The Lecale Way

For the past two days we have been traveling along a semi-popular route called the Lecale Way.  The trail has followed the coast heading in a southwest direction and taken us through many lovely small towns and rural areas.  The weather continues to be great and it has been fun to see the local farmers taking off straw and barlage.

We started this section in Strangford, after taking a three hour bus trip which included five transfers from Bangor.  The first night we stayed in a B and B in Ardglass and we finished the route in Newcastle, in the shadow of the Mourne Mountains.  Being the eternal optimists that we are we thought we could hike from Ardglass to Newcastle in one day without a problem. However, it turned out that would be over 30 km, on sore feet. We made it to Ballykinler and had to call it a day, still putting in 25 km.  Karma was smiling on us; just as we were about to call a taxi one pulled into the gas station we were at and was able to give us a lift. We made it to Newcastle where we will spend two nights.  It is a beautiful town squished between the sea and the Mourne Mountains.  Tomorrow we
tackle the biggest peak on the trail, luckily without our packs, tomorrow we are day hikers!

Our Lunch Spot that day

Trip Reboot

We sat in Dungiven the other night searching for bus routes to get us to Belleek, the sections of the trail between Dungiven and Belleek were lower priority sections for us and in the interest of time we decided to skip them and circle back at the end if possible. The problem was that between these two small towns, bus service took five hours and only ran on Thursdays and Saturdays, and of course we wanted to travel on a Friday. This was our first night under a roof since our camping adventure and we were exhausted.  We tried bus route combination after combination to get us down there to no avail. Lisa found a bus/train combo to Holywood, which was the last town prior to entering Belfast on our journey, and it was only a three hour trip. We decided to go there and begin the hike again in a clockwise direction, which by the way is how our directions are written. So we hoped this would make it easier to find our way.

To paint a picture if you look at a map, we began in Belfast almost two weeks ago and headed north to Ballycastle, then west along the Northen coast to Castlerock, from there we headed almost straight south to Dungiven, then hopped the bus and headed straight east to Holywood and are now making our way South and west  along the coast back to Belleek. Basically we are completing our version of the Ulster Way in a figure eight pattern.

The sun was shining when we began again and it was a beautiful trail to follow to Bangor. It is  refreshing to be back on the coast and back in civilization, we even went out to a pub for dinner that night and had two drinks (which was a big deal!). We are on for a week or so very popular sections so there are plenty of way markers and an easy trail to follow. After our reboot, everything seems to be bouncing our way and I am confident we made the right decision.

Camping in the North Sperrin Mountains

A few days ago we sat in a restaurant in Derry/Londonderry pondering how we would get through the next section; a 60 km stretch with no food, water or accommodations available aside from the start and the end. We passed a outdoor store which was having a sale and decided we should camp for 2 nights.  So we purchased a couple of sleeping bags, a two man tent, mini cook stove, pots, tarp, extra pack covers and a bunch of food from the dollar store (PoundWorld) and we were set. Back at our hotel that night we rigged everything up to our packs to ensure we could carry the extra weight. It added about 5 pounds to my pack and about 10 to Lisa's as she volunteered to carry the tent.

Tuesday morning we were off, after a short train ride to Castlerock we went into the forest and began climbing through the mountain range.  Remember when I say mountain range it is not the Rockies with the highest peak measuring 450 m gain but it was tough going.  Upon reaching the top of one mountain on the first day we were rewarded with views well worth the work. Day one we hiked about 20 km, day two 26 km and the last day about 14 km into town.  We camped where we could and purified water with the system I brought from home and made it work. Our directions from the website were sketchy at times so some time was lost wandering through fields looking for our next sign post, but the map clearly showed a place called "Murder Hole" which we practically ran through. On the third day when we walked into Dungiven, I was very happy to see a town again, a comfortable bed and hot shower were well earned.

Due to time constraints we had to revisit the route we would take to continue on, bus schedules also were not working to our advantage but we came up with a plan and more details will follow.

We have decided to modify the route slightly and hike our own version of the Ulster Way.  There are too many things to see and do while we are here to just spend our time hiking. For example we will side trip into the famous city of Derry/Londonderry on Sunday and cut out a day of hiking through a duller non sign posted section later on.  This will give us a rest day before embarking on the Sperrin Mountain section of the trail.  The amount of extra kilometers we put on in a day walking to and from our accommodations and around the sights will make our total about the same. We already passed over 100 kilometers mid-day Saturday.

Causeway Coastal Route

The last few days we have been following the Causeway Coast trail along the north shore of the island.  This is also the most popular section of the Ulster Way for day hikers and the trail markers and services are plentiful.  Steep in history and points to see we have taken our time and enjoyed the views. We have stopped at Carrick-a-rede bridge, Dunsilken castle, Giant's Causeway, Dunluce Castle and the Bushmill's Whiskey Distillery (the 12 year old malt was delicious). The scenery is the real attraction as we travel along the coastal cliffs and across sandy beaches. Sometimes we are only a few feet from the edge and asking the wind to not change directions quickly. Friday we hiked 26 km and Saturday was 18 km and my body is slowly adjusting to the pack while I walk, the fewer hills we climb the better. We continue to get the "you must be crazy looks" when we tell people why we're here but it makes for good conversations.  I figured out how to upload pictures here finally. Getting ready to say goodbye to the ocean, Sunday we turn south and head across country for 10 days or so.

Trail leading to Giant's Causeway

Giant's Causeway

View from our hostel Friday and Saturday night

Meet George and Bertha

George and Bertha have become our best friends on the trip, we rarely go anywhere without them and they house a variety of necessities and treats which make our time more comfortable; George and Big Bertha are what we have named our packs.

Mine weighs in around 24 lbs and Lisa's is about 31 lbs they contain all of this

 and almost double the physical space we occupy at any given time. While attached, I have had more than once feeling of being a "bull in a china shop". They carry everything we need but we leave them if we can to rest ourselves; sometimes we can drop them at our accommodations early and continue on our way or sometimes at tourist spots the employees have allowed us to hold them behind the counter while we enjoy the attraction. It always makes us laugh when people especially men look at us and say "that's a big bag!" They get whipped around in the wind, wet when it rains and smelly with our dirty clothes but they are our lifeline and where we go they must as well.

Two days of hiking are complete and we are almost 100 km into the route. Day 1 was a fair amount of uphill on roads then we went cross country through a forest. A wrong turn took us out to the highway about 1.5 km from where we should have been. When suddenly a thunderstorm was upon us and had us hightailing it for the closest bus stop, marking the end of the day. Day 2 had us travel by taxi back out to the trail and we were off again. Lots of trail markers on this section meant there were no mistakes to be made. We spent most of the day among the sheep, walking along a cliff overlooking the ocean with views of the North Channel and Scotland. There is a link section next and bad weather is arriving from the South so tomorrow will be an easier day. We are very close to one of, if not the nicest sections of the whole trip. On the look out for leprechauns...