Aug 25 to 26

26.August 2009 - northern Eire


After a good night's sleep @ the Ballyemon Barn near Cushendall I set out to follow the Waterfall Walk in the Glengariff Forest Park. Amazingly enough, here's really a forest to be walked in! Now that might sound trite to anyone not Irish, but honestly, woods are absolutely scarce on the island. Once covered to around 90% by it, early settlers (-we're talking neolithic and onward!) burnt nearly all down and by doing so eventually created the vast (now receeding) boglands. Nowadays the majority of trees are made up by pine plantations... Not wanting to spend another night in NI (and have the hassle of paying in pounds), I hurry down south to Newcastle and the Mtns. of Mourne. I even drop the idea of trail walking in favour of a quick return to the ROI (Republic of Ireland). It takes only so much as a tiny ferocious sabertooth-stone, that literally claws its way through the thick rubber of my front tyre, to put a full stop to any further travel plans. And so I find myself changing to a spare tyre and spending the night @ the Newcastle YH instead, before setting out to find a decent mechanic in Warrenpoint, close enough to the border to be sure to be welcome with my ROI-license plate. I had intended to see a mechanic anyway, since the front brakes are bare the brakepads by now, but I had hoped to postpone that till I'm back in the ROI. But some traveller's Saint must be holding his hand above me, because the puncture can be mended, saving me the trouble of buying a new tyre. Plus, the mechanic of my choice not only squeezes me in despite his tight schedule - with only 70 BPS for all the labour and incl. the breakpads and fluid, he makes me a fairly good price (at least in German terms), too. And at 6 pm I'm back on 4 wheels, speeding back to the ROI. When I pass the Narrow Water Castle just outside Warrenpoint, I realise that tomorrow would be the 30th anniversary of the so called Warrenpoint Ambush that took so many lives @ this place back then. But neither side is wishing to draw any attention to it, I suppose...