Have breakfast at the place while getting ready for the day before Noel drops me off at the train station. The ticket over to Westport which is almost as expensive as the ticket to Ballyhaunis from Dublin and like half the distance. Get in and have some time to kill so I walk around a little bit to see some of the city before catching my bus. The whole area is beautiful (town and nature) Bus stops mid route to change drivers and I guess there was a failure of communication in the handover as the new driver overshoots my stop so I tell her to stop and I walk back a bit to get to my place to start my trek up the mountain (croagh st patrick). Its an absolutely beautiful day which helps during the hike. This hike is no joke, consisting really of 2 parts; the first part is steep but with some pretty decent footing, the second part is even steeper with some of the most unsure footing I might have ever encountered.
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| View from the train on the way to the coast |
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| Moo Moos |
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| Waterford is a beautiful town |
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| Peak rising in the distance... up we go soon |
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| Love all the buildings made out of the stone... |
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| Found the main square |
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| All these towns look the same but different its really interesting... |
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| Crinkly enjoying some reflective water pics |
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| Crinkly likes this view and I cant blame him |
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| One more pic before we go get our bus out of town |
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| Crinkly walking back to the area to start the hike looking at the feat ahead of us |
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| Crinkly taking some pics with his horsey friends |
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| View of the water from the street level, there will be higher views soon me thinks. |
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| Found the starting point finally, lets do this |
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Crinkly ready to get this show on the road, get those steps
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| Ahh yeah Crinkly liking these views already |
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| Crinkly having second thoughts... keep going fool |
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| Crinkly meeting Sheep friends |
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| View inland after the first challenge up |
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| Crinkly found a pile of rocks... oooo the view behind the rocks.. yeah thats nice too :) |
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| Crinkly loves the little islands sitting in the water all around. |
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| Ok time to start tackling phase 2 |
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| Crinkly is liking the views inland as well |
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| This phase is not nice is it Crinkly? |
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| Crinkly saying the views down below are worth it up here |
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| Crinkly was proud he made it to the top |
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| Just so everyone knows Crinkly didnt take my camera and do this hike without me, we both made it :) |
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| There was also a little church up on top of the mountain (which makes sense if its a pilgrimage) |
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| We walked up that didnt we crinkly... |
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| These guys followed us up... gotta follow them down to see their route... or not |
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| Crinkly taking in the view one more time before we start heading down. |
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| Alright Crinkly, lead on |
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| To give an idea of the gradient I am struggling with |
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| This was where I got down from the hard part and just took some me time |
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| I wonder if its possible to get used to this view. So beautiful!! |
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Oh croagh patrick... you beautiful challenging beast... was fun
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| Ahhh back at the start... Feels good |
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| Crinkly checking out the famine memorial with the mission of the day in the background. There are a ton of these famine memorials all over the country (makes sense considering the impact of it to the people and the trajectory of the country). |
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| Monastic ruins near the coast. |
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| Better look at the grounds from the beach cause of course Crinkly wanted to go to the water. |
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| Crinkly enjoying the view out over the water |
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| Another amazing view... thanks Crinkly |
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| Found yet another cousin's shop in town |
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| Dinner of champions cause champions drink mango lassis |
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| Found my cousins brothers shop |
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| Sky clearing and making for some awesome light play with the buildings |
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| Backside of one of the huge churches in town |
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| Just enjoying some sunset time before our bus leaves |
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| Made it back to Ballyhaunis for a drink to celebrate the long but eventful day and watching a match on tv. |
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| The church by night |
Because its Ireland, the whole way up you stop and talk to people going both directions; hell at a couple times, I just decided to walk with people at their pace to give me a break but to also help take my mind off of the ordeal ahead of me. On the second part, I get to a point which I knew I would have trouble with on the way down but I kept going up to eventually get to the top which has some amazing views but is also a bit of a wind tunnel which cuts right through the clothes I have on; combine that with how sweaty and wet I am and yeah I got cold fast. After done enjoying the views, I start my way down and I get to the part I knew would give me fits and sure enough, I struggled massively because of my fear of heights; so much so that a little bit after I finally got past that part, the emotions caught up with me and I started crying a bit and had to get off the trail and find a place to meditate to help calm my nerves and recompose myself. Turns out an older couple that I had passed on my way down at the hell part, saw me and we wound up talking and commiserating (she also was having similar fears which is only natural in that scenario I feel) which helped a bit; people generally are helpful and amazing creatures. Eventually walk the rest of the way down and go across the street to check out the famine memorial (there are a bit of these here cause that was a huge part of the country's history) and abbey which has some amazing views of the water. Bus gets there and their card reader doesnt work. Drops me off in town and then I walk around a bit more before going into Bridge street fast food for a much deserved fish and chips with a mango lassi which was amazing; I love mango lassis. Walk around a little bit more until its time for my bus back to the place. The driver is 15 mins late to start the drive. Everyone gets on, we head out and everyone gets off on the first stop except me. I eventually get back into town and stop and have some beers at a different pub in town then Noel comes and gets me as the road to his place isnt safe to walk on at night (no sidewalk). Shower and get to bed.
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