Category: Ireland
Something new for everyday wear
26th August 2018 For quite a while, I have been using trail shoes for everyday wear. Like everything, they can look very tatty when they are used for an increasing number of years. Soles can wear and fabric can become thinner as I have been observing with a pair of North Face trail shoes in recent months. Since I was coming to the end of an earning pause enforced by my career break, I thought that acquiring new footwear would be in order, especially since it allow me to clear out a few older pairs that needed to go.
Because I still wanted to keep spending under control, I stayed away from anything made by The North Face and went for something from Columbia instead. The result was the purchase of a pair of North Plains Drifters from Go Outdoors. Rather than getting them delivered to my home, I went with delivery to one their stores instead and it allowed me to fit in shopping for a new trolley case after a handle failed on one that I already had. Pick up was not so smooth given that the shop assistant's thoughts were elsewhere when I asked so it took a request made of another staff member before I collected my new acquisitions.
Since then, they have become my main footwear choice for lighter everyday walking and have been to Ireland and back so I have had good trial of them by now. Owing to an adverse comment about their waterproofing, I have stuck with travelling on hard surfaces with only the occasional foray onto softer ground. They worked well for pottering about Galway city on a stroll that took me along its coastline at the end of a day beset with rain showers. In doing so, I got the impression that the sole is thinner than what I am used to having but it does not make them unusable either. In any case, they have been wearable straight from their box and I plan to use them for a good while yet.
An exceptional summer
31st July 2018 The long dry spell that has dominated since April has some thinking back as far as 1976. There are some good reasons for doing so. In the Irish countryside, grass is not as plentiful and farm wells have gone dry. Over there, the extent of this has got farmers worried about keeping livestock fed and brought about water usage restrictions for everyone else. Temperatures soared to 32° C during June and roads melted, causing road closures and even bringing out gritting trucks for reasons completely at odds with their usual usage.
So far, 2018 can be said to have two seasons: winter and summer. Spring scarcely came at all and the northern hemisphere has been treated to a long hot sunny spell like few other summers. Fires have started, either naturally, through error or as a result of vandalism. The last of these defies reason yet it is said to have had a human cost in such disparate places as Greece and California. The moors around Manchester and Bolton had their blazes but these thankfully did not threaten life and limb as much.
My venturing into the world of self-employment had limited my enjoyment of the long sunny spells more than a general inclination to keep in out of the heat. Still, I got to spend a day around Edinburgh that took me by the Firth of Forth and the banks of the River Almond before venturing into the Cammo Estate and the heart of Scotland's capital city. Any shady spots were relished because of the afternoon heat. The same applied on a day trip to Barmouth that took me strolling towards Cerrig Arthur before returning via the Panorama Walk while enjoy the views all around that part of the Mawddach estuary. The day was long and felt all the longer on a hot crowded train between Barmouth and Shrewsbury. What remains though are newly made good memories and they always outlast any recollections of ardour.
There has been a week spent in Ireland too with its usual mix of business and leisure. Evening walks took me by Springfield Castle and the village of Kilmeedy and it well bedecked in flowers everywhere you could look. Towards the end of the stay, much needed rain arrived but there was dry weather to savour before that happened. In fact, it may be that the idea of a trip for exclusively leisurely purposes can come to mind and there is a slot when it might happen.
Other than these, evening walks around Macclesfield have made pleasant use of the longer hours of daylight. No longer do I chide myself for not making good use of every sunny day that comes but using enough of them is sufficient nowadays. As long as the burdens of a working life are managed more carefully to leave enough emotional space, the energy and motivation could be enough to keep up my wandering.
The heat may have restrained things this summer but it also had me looking back through previous episodes that had me writing entries on here and that happened in both 2006 and 2007. In 2008, I even got to the subject of warm weather walking. Neither of these compares with 2018 and it even beat the benchmark summers of 1983, 1984 and 1989 that I recall from my childhood and adolescence. This has been a summer that will live long in younger minds as they mature and age. Surely, it will be the better bits that get recalled the most clearly.
Imputation
18th June 2018 It is not often that you will see a statistical term as the heading for an entry on here, but the reason is that, around twenty years ago, I took my first steps into online publishing. Though the exact date is lost to me, I am settling for the middle of June and that inspired the title. After all, this is an educated guess when accurate recollection has faded.
Back then, I was a university student, unsure of what the future might hold. There was the act of writing up a thesis and having it examined before I found a way into a life of work that continuously conveyed me until last August, when a much-needed career break began. That ended last month with my starting out as a freelance consultant. Another adventure has begun, and it brings its delights and agonies, but the hope is that any added sense of autonomy, flexibility and space for managing my affairs would outweigh any episodes of irritation. There is much to learn, and that is its own motivation.
That changeover was not distracted by all the fine weather over the last few weeks. Priorities were such that a trip to Ireland in May brought more in the way of exploring than otherwise was the case. The city of Kilkenny was explored, as was Castletown House near Celbridge in County Kildare. Various walks and cycles around my home in Cheshire have been complimented by episodes of website enhancement. The visible changes have been subtle, but things should load faster now.
What has not been forgotten that there are trip reports outstanding, and that recent round of website tinkering reminded me that I used to split some trip reports into several parts. That was opportune for those relating my Norwegian wanderings will follow that scheme. There will be one each for the 2016 and 2017 trips, and there may be an introductory one too. Chances for such things this summer may be limited by the need to build up some savings again after a period of reduced earnings, but time may bring its own surprises yet.
A springtime sabbatical
16th May 2017 Though the output on here may try to belie it, the month of March was one of exhaustion and a longed for sabbatical from work came not a moment too soon at the start of April. Mostly, it was time to rest at home, though there were some escapes. My yearning for rest and recuperation had to be countered for these, but it is good for anyone's state of mind to get out and about, too.
The second weekend saw me head to the Isle of Man for the first time since July 2011. Though it was a reluctant manoeuvre in the end, it repaid my efforts with sunshine on a circuit from Laxey that took in Snaefell and on an amble around Castletown. Before I started my return, I took in Douglas Head and Summerhill Glen, along with some other sights around the island's capital.
Strife with insuring a car in Ireland partly ruined any peace of mind around Easter, such that I shortened my stay in Edinburgh. In truth, I spent more time around Peebles, with a rain-soaked walk around Glen Sax on Easter Sunday preceding a trot along the John Buchan Way between Peebles and Broughton in much better weather on Easter Monday. Thankfully, that Irish obstacle was overcome to allow a few more days of quiet rest before it hit me just how fast time was going.
While it felt as if my time away from work was too short, there still was time for a walk from Litton to Buxton that took in several of Derbyshire's dales. The list included Tansley Dale, Cressbrook Dale, Monsal Dale, Miller's Dale, Wye Dale and Deep Dale. Wintry weather intruded at times, and Chee Dale offered plenty of adventure. Still, it was a good day out, with my partly making up the route as I went along.
There was a trip to Ireland too and this allowed more time for me in between visiting family and neighbours as well as attending to business that I have over there. Evening walks took me on circuits around by Springfield and Kilmeedy village. Though the walking was along roads for the most part, it was a case of revisiting haunts that I have not frequented for a few years now.
On returning to work, I have decided to do things differently and that is allowing me more rest time. My mind is turning to future excursion ideas as a sort of tonic, though such flights of fancy are tempered by my aunt's health for now. Still, there is no harm in dreaming a little as I assess how things are going for me after all that has happened during the past five years.
After a year of unfinished business
5th February 2017 2016 turned out to be a dramatic year in world affairs, and it was set to be a busy one for me too, so I could have done without the other developments. That work looking after my late father's affairs is tailing off into more of a steady state, and I hope that things become more manageable as the year progresses. There even might be time for a sabbatical from my day job.
The way that I feel presently is that such a thing would be well needed, and I fancy a period of rest after all the upheaval of the last few years. It has sapped my spirit, so a spot of renewal is in order. Overseas trips became a way to tide myself until a longer break becomes a reality.
In 2016, I got to three new countries: Austria, Norway and Spain. With my visits to the first two of these taking the form of extended weekends, I left feeling that there was more to see. It is usually not a bad thing, but an extra day or two added to each would have allowed a bit more exploration. My Spanish escapade took me to Mallorca between Christmas and New Year, and that brought what the other trips did not bring. There was a feeling of leaving the cares of life after me that was much needed.
In a way, it worked too well, and a cold that I had caught somewhere began to make its effects plain enough that the return journey had more than a little dash of limp home mode about it. It took a week or two before I finally recovered, and some extra time away from work was in order.
Before that took hold, there was ample time in the near constant sunshine as I explored the island from my Palma base. Port de Pollença was my first port of call, with a little strolling about the place. A day trip to Sóller allowed for a chance to sample part of the GR 221, a long-distance trail extending along the Serra de Tramuntana. After that, there was a trot around Port d'Andratx that was supposed to take me to Saint Elm but granted me a view of the place instead when I failed to find the path needed to get me from one track to another. Given that I was feeling less than my full self, it was just as well. The last day of my trip saw me lazing about Palma next to its impressive cathedral, helping sightseers with photos when asked to do so. There was ample time during my stay to make photos of my own too.
Despite the fever, I got a lot from my time in Mallorca, and it offered the feeling of satisfying and more complete explorations. It also did me another favour. During December, I fell into a search for closure that I do not understand fully, and even walks around Macclesfield over the Christmas did little to dissipate the feeling. It probably was grief that hit me but going away somewhere else fractured that unwanted continuity.
December saw me return to the Lake District for a walk between Great Langdale and Grasmere on a crisp winter's day. The dawdling along the way was restorative and taught me that such experiences can be readily available in Britain. There also was an amble between Burbage and Whaley Bridge that revisited the Goyt Valley. Being denied much in the way of sunshine was no irritation, and it also offers encouragement for a return sometime.
Other longer walks happened during the year too, with one returning me home from Leek by way of the Roaches. Thinking about that now recalls how soothing a largely solitary saunter, it was. Another took me along the White to Dark Trail between Tideswell and Hathersage.
Hopefully, 2017 will be an easier year for me, and it is something of an open book in some ways. Aside maybe from a possible stay in Stockholm, overseas excursions no longer loom as large in my mind now. Scotland could see more of me than that short visit in November that took in Inverness and a rainy Plockton. A spot of mental clearance could see me plodding around England and Wales more often, too. Ireland might even see a spot of much-needed exploration, and I also fancy a stay around Killarney. Given how heavy my spirit feels now, the more important job for the year could be to lift things again for me.
