It was an nice sunny morning so straight after dinner we nipped out to do a quick loop while the weather lasted.
Amazingly none of the children were moaning about the walk so we had a nice peaceful if uneventful walk
47.5 km
Tag Archives: hiking
Absolutely Pouring Today
Despite the state of the weather, I decided to go out at lunchtime today. It was pretty horrible out there but my gear was dry starting out so it wasn’t too bad. I barely managed to take any photographs as it was too wet for the camera.
I made the short loop in good time but didn’t really stop for a look around. Still, it is good to get out despite the conditions.
43km
Royal Canal – Barry to Mullingar
I got a very early start from the N55 at Barry in the half-light just before 8 on a winter morning. To say the conditions weren’t promising is a bit of an understatement – it was absolutely pouring with rain, but the forecast was for it to clear by around 10 so I decided to get started.
There was barely any light at the very start so I didn’t take any pictures until I came across the Inny about a mile into the walk. The canal follows the Inny for a few kilometres before crossing it at Abbeyshrule. I also didn’t take my camera out as it was just too wet to use it.
I quickly left Abbeyshrule behind and headed across the Whitworth aqueduct and on to Bog Bridge where I took a short break. By now the rain had turned to drizzle and the sky was brightening.
Bog bridge really is a strange structure. It is in middle of nowhere and isn’t on my survey map although it is on older maps. There is no clue whatsoever as to why it has been built as there is nothing but bog around.
Anyway, after a quick snack of coffee and Fruit & Nut bar, I was on my way again with a minimum of fuss. The rain finally stopped and it suddenly cleared to a fabulous winter morning. It was just a pity I was quite wet from the earlier downpour.
The stretch from Bog Bridge towards Ballynacarrigy must be about the most isolated place you can get to in the midlands. At this stage, I still hadn’t met anybody and it wasn’t looking likely I would.
The landscape around here seems to be quite historic according to the survey map and there are a lot of mounds and ringforts about. This one looks quite substantial.
Away in the distance there was a rather eye-catching stand of trees on a hill-top.
Anyway, I wasn’t long getting to Ballynacarrigy and it really was lovely weather by now. Although it was only 6 km since my previous brief stop, I decided to take advantage of the park bench and have a sup more coffee and some chocolate.
After that stop, I set out to push on towards Coolnahay where I was planning my lunch stop. However, the lock immediately after Ballynacarrigy had its sluices open and the next section was drained and accompanies with Canal Bank Closed signs. After a quick look at the map, I decided to push on as there wasn’t really an alternative route aside from the busy R393 road and there was no info as to whether the bank was closed 1 km or 10 km up the line and it was mostly public road.
So I pushed on for about 2 km until I came to a blockage. However since there was no work going on and there was ample evidence of dog-walkers, cyclists and even horse-riders having ignored the signs, I bypassed the fence and trudged through a few hundred metres of mud until I got to the next lock.
I’ve had this same experience last year near Kenagh and that time it was quite unnecessary really. It wouldn’t exactly be difficult for Waterways Ireland to post a diversion route for walkers and cyclists or to leave one bank open.
Anyway, rant over and back to the walking. There were more interesting views to the south over the Hill of Laragh and the Deerpark.
From here on it was a relatively uneventful few kilometres to Coolnahay where I could stop for lunch safe in the knowledge that the bulk of the walk was behind me. Coolnahay is a very active little spot with a tea-shop and it represents the western end of the Westmeath greenway which stretches from here all the way to the eastern border. It is a nice little spot for lunch.
Now I had about 12 more km to go – a quick 5 km stretch to Ballinea and about another 6 or 7 to Mullingar station. It had turned into an idyllic afternoon although it was a little cold and the lingering damp from my earlier soaking wasn’t helping matters.
Still the going was good and I wasn’t long about covering the distance to Ballinea. I hadn’t met anybody at all between Barry and Coolnahay but now I was coming across a cyclist or dog-walker every 5 minutes or so. It is interesting to see the effects of having a well-developed path in place.
Anyway, I arrived at Ballinea where the way changes sides on the canal for a kilometre or so. I stopped again for a quick coffee and nibble of chocolate and set off on the final stretch.
On crossing back over, the clearance work on the old Mullingar-Athlone MGWR railway line is looking good and it doesn’t look as if it will be long before it will be open.
It is a little odd to see the new path running alongside the existing canal greenway – they seem to run in parallel for about 3 km. Anyway, I continued on towards Mullingar. In the town itself, I come across this branch on the canal which isn’t on the map. It just looks to be a little dock area from aerial imagery.
Anyway, that’s about it for my walk. It was another couple of km to Mullingar station alongside the huge abandoned railyards. It is a pity that the greenway doesn’t seem to follow along this route. It would be quite cool to have the deserted Athlone side of the station refurbished as a terminus for the greenway.
The ruins of the old station yard are looking quite spectacular in the early evening light. It was a nice walk at just over 34km.
39km
New Year, New Goal, Same Place
I didn’t manage to get out on New Year’s day due to the general awfulness of the weather so it was a nice surprise to wake up to a fine morning today and get out for a walk. I’ve decided to to repeat my 100 walks goal this year as it was getting a bit tedious having to walk the same place at weekends. So instead I’m going to go for an even thousand kilometres this year. I reckon I walked about 750 last year so that’s a good improvement if I can manage it.
Anyway, this morning was a very nice way to start and we all went for a family walk to kick the year off. The low winter sun gives long shadows even at 11 o’clock.
There is so little colour in the woods at the moment that even the bit of red in these ivy leaves catches the eye. Of course the gorse is still flowering away and the holly still inexplicably has berries. There must be plenty else for the birds to eat that they are leaving the holly berries alone.
This is the wildest part of the walk and it is looking quite bare at the moment. You can barely see the path at this point in the summer but right now it is getting quite muddy.
We had a grand walk in the forest to try and get rid of a few Christmas calories and I fear there will be quite a few to go yet. So for the first steps on a long road for the year, I reckon on the longer of the loops that we did to day as being about 4.5 km, so that leaves me with 995.5 to for the year.
4.5km
Frozen Landscape
Day 101
It was another icy day and I didn’t get out until the afternoon but even then it hadn’t thawed much. It is a nice change to get up the forest in icy conditions but in places the path was very treacherous due to the ice.
It remained fairly frozen on any open ground the whole way round although it was beginning to thaw on the lower part of the forest.
As we trudged down the path through the lower part of the forest, it was lovely to see the white landscape which we get for such a short part of the year.
Of Frozen Canals & Forgotten Phones
I had planned on a half-day’s walking over the Christmas break and due to it being a fantastic crisp winter’s morning, I got my act together and set off from Longford towards Clondra along the canal for a distance of almost 18km. As I was leaving the car I realised I’d forgotten my phone but no harm anyway.
It was fairly quiet around Longford, it being 9:45 on a Sunday morning. The icy conditions and low sunshine made for very scenic views but it was somewhat challenging for the camera.
This cat was looking at all the dogs out for a walk with a mixture of pity and disgust I reckon.
As I rounded the first bend, what water there was in the canal was frozen over and the ducks were walking across it. I suppose it’s better than bathing in almost freezing water.
A couple of dog-walkers having a nice little chat on near the first bridge.
At this point I was beginning to settle into the walk as I passed along the back of the various retail units. The path here is newly developed and has a good surface and excellent street-lighting. There area also lots of signs banning alcohol which are probably about as effective as the ones about keeping dogs on a lead and cleaning up after them.
After crossing the Athlone road, the canal gets properly out into the countryside and the frozen landscape looked fabulous. It wasn’t even beginning to thaw.
At this point, I was about half-way to the main-line which itself marks the half-way point of the journey. Despite being out of use for half a century, the remaining canal bridges are holding together pretty well.
The next few kilometers were much of the same really – walking quickly along a frozen path beside a frozen ditch. In some places, there are fairly substantial trees growing out of the canal bed.
Anyway, I got to the junction pretty quickly from here and it was looking fantastic. I stopped here for a bit and had some coffee and chocolate and a 5 minute rest.
Amazingly, the main line itself was frozen over in parts and when I poked it through with my stick, you could see it was 7 or 8 mm thick in places.
As I passed Kilashee I got to a spot where two swans had been overnight, and you could see the track where they been swimming through the ice.
From here on, I just put my head down to make some time and walked the next 4 or 5 k without pausing for much at all. I stopped for another cup of coffee by the lifting bridge a couple of kilometres out of Clondra.
From here on it was only about another 3 km and I quickly put paid to that. It was beginning to thaw a bit but there was still plenty of ice about. There is a lovely view of Sliabh Bán across the bog here.
It is nice to descend into Clondra from the 45th lock.
I ended up making pretty good time with the 18km completed in a little over 3 and a half hours. I didn’t have as big a load as usual which helped matters but it ended up being a morning very well spent.
Dramatic Conclusion
Day 100
Well, I finally made my hundred days with 4 to spare. We left in mid-afternoon so as to be back before dusk. While walking up the main road towards the hill, we noticed that there had been an accident on the main road a few hundred metres away. As there were plenty of people there already, we just kept walking.
The evening flight was fabulous and it was a nice clear evening – it is looking like we’ll have quite a severe frost tonight. As we continued on, it appeared that the accident was quite a bit more serious than it looking as a helicopter appeared on the scene.
We continued on with the walk anyway, and all had a nice time.
We did the round in record time with the children as one of them had an urgent need to get back to await the birth of some sea dragons that were due to hatch at exactly 3:30. So she sprinted around and the rest of us tried to keep up.
When we got back the helicopter was just leaving. So all-in-all a pretty eventful hundredth walk.
A Touch of Snow
Day 99
After going through the entire year without a walk among proper snow, we had a flurry of snow for an hour this morning and it started to settle. So I grabbed my chance and my stick and set off for a quick walk.
Of course it being Ireland, the snow quickly turned to rain so I had to be quick with my camera. By the time I got into the second, less-exposed, half of the walk it had started melting.
It is always a fantastic experience to fine oneself walking a familiar route in snow as it is incredibly different. Even the thin covering here was refreshing in its variety.
As usual there wasn’t anyone to be seen on my walk and as I got towards the top, a fairly thick mist started gathering so that I was walking among ice, water and mist.
Little of the snow had made through to the ground in the second half of the loop but there were so traces to be seen.
By the time I got out of the forest, most of the snow had gone. A couple of hours later, the rain has settled in properly and there is no trace whatsoever.
Walking with Friends
Day 98
We had a bit of company on the walk today for a change so it was a nice trek in the woods. The unseasonal full bloom of the gorse still carries on during these short days. It was a fine sunny day for a walk and not even particularly cold.
There was a fabulous clear view from up the top with a lot of standing water about.
There is a quite a lot of heather in bloom at the moment.
We had a nice walk as I’m getting so close to the end of this project and there isn’t a lot more to say about it.
Solstice Walk
Day 97
We decided to all get up relatively early (for a Sunday morning) and get ourselves up the mountain for the solstice dawn – which is supposed to be at 08:38. Unfortunately we were greeted with an overcast morning which wasn’t so great but it still got bright.
With the half light, conditions weren’t so great for photography so not a lot came out well. We didn’t have the fastest of walks and went around the longest route so it was nearly 10 by the time we got back home ready for a nice hot breakfast.