Woodbine Farm

10.9 miles, 5mph, 214m gain

I'm back in Devon along my favourite Culm valley water meadows!  This time via a new footpath segment from Hunkin Wood (marked Five Fords on the map) to Woodbine Farm. A path not well worn and turning into what was essentially a muddy stream: good at least that I was bare-foot, but probably not to be repeated in a hurry.

Bluebells on the way to Woodbine Farm

Little sign of the path as it crossed meadows

The path-cum-stream, foot-deep mud in places

Culmstock bridge, my furthest point

River Culm

My water meadows: the flora

and the fauna

Cool farm work

Me

 

Sorrel Hill

My track 22.5 miles part cycle part hike

OpenTopo map

Sunday afternoon again, and mild at 12'C and the mountains were calling again. Or "hills" if you insist. The last time I climbed (hiked) up Sorrel Hill was many years ago and with my daughter S. It was one of those father-daughter times. Our route back then was different from mine today.

So I started by deciding to cycle around the Lake Drive, but stopped at Lacken to inspect the tourist map they have erected and which informed me that just a few yards to the left I would find access to the "MASSPATH", and so I did and, oh my - I have to apologise for maligning Ireland's lack of well maintained footpaths! This end in particular but the whole trail was well maintained. I could not resist such a temptation so I rested my bike against a handy post, removed shoes and helmet and set off. I met perhaps a dozen other people - I think Covid has encouraged folk to get outdoor exercise. There were the usual comments on my lack of shoes, but all very friendly.

If you look closely you might notice the hang-gliders, even a powered one, and a bi-plane

 

A quick Sunday afternoon mountain

 

 

Cycling to Ballyknockan then along a forestry track to Silsean, our nearest mountain (700m).

Returning to Ballyknockan via the quarry road. Hiking stats: 3.8 miles, max altitude 697m, elevation gain 563m. Barefoot of course.

Saint Kevin wears sandals

Saint Kevin wears sandals. Or shoes of some kind. I know because I have walked the 26km St Kevin's Way barefoot with considerable chagrin, so either Kevin was mega holy and above pain or, as is more likely, human and shod. My right foot got minor punctured twice, adding to the discomfort of walking on sharp gravel and board walks liberally studded with staples standing some 3/4" proud of the wood (they do this to avoid the wood getting slippery when wet. It was not wet). All this suffering by my choice but the walk was in honour of Ryan who is leaving us in two weeks' time.

But we enjoyed the walk, the craic, and mostly a cider followed by dinner at the Hollywood Inn.

Our track

My track 16.3 miles (26km), average speed moving 2.9 mph, elevation gain 744m. Here are some random shots, in reverse order (it appears nothing can be done to re-order them apart from laboriously copying them one by one).

Ryan and his amazing (luke warm) tea making machine

David and Ryan stopped to do push-ups every so often 

Tiffin near Wicklow Gap summit

Historic mining buildings

The works

A screen shaker?

A stone crusher?

Why are my feet so soft?

One would think after running barefoot three times a week that one's feet would continue to harden - but it seems that I have reached a plateau. For the last couple of months the difficult areas on my regular forest run remain as difficult, and the stones on our drive remain as sharp to the feel. Do I need to run more often or for longer... taken to its limit I would end up running from dawn to dusk...

Ten miles

Having entered the forest and judged there were too many flies, I retraced my steps and did the Goat Man's lane, King's River bridge and back via Valleymount loop - I reckon about ten miles. No shoes of course. My feet survived remarkably well but the rest of me is très fatigue.

Barefoot running and Reflexology

There is divided opinion on whether reflexology "works".  But no-one denies that foot massage is enjoyable and is highly sensual indeed sexual.  When you run bare foot you get foot massage for free.  Check out:

http://runbarefootgirl.com/2011/08/is-it-about-sex/
http://reflexologylive.blogspot.com/2010/01/barefoot-running-and-ground-awareness.html
http://www.thebarefootrunners.org/threads/reflexology.6081/

Running bare feet and tinned milk 2

Mcvities Golden Syrup cake (made with Tate and Lyle's Golden Syrup), topped with Tesco's Toffee Desert Sauce (ingredients major in condensed milk, golden syrup and cream), with the last of the tinned (evaporated) milk poured over.  Such synergy!

Another totally bare foot run along the "forest" route this morning, after a lot of rain during the night.  So the ground was very wet and slippery.  I missed my footing whilst investigating a stream and cut my hand on a rock when steadying myself.  Later I slipped on a down hill part and my other hand landed in a gorse bush to steady myself.  On the bright side I don't think I contracted any foot splinters though.

Running bare feet and tinned milk

I have a sore toe.  It is sore because it had a splinter which I hope I fully removed last night.  It had a splinter because I run bare foot.  It is a price to pay.

On the bright side I enjoyed "tinned milk" (evaporated milk) on my cereal this morning.  The art is to mix the right quantity of neat tinned milk with the normal (full fat) milk.  Talking of which, why do people pay as much for low fat milk as for normal (full fat) milk?  It ought to be cheaper.