A grey day around Connemara
19th December 2022 The second full day of my August 2018 trip to the West of Ireland remained dry until the evening when heavy rain came. That persisted overnight, and I was to see its effects the next day. The incoming weather front ensured that leaden skies that engulfed the tops of even low hills. Thus, even the prospect of getting clear views from any kind of elevation was going to be a non-starter.
That was a little way into the future when I went into Galway's coach station to catch a bus to Recess. Most were assembling for tourist coach excursions with traditional Irish music playing in the background. What amazed was how easily relief coaches would appear to take the overflow. It really was a case of earning revenue while the customers were there.
When I did get to Recess, the day felt decidedly autumnal. Views over Glendollagh Lough were so grey and overcast that any photos would be record shot material. My target for a hike was Cnoc Lios Uachtar, but that was so buried in low cloud that I changed my plans. What I desired were clear views, not a navigational challenge.
Instead, I opted for a yomp around by Derryclare Lough. The Twelve Bens were just as cloud covered as their lower neighbour, so anything featuring one of Ireland's best known photographic subjects was going to need a return visit if I wanted my own effort at capturing the view to somewhat shine for me. What also amazed me is the electrical power lines blighted the scene. Burying them sounds a tempting way to rewild what is there.
Following the R344 got me to Weir Bridge, where thoughts of following the old railway line appealed. Sadly, they were not realistic, so I followed the N59 to Recess. Given the size of the place and the conditions, I ended up catching another bus to Clifden. Rushed boarding meant that another passenger needed to duck out of the way of the load on my back. This was yet another argument in favour of the folding walking poles that did not arrive in time for my trip. Nevertheless, there was no lasting impact to the day because of this oversight.
Once in Clifden, I pottered towards the coast. Following a minor road took me along by its harbour before I turned inland to return to the town centre again. This was another short stroll and the place was quiet, even though this was the weekend of its annual agricultural show. That was set to have an impact on traffic the following day, but it had little impact on my roaming before then.
Another bus returned me to Galway, where I had plans for the evening. On the way, I noted where Clifden Show was being held and all the horse boxes that were parked in its vicinity. After that, there were stopping points for beginning hikes near and around the Twelve Bens. There were many lakes to see too, for this is countryside that is well watered. Perhaps perversely, there was some brighter weather around Oughterard and Moycullen, but I just admired any scenery that we passed. Some of the reconnaissance would be used on the following day.
Travel Arrangements
Single journeys with Irish Citylink from Galway to Recess, Recess to Clifden and Clifden to Galway.
A damp hike along Clare cliff tops
18th December 2022 This report comes from a trip to the counties of Galway and Clare in August 2018. While that year brought a lot of sunshine, this was a fading memory by the time of a stay that was based in Galway city. The autumn was to bring a share of rain that was welcomed by farmers, who otherwise faced a tough end to a year when feeding for livestock was in short supply.
Though there were sunny interludes, grey weather was my lot for much of the time. Given the rather clandestine nature of the escapade (very few knew what I was doing, since I fancied some quiet time to myself in the country of my birth), the juxtaposition of less-than-glorious weather felt like a repudiation of what I was doing. Even so, I made the best of it.
The first full day of the trip came damp, yet that did not deter me from going to Cliffs of Moher and Doolin. The outbound bus journey rounded Galway Bay with a sighting of Dunguaire Castle near Kinvarra before we then continued around by Black Head. On a bright, sunny day, this would have been a glorious journey. Alas, another attempt will be needed for that, and the castle looked inviting too.
What was equally striking was the narrowness of the roads that the bus driver needed to negotiate, especially with ongoing cars. Several buses left Galway at the same time to follow the same route, each one having a different final destination. It seems that Irish summer school holidays allow extra bus services to run, and for existing ones to get capacity improvements. All get withdrawn at the end of summer, when schools reopen for the new academic year.
The bus called to Doolin, so I got to see its calling point for the end of my planned walk. There, most of the passengers appeared to leave too. Once at the Cliffs of Moher, there was a shout for us to pay for our way into the amenity. If I had gone to Lehinch or Liscannor, I wonder if that charge might have been avoided. For a better day, thoughts of walking from either of those to Doolin have their appeal.
Instead, I pottered south as far as the Moher Tower on Hag's Head before turning back again. Some were edging towards the cliff edge as I suppressed urges to roar at them to get back. Limestone is a slippery rock when wet, so any slippage would have been fatal; it was easy to see why superintendents were using whistles to tell people to stay back. The prospect of a long drop into the cold surf was enough to make me to the landward side of any fencing slabs that were present. Views were restricted by the damp fog and mist, and photography was limited. Only record shots were a possibility.
The way back towards the Visitor Center and O 'Brien's Tower often got slowed by those unaccustomed to walking, for these cliffs are world-famous and a must-see on any coaching tour of Ireland. My desire for speed may have intruded on their day, but I got past all of them on what was a narrow path. The way up Branaunmore was misty but well paved, and it was the descent down the other side that held my attention because that was less well surfaced with added exposure as well.
Things got less dramatic once I got past Knockardakin, and I largely had the trail to myself all the way to Doolin, too. The Burren Way briefly took me onto tarmac before returning to field crossing again. The obvious trail stayed back from any edges, so I got to relax a bit more. Largely having things to myself also helped with this as I shortened the distance to Doolin with a castle in view to my right.
The time of arrival meant that I had quite a wait for the next bus. That was used for getting something to eat and to see where boats depart for the Aran Islands and for trips under the Cliffs of Moher. The extra time may have been available because I had just missed a departing bus that I never saw, but there was no let-up on the greyness, even if the dampness had stalled.
There was no mistake made in getting on the next bus to Galway, and it went by a different route. This took us via Lisdoonvarna and gave us a brief stop at Corkscrew Hill to savour the view of Galway Bay below us. From Ballyvaughan, we were going back the way as the outbound bus had gone. Weather does not always work in our favour, so a revisit remains a plausible possibility.
Travel Arrangements
Return bus journey between Galway and Doolin on Bus Éireann service 350.
Fatigue
15th December 2022 It is amazing how a matter can play on your mind and weigh you down. There has been one of those pressing on me over the last few weeks. Thankfully, I have found a way of moving things along that sets the scene for the start of 2023. All are happy, which is the main thing.
The same thing cannot be said for all the strikes that are happening at the moment. It feels as if everyone is on strike and that this is the new winter of discontent. The weather probably is not helping moods either, but the main reason is the state of the economy right now. Christmas is set to see transport, healthcare and postal industrial actions. Quite why they are not giving everyone else some respite astonishes me.
Maybe it is a certain lack of progress. That is how it feels with one matter that I have ongoing; a tradesman is failing to complete things for me, and this is not leaving things in a great state. The time of year is not helping either, and there is always the way that the end of a year feels like a deadline.
All of this means that walking trips have not happened since the second Scottish outing happened in September. The cause is preoccupation rather than lethargy, which also can strike at this time of year. It all has caused fatigue too, so I am hoping for a restful Christmas break where I can recharge myself.
There were ambitions for a mid-winter getaway, but these have been shelved. There was such a trip to Mallorca in 2016, and I had not realised how worn out I must have been. The pandemic has made me more self-aware, so that helps. What once might have been attributed to colds and flu now get seen as fatigue, and I heed the signs accordingly.
Before I decided against them, I was looking at the possibility of spending some time in either the Azores or Madeira. Air fares were expensive and flights from Manchester were not that frequent either. Going elsewhere might have got me away from a general state of depression, only for other preoccupations to thwart this. With all the strikes, that probably is just as well.
2023 may not be the year of possibility that 2022 was, but it still offers a fresh start. Only time will tell what that means. The current state of affairs surely cannot be sustained, and we all need a lift. Let's see what comes.
It takes time to write
14th December 2022 The last few weeks have seen a spurt of writing on my part. On here, that has manifested itself as an effort on catching up with the writing of trip reports. So far, I have been getting them done for 2018, but there may not be as many for 2019 as I might have feared. After those, we are into 2020 and pandemic times. The passage of time may mean that those will not feel as raw as they otherwise might have done. 2021 seems to have been a walking gap year in many respects, so my next move would be to write up the outings for 2022.
With all of these, it is not the actual writing that takes time, but the choosing and processing of any photos. With digital capture, it is very possible to make many images, only for choosing between them to become difficult. Even with using Adobe Lightroom, this is quite a task. Once decisions are made, the actual processing does not take that long, especially since I do not go overboard on tweaking photos and there is ever advancing automation that helps as well.
Still, the selection process does bring its own rewards because it reminds me of what I experienced out on the hike in question. That helps with doing the writing afterwards as much as taking my mind away from all the doom and gloom that pervades us at the moment. As much as having too many photos can be frustrating, they undoubtedly act as an aide de mémoire when there is a lag of some years between hiking and writing.
Thankfully, the whole process is cathartic as well. Otherwise, it might become a chore that one wishes to avoid. Maybe, that is partly why the backlog has resulted. There are other reasons too, such as the rawness of looking back during lockdowns. It is easier to recall freedom when you still have some than when your movements of restricted. That is how it is now, so the therapeutic side can win.
A short amble about Yr Eifl
12th December 2022 One trip often inspires another, and my visit to the Llŷn Peninsula was another example of this, following on from another to Barmouth. One motivation was to have travelled the entire length of the Cambrian Coast railway line, while another was to visit Yr Eifl after seeing it featured in various magazine route descriptions over the years.
My plan had been to catch a bus from Pwllheli to Llithfaen and walk around Yr Eifl before returning to Pwllheli on foot. That did not happen for various reasons, though indecisiveness on my part affected my traipsing around Yr Eifl.
Firstly, there was the fact that this is a long rail journey so that limited how much time I had available, especially with an arrival time after 13:00 after an early start from Macclesfield. The Sunday timetable was poor for much of the year as well, which meant that weekend stays are not supported as they might be elsewhere. Thus, I wanted to avoid getting marooned.
This was another hot day, and my progress may have been slower than it would have been on a cooler one. Of course, there might have been an element of underestimation in the time needed to get to the main top of Yr Eifl anyway. When this is put together with a fear of getting marooned on a Welsh extremity, cautiousness was bound to intrude.
Given the time strictures, I set off out of Llithfaen without delay, not that there was much there to hold me anyway. Its only shop had shut for the day in what felt like a very sleepy place. Thus, this was going to be one of the quieter strolls that I ever have done. It was a case of following the lane by Tynyparc and getting out onto the open hillside, where there are many paths, for this is access land. Rights of way are my normal preference, so I followed one past Caergribin before following a less formal path uphill to the summit with views of Mynydd Carnguwch and Cardigan Bay behind me.
Views of the eastern top of Yr Eifl were to distract me on the way up to the main summit. Even among the stony slopes, walls could be seen on the eastern top. These are the remains of the Tre'r Ceiri Hillfort, a sign that these hills have been frequented by humanity since antiquity. Further to the east, there were other hills to be seen once enough height had been gained. This collection includes Moel-Pen-llechog, Gyrn Ddu, Gyrn Goch and Bwlch Mawr. These take up more land area than where I was and might be worth exploring at some point, assuming a return to the area. The scene was beginning to feel more suggestive of being in more immersive hill country, especially with the hills of Snowdonia in the background.
On reaching the main summit, I was greeted by a trig point with the number four added to the top. The letters A and H were added as well, so I wondered if they were the initials of whoever did this. The drop to the sea on the other side is sobering, yet it has not escaped quarrying. Thankfully, I do not recall seeing much in the way of gouges into the landscape, but that might be a different story if I was following the Wales Coast Path, since that gets closer to these active and inactive workings.
My next moves were the subject of some internal debate given time constraints. Visiting the old ramparts of Tre'r Ceiri might have been a no-brainer if it were not for other considerations. Whether I had yet to reject the idea of walking back to Pwllheli or not remains an open question for me now, but I descended to the B4417 in any case. After that, I walked back to Llithfaen again. Traffic was light, and I do know that my mind was set on caution because I caught the next bus back to Pwllheli with time to spare before the next train.
That train was delayed, so I got to spend more time in Pwllheli than I had expected. The delay was heavy, so there was a real risk of missing my connection at Wolverhampton, but I got home that night anyway. Timing concerns mean that it was not the most relaxing of journeys, even with some bright evening sunshine to distract me. The trouble with this section of the British rail network is that much of it is single-track. Thus, a delay to one train can affect others, so there can be all sorts of knock-on effects. In this case, it might have been a passenger falling ill that was the cause of all the trouble. At least, that is what I seem to remember being told when I tried to claim compensation using the Delay Repay scheme.
Even among any qualms, I still began to muse a little over future possibilities. The idea of using Porthmadog as a base appealed to me, possibly because bus connections could address the lack of trains for returning after a weekend getaway. However, a recent look at the train timetable suggests that the Sunday timetable has improved. If so, spending more time near Pwllheli becomes plausible. What I gained was a brief taste of good things, and there are other possibilities in these parts. The railway also serves several access points for other hill walking routes. A bit of advance planning could yield its rewards.
Travel Arrangements
A return train journey between Macclesfield and Pwllheli, followed by a return bus journey between Pwllheli and Llithfaen.
