping.
There is the usual view of Sliabh Aniarann covered in clouds. The only time I’ve managed to see the mountain from here was an inverse view where everything else was covered in clouds and the peak was poking out.
I trundled on towards the wind-farm that runs along the ridge. It was becalmed today though so nothing was moving.
I wasn’t exactly making great time but then I wasn’t in much of a hurry. I stopped for a snack at the abandoned mineworks before rejoining the road for a bit. The way-marking here is a bit weak but I know the way so it isn’t so much of a problem. In particular, you need to very careful about leaving the track towards the saint’s grave. There is an abandoned engine which you need to pass on the track above it. From here, a single waymarker is just visible in the distance. If you pass this engine with it on your right, you’re going the wrong way.
From here it’s another couple of kilometres before you join the Miners’ Way track that leads you down towards Ballyfarnon.
This track winds its way down the mountain and gradually turns into a proper road before crossing a stream and heading back towards some form of civilisation. I stopped again for coffee and a snack for a few minutes and resolved to have a lunch break at Ballyfarnon.
From here the route is mostly a lowland road walk but it’s mostly along very minor roads and a couple of kilometres are along a green road. I arrived into Ballyfarnon at about 1:30 and had a 20 minute break for soup, a sandwich and some crisps.
I had a nice final few kilometres through the Kilronan castle grounds. I spotted this interesting little fungus on the forest track.
After passing through the old castle gate, I made my way alongside the road into Keadue. I stopped at the graveyard there to try to find O’Carolan’s grave but didn’t have any luck. I made into Keadue around 3:30 a bit over six hours after I left.
790 km