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

Cracked heel balm 2

The cracked heel balm I posted about a few weeks back really is working. The bad crack under my left great toe has healed and I have not had to resort to super-glue even once since I started using it. So I can thoroughly recommend it to would be barefoot runners.

I started off applying it morning and evening as per instructions but now find I only need to use it once a day if that.

I guess the next thing is to see if I can make my own - where does one buy urea I wonder?

Barefoot Barretstown

New route, 14.3 miles

Ali went shopping so I went running. Poulaphouca, Ballymore, past Barretstown camp, then over the hill at Glenmore and down to the N81, Baltyboys and along the lake shore. A very quick dip - it's getting colder so maybe this will be the last swim of the year - sad. Because I'm not one of these hardy types that will break the ice to take a swim. Lovely poppies, though: I have enjoyed them so much and they have lasted so long.

O little town of Blessington, from Glenmore

Poppies by the lake shore

I love this lake and these mountains

Sunday afternoon

It was raining when I started. My son tried to entice me from going with offers of tea and bakewell tarts but I resisted (just) and set off. Apparently my GPS was not so eager. Total distance a little over 10 miles.

The end of the storm

Part of Kevin's way, behind SlieveCorragh
the power lines go to Turlough Hill

Looking west

Descending towards Hollywood

St Kevin's way near Hollywood

Forest moss

Almost home again via Lugnagroagh

Mullaghcleevaun wild camp barefoot

If time is measured in ticks, I am older. Two weeks ago I had done a barefoot "run" over the nearby mountains Silsean and Moanbane and had complained of waste high heather and shoulder high ferns. During that "run" I had looked longingly at Mullaghcleevaun but time did not permit. Over the next couple of days I extracted several deer ticks and waited to see if there were more or if I had contracted Lyme disease. Thus no more mountain trekking for a while: but two weeks later I appear to still be well and figured this was a long enough embargo so, having carefully consulted the mountain weather forecast I decided at the last moment to do an overnight, but avoiding tall vegetation.  Did I enjoy it? I enjoyed the trekking but the camping bit... I think I prefer a house and a warm bed and home cooked food!

I took sandals with me in case of emergency but did not use them. There are many areas where it is hard to avoid sinking ankle deep, sometimes further, in muddy peat. Barefoot is so much simpler in such cases, although I will admit that some of the grass was quite sharp the feel.

The first part of my track followed my route two weeks ago as far as Silsean. Only now I had a back-pack and that steep ascent from Ballyknockan was hard work. Then I skirted around Moanbane, across Billy Byrne's Gap and thus to Mullaghcleevan Lough. Which is as beautiful a place as you might care to imagine.

Saturday going 9.5 miles, elevation gain 782m

I started out after lunch on Saturday and arrived at my destination a bit before 18:00 hours, set camp, went for a quick swim (as one does) in the lough, phoned home to say I was alive, and cooked "dinner" on Chris's camp stove. Bacon, rice and a stock cube washed down with cider, followed by Irish CDM for pudding.

Arrival detail Cleevaun lough

The detail map shows a bit of the return journey, my Android having decided to reboot just 10 minutes after leaving. The night was fitful - in spite of vast numbers of clothing layers I was cold. Having to get up to relieve myself several times was an accomplishment in itself and didn't help. But eventually dawn arrived.  I finally woke at 05:50 hours when it was just beginning to get light.

Sunday morning return 4.7 miles

After a cosy lie-in till 06:15, I got extricated myself from the sleeping bag, went out and tried to warm up by running in circles. During this exercise of limited success I discovered there was another tent nearby. Strange, I had not seen or heard anyone else.

In order to get home, have a shower and make myself presentable before our Sunday meeting at 10:00 hours I was obliged to break camp by 07:00 hours, so I quickly fried the remaining bacon and stuffed it into a dry crust of bread I had brought for the purpose (next time I must butter the bread) and forced it down with some water. Now ready to leave I first took some photos and discovered that the "tent" was in fact a rock!

Ali thankfully met me as arranged on the road down to Lacken and we made it to the meeting on time. Hence, in the map, the track petering out. So far I haven't found any ticks.

You can enlarge my pictures by clicking on them.

Our house is somewhere over there

The quarry track at Ballyknockan (and me)

Two weeks ago they had hardly started this tree felling 

First sight of the lough

From the beach

My tent quite close to the beach

Better phone signal here, and that's Mullaghcleevaun up there

The next set of pictures were taken on the way back.

Sunday morning - what I had thought was a tent

Sun-rise

Goodbye Cleevaun Lough

First sun 

Mist coming down on Mullaghcleevaun

See the deer on the ridge (click to enlarge)

First sight of our lake

Looking north to TV mast on Kippure

More deer (and deer mean ticks)

No chance of getting lost - I have GPS!

I want Black hill ahead, Sorrel hill to the right

Looking north again

Skirting Black hill I found this handy drainage ditch

Hallmark selfie

Looking back along the ditch

From the road down to Lacken

Cracked Heel Balm

I've mentioned before the problem I have had with cracks opening up in the crease under my big toes, as well as cracks on my heels. I've tried applying coconut oil and removing dead skin but with limited success. Web research suggested I should try a cream with urea in it. So I was in Boots the chemist and noticed their Cracked Heel Balm with 25% urea, and made an executive financial decision.

It's amazing stuff! It is quickly absorbed so application is not messy, and it keeps the skin moisturised for ages. I started applying morning and evening per instructions but now use it only in the mornings and the cracks are healing.

I think it is still necessary to exfoliate to stop the skin getting too thick at those creases so my sand-paper method is still valid.

Today I swam at the very top of a mountain

This morning in service I looked longingly out of the window at the purple headed mountains and so, having looked at an ailing coffee maker, mended a crackling 'phone and established that there was nothing else that I needed to do I donned minimal clothing, took my shoes off and ran away.

The track and elevation graph are from my Garmin and, once again, it has lost track whilst climbing Silsean. I was also tracking on my Samsung which was more successful, see below.  The total distance was 14.95 miles, maximum height 755m, average speed moving 4.35 mph.

This gate and the inscription are at the end of the quarry road in Ballyknockan and gives easy access to the Wicklow mountains.

I seem to be attracted to cows. This is half way up and I gave them wide berth - I didn't bother them and apart from raising their heads and sizing me up they didn't bother me.

I followed a wadi - a water course through the peat, with lots of wet sphagnum moss, one of the most delicious substances to walk barefoot on.

Here is the wadi, looking back towards the Blessington Lake

And here's looking upward.

More of the same. Although overcast there was no rain from the duration of my adventure and it was very warm, warm enough to make me sweat profusely.

At the summit the wadi took me slightly north of Silsean's peak, so I ran south and circumnavigated the cairn to prove that I had been there. As one does.

This is a screen shot from Oruxmaps on my Samsung smart phone that is no longer a phone, and the mapping is not as good as in my recent Willand posts. Sadly Ireland is not so gracious with their OS mapping as is the UK.  The cows are not shown on this map.

Silsean has a cairn. It also has some nice muddy peat and two shallow "lakes" to mess in. So after messing I ran to the companion peak Moanbane where, we are told, instead of a cairn there is a lake at the top. And sure enough there is, right smack at the very summit. It is quite small, perhaps 10 ft wide and 20 ft long. But the amazing thing is its depth.  I lowered myself into the water expecting it to be like one of the inactive ponds in the Wood between the Worlds, but found that at shoulder depth I was only just beginning to find what might be the beginning of the bottom (one never quite knows how much or what sort of mud to find). And the water continued a bit under the surrounding ground which was a bit scary. So I left the bottom largely undiscovered and gingerly swam across the lake - the temperature was quite reasonable, and it very effectively washed off all the mud. I can thoroughly recommend it.

It seems a strange place to find all that much water. In my experience I have found that water generally goes downhill but not, apparently, in Ireland. After all, why else would they put Cork at the bottom?

Having done Silsean and Moanbane I continued in a generally north direction with no definitive idea as to get back to the road and this turned out to be a mistake. Ignoring such details, how I loved the freedom of the mountains! To run barefoot across peaty grass-land or heather without a soul around and such beauty all around. But life cannot be all fricasseed frogs and eel pie and I had to get back in time for a shower before dinner at 6pm.

This stream between Moanbane and Black Hill is marked on OpenStreetMap as Cook Brook. I looked in vain for a suitable place for a dip.

This picture is from the flank of Black Hill looking towards home, having just crossed Cook Brook. At this point I started looking for likely places to regain civilisation.

The heather on this mountain grows twice as high as normal, sometimes waste height, which made my progress slow. Eventually I decided to descend come what may. The heather eventually gave way to gorse and I began to fear that the way might become impassable (to bare legs and feet) but thankfully I made it through. Towards the bottom the gorse gave way to ferns and these were even higher and I had to fight my way through - but it was nice fighting. Bracken is friendly. I headed for a dwelling place and was able to join its (no doubt private) driveway and thence to the road and the long haul back home.