A brief visit to the Wicklow Gap

A busy weekend - removing carpet in hall stairs and landings and repairing floorboards ready for a new carpet to be laid later this week - but a gorgeous day so after doing my bit I got away for a couple of hours, enough to make the Wicklow Gap and back again. With a cold hot cross bun.

The outward journey took just over an hour, then 5 minutes of bliss atop a large rock enjoying the scenery and enjoying my bun sluiced down with water, and then hastening back again (we have company for dinner).

Total distance 21 miles, maximum speed 40 mph (the downhill behind Knockalt), average speed moving 12.3 mph, maximum elevation 480m.

The outward journey follows part of St Kevin's Way - but I only saw one walker and he wasn't on the official Way. Whilst I condone the increasing number of way-marked paths here in Ireland (I can't think of any when we first moved down from the North 35 years ago) it is still a long way behind the UK. When last in Devon I was reminded of just how many public footpaths there are. This site notes that Devon County Council is responsible for maintaining 3.200 miles of public rights of way, and there are similar sites for other UK counties, like here for my county of birth. Here even the way-marked paths often cross private property with permission but without right of way.

At least there is growing pressure here in Ireland for change.

Ruby Run 2

Ruby Route Two

I love the wealth of footpath and bridle-way rights-of-way in England and they are even signposted. There is nothing to compare with this in Ireland, although in recent years a good attempt has been made to open up some longer distance way-marked paths such as the Wicklow Way. Although the immediate locale of Willand is relatively devoid of paths you do not have to run far to find them. My "holy grail" is to find barefoot friendly paths

The map is an OruxMaps screen-shot from my smart-phone. My track is marked in red. The GPS statistics were: total distance 15.46 miles, average speed 5.44 mph (5.84 moving), maximum altitude 293m, minimum 49m. This ranks as my longest recorded barefoot run.

I set out soon after 6 a.m. (the clocks had just changed it would have been 7 a.m.) on the same way as I had come back on my previous run. At Blackborough I took the uphill road pictured in my last post climbing up onto Blackborough Common.

This area is part of the Blackdown Hills as is evident from an old relief map from the Barthomolew 1/2" series. Willand is off the left edge of the map and about half way down. The Culm valley with its railway line (now closed and little trace left) is clearly visible. The M5 did not exist back then - its route roughly follows the railway line (main line to Exeter) at top left. You can click on this or any of the pictures to enlarge them.

Extract from Barthomolew 1:126,720 maps

Early morning in Kentisbeare

Kentisbeare

Having climbed the hill leaving Blackborough village behind

Blackborough Common

Blackborough Common

The road that might have taken me to Dulford

Inasmuch as I had a plan at all, it had been to follow this road to Dulford and thence home, but I turned left onto a footpath which followed the edge of the escarpment hoping to find what I thought on my map was a triangulation pillar and thus with a view, but it turned out to be only a spot height (marked "283" on the map). Since I was on holiday I figured I might as well see where this path would take me, and further along this path got my panoramic views even if they were a bit misty. The path was also exceedingly muddy but one of the advantages of running barefoot is that mud is no problem - it is even desirable. It is much easier to clean one's feet than shoes and mud between the toes feels so good.

View from North Hill

View from North Hill

My revised plan was now to descend via a track through Northill Farm but I could see this was going to be stony under foot - and then I saw a sign pointing to the left over a grassy field. Even though this would take me further away from home I could not resist such a temptation so over the style I climbed and luxuriated running through the cool wet grass. And this took me to the small village of Broadhembury.

Footpath over a field to Broadhembury

Looking back where I had run from

The field-path ended here

Ford at Broadhembury

The ford was a welcome surprise (along with footpaths and cherry bakewells I love fords) - all the more surprising because there was a bridge too and yet the ford obviously gets used. I stopped to wash all the Blackborough mud off my legs and feet, and then took a brief detour beyond the ford to check out the village and its church.

Broadhembury

slight detour to photo Broadhembury church

And then the long, long slog back home. Part of my return route followed the A373 as by now I was tiring of exploring. Running along a main road is not so much fun.

River Culm at Willand

And so I made it back home and was duly surprised to find I had topped 15 miles - yes I was tired but I could have gone further. Although I am still unsure whether I could do a marathon barefoot though.

And then there is Dean Karnazes the ultramarathon runner who has run 350 miles in 80 hours without sleep! But he doesn't run barefoot so maybe that makes all the difference...

Waterworks and Watercress

I went to a school in Winchester - more about that in a later blog maybe.  In a geography lesson the question was asked where was the watercress 'capital' of the UK?  I had not a clue that it was my hometown Alresford!  Nowadays a major attraction in Alresford is the Watercress Line.

I have never been too partial with green food with the possible exception of peas and lime ice cream.  Watercress as a food item has thus passed me by.  But the watercress beds in Alresford were quite another matter.  That they were used to grow watercress in was to me more of a nuisance and at best a bye-product.

The beds that my past were entwined with are along the Little Weir (extension of Mill Hill) and are visible from Google Maps Streeview and in the pictures below (not my own).

These two pictures are both recent.  They are looking back from very close to the first ram pump location (which is behind the camera) in my previous post and looking towards Mill Hill and Alresford proper.  The Great Weir is on the left.  The footpath to the right is the Little Weir.  The beds are demarcated by low concrete walls and fed from the river on the left.  Note the gap in the foreground of the top picture - the groves either side allow wooden slats to be inserted to control the water flow.  The amazing thing is that these concrete walls - and that gap in particular - look exactly as I remember them some 50 years ago.  We (my sister and I) used to jump over the gaps and wall along the walls.  It was something one had to do every time one was taken on this particular walk.

Thankfully the owners generally turned a blind eye to our escapades.  Of course we were careful to respect their property.  It has always been my principle to respect another person's property when I trespass on it, and I firmly hold to this day that trespassing is not an offence unless damage is done. My understanding is that such behaviour is upheld in English law. If a land owner expressly wants privacy then it is their duty to erect a suitable child-proof fence. It is of course foundational to the working of the web of public rights-of-way (footpaths, tracks, bridlepaths) that criss-cross the English countryside sometimes to the aggravation of the landowner.  This principle is another reason why I would find living in America so difficult where, it appears, the landowner has the right to kill you simple because you accidentally set a foot on his land. Here in Ireland the attitude is subtly different - for insurance reasons and because apparently the Irish will sue at any opportunity, land owners are very wary of trespassers.  If you ask permission to cross a neighbour's land the answer will invariably be "no - but if you hadn't asked then it would have been alright".  Therefore the thing to do is to make sure no one sees you trespassing, and certainly not to draw attention to it, and then nobody will mind at all.   Here in Ireland there are also far fewer rights-of-way across people's land and I find this hard: I long for the English system. Thankfully I live close enough to the Wicklow mountains where you can generally walk freely.

Coming back to the watercress beds - some of the gaps had a wooden plank "bridge" over them and I can distinctly remember when I found the owners had tacked some new looking chicken wire over the plank to give some grip and thinking what a good idea this was, although also thinking it was an overkill because wasn't part of the fun being wary of the slippery surface?

On one occasion my grandfather 'Ginty' was taking me on this walk "round the river" - my sister was not, I think, with me on this occasion.  I did my usual wall expedition and fell off and drenched my (short) trousers and must have come back to Ginty wailing, for I remember him calmly telling me not to worry - I was not hurt, I had only made my 'pants' wet.  Obviously I was expecting him to be angry, for I remember immediately becoming calm and forever after I have blessed him for the way he dealt with the situation.