2025 Foray: The Barrow Line

River Slate, Rathangan

My son gave me a North Face tent and my wife a backpack upgrade. But what good are they unless I use them? And so, with my medical condition in mind, I planned a trilogy of hikes in increasing order of challenge: 

(1)  A three and a half day hike along the Barrow Line canal and river and thus on the level;

(2)  A three or four day hike along the Sheep's Head peninsula (from sea level to 300m max.);

(3)  A three week hike along Offa's Dyke (between Wales and England) max. 685m

So far I have attempted (1) and failed. It would of course look better if I redefined my goal as a two day's hike but...  To explain: the Barrow Line is a canal that links the Grand Canal (one of the two canals that link the great and mighty Shannon with Dublin) with the navigable reach of the River Barrow at Athy.  My plan was to follow this "Barrow Way" for the majority of its distance:

Summary distances

Sallins to Lowtown 13km along the Grand canal

Lowtown to Rathangan 12.5km along the Barrow Line canal

Rathangan to Monasterevin* 10.6km

Monasterevin to Athy* 23km the Barrow Line meets the Barrow River

Athy to Carlow* 19km along the Barrow River

Carlow to Bagenalstown* 16km

total 94km = 19 hrs suggest 3 days

* Note - there's a handy rail station at each asterisked town for returning home

Whilst "19hrs" was calculated at a walking pace of 5km/h and spread between three days appears to be reasonable, "94km" divided by 3 is over 30km per day. Which is a considerable distance.  I actually achieved 66km over two days before I decided "enough is enough". Seriously, I think I could have made the whole distance had it not been for this 8.75kg load on my back. But how can you overnight without a tent and sleeping bag, not to mentions the other accoutrements a minimalistic backpacker considers essential, water being the heaviest?

I arrived in Athy in time for the train and bus connection to get me back home at 18:30. And, oh how I slept that night!

What do you do when walking these interminable distances? You muse. You pray for everyone in your immediate circle. You counts strides in tens, then tens in tens. My stride is about 1.2m so ten is 12m and ten of them 120m... just a measly 120m. Not even a kilometre. When praying I habitually ask for some confirmation that there actually is someone listening. Not just hearing about another person's experience - this has to be my experience. Is it too much to ask God to reveal himself to me personably?  But it occurred to me that, maybe, this whole hike and its abortion was God speaking? Perhaps he is saying that 33km per day is too much for me.

OK other people do vastly more challenging challenges like this guy who ran from Perth to Sydney: that's 3,844 km. Maybe he was younger than I am. Maybe he wasn't carrying a 8.75kg back pack?

You can check out my photos here.

Curragh shopping

Ali wanted to go to Newbridge so we went together and she shopped whilst ran. This seemed to me a good arrangement, and this time I explored the furthermost reaches of the Curragh, towards Rathangan. The route relies on the farm bridge over the N7 motorway.

Total distance 10.4 miles, average speed moving 6.2 mph. No mountains, lakes or rivers but there was a large muddy puddle, but puddles are no problem when barefoot.

I saw some folk busy looking hard for something in the grass. And it wasn't the sheep droppings which are so plentiful on the Curragh. I spoke to one man and he explained he was collecting mushrooms and he hastened to add that it wasn't the sort I was (apparently) thinking about. He showed me his tub - they were tiny - mostly stalk and with a cap less than a cm in diameter. He said they were wonderful with scrambled eggs. I thought more of the sheep dropping with which they had spent their lives so far.

I didn't think to photograph them. Strictly one is not allowed to photograph anything on the Curragh for fear that it might get into enemy hands and be the downfall of the Republic (the Curragh is one of the Irish Army's training grounds). I admit that I did take a couple of pictures though I was careful not to include anything that could possibly be thought to be sensitive, unless a spider's web...

Train bound for Kildare town

The muddy puddle - a foot deep in places!

Signal at danger

Another train, and racecourse fencing

Beautiful cloud effects

Spider's lace

The inevitable plus a few sheep