Suburban Lush

Strangford and Castle Ward

Well, that's enough of that touchy-feely emotional stuff (I feel so exposed!!). Would you like me to tell you about the lovely walk I did last weekend? Well tough; I'm telling you anyway.

Last Sunday dawned gorgeously sunny and crisp, a perfect day for walking. We started out at the town square at Strangford village. We walked along the edge of the harbour, before climbing through the village, past Strangford Castle, then up a wooded glen before descending to Strangford Bay and along a stony beach before entering the Castle Ward estate. The walk was essentially a circuit of the perimeter of the estate and past the Georgian Castle Ward House, which is built in the classical style on one side and the Gothic style on the other. Apparently the Lord and Lady of the house couldn't agree on which style to build in so they compromised, and rumour has it that they divorced not long after the house was completed.

From the house we walked down to the farmyard at Old Castle Ward. There were some pigs there and, surprisingly, a film set had been constructed on the site. We spent some time exploring the farmyard and set but soon headed on and left the  estate for a short time to visit the 15th century Audley's Castle.

The way back was through Audley's Wood and along the shoreline before re-entering the estate and returning to Strangford village for a pint of Guinness.

The walk was an easy one, and through a particularly beautiful corner of Northern Ireland. My extended family live on the shore of Strangford Lough, and the scenery of the walk reminded me of childhood visits to Northern Ireland.

Grade: Easy
Distance: 8 miles / 13kms approx
Time: 4 hours approx.
Total Ascent: about 20m
Terrain: Rolling countryside and pebbled beach. Mostly gravel or grassy tracks.
Start/Finish: Strangford Village square Grid Ref J 589 497
Map: OSNI 1:50,000 Sheet 21. 

(Photos stolen from David Doyle)

Delayed Reaction

I haven't written anything about what I've been up to the last couple of weekends. Which is ridiculous, because I've done plenty of post-worthy things.

The weekend before last, our friend Andrew from New Zealand was over to visit, which was lovely. Part of a longer trip he could only visit us for the weekend, so we had to pack plenty of sightseeing into two days. Fortunately he arrived on Friday afternoon, so we managed to take him to a couple of pubs on Friday night. As far as I'm concerned no trip to Belfast is complete without visiting The Crown, a beautiful heritage building, and Kelly's Cellars, Belfast's oldest pub and an old IRA hangout.

Saturday morning we headed to the markets for a quick bite to eat before catching the train to Londonderry/Derry for the day. I won't even try to explain the history of Derry, but it is an interesting city which still gives the impression that Northern Ireland is an occupied territory. This is a place where sectarian attacks still happen on a fairly regular basis, and where Protestant and Catholic communities show their allegiance with pride.

Derry is a walled city, and we walked along the top of the walls before checking out Bogside, the Bloody Sunday memorial and the Free Derry Corner. Fortunately it was a lovely sunny day, so no raincoats were needed. And Andrew got chatting to a guy who wanted to practice his Maori!

Saturday night was quiet as we had plans to go hiking on Sunday. We had high hopes for the weather as Saturday had been so lovely, but unfortunately Northern Ireland reverted to its true colours for Sunday. Low fog which never lifted, misly rain, and a cold wind. Fortunately we are hardy souls not to be put off by the weather, so we headed off to climb Slieve Gullion.

All too soon it was Monday and Andrew headed off to Dublin, his brief visit to Northern Ireland over.

Slieve Gullion

A couple of weekends ago I hiked up Slieve Gullion in South Armagh. The weather was less than amazing, but the walk itself was good.

From the carpark we walked uphill through deciduous woodland before coming out on the road. We followed the road uphill for some time before turning off the road and heading up a grassy track,  making a steep ascent of Slieve Gullion. Unfortunately there were no views from the top due to the fog, but at the peak of Slieve Gullion we checked out the very interesting Neolithic South Cairn Passage Grave, before progressing  in a north westerly direction to Calliagh Berras Lough.

We had a quick lunch in the rain not far from the lake before commencing our descent to Ballard Road. The weather cleared at this point and we had some lovely views across Armagh before we reached road again. We followed the road to Killevy Old Churches an ancient convent dating from the 5th Century before continuing along the road past Clonlum South Cairn Portal Tomb on the left and Killevy Castle on the right, and then back to the cars.

From my point of view I prefer walks with a bit less road, but the history, legends and sights of Slieve Gullion were interesting. And I'm sure the views would have been lovely if we could have seen them!

Grade: Moderate/Moderate+
Distance: 9.5 miles/15 kms
Time: 5 hours approx
Highest Point: 573m
Terrain: Minor Roads, grassy paths, slightly boggy
Start/Finish point: Slieve Gullion Courtyard Centre
Maps: OSNI Sheet 29 + Gateway to Ulster

Fermanagh

I'm still recovering from the weekend, and its slow going. A bunch of us from my hiking group went down to County Fermanagh for a weekend of drinking and hiking.

We car-pooled down on Friday night. With the best intentions to leave almost straight after work we ended up getting delayed for various reasons and didn't leave Belfast until 8 pm. After stopping for dinner at Francos in Enniskillen (I highly recommend their moussaka, and their pizzas looked good too)  it was close to midnight by the time we finally arrived at our destination.

We'd booked into 4 holiday cottages just outside Belcoo, and because it was so late we behaved ourselves and went almost straight to bed in preparation for our hike the next day. Andrew, our fearless leader, had been down to Fermanagh to check out the walk a few weeks before, and here is his stirring report, provided to us before the walk:

This is a 13 mile route (21km) – easy on the paths to start, a short sharp climb up and down, but hard going across the bog after. This route took me 7 hrs last weekend.

Did I mention the bog – there is some mud, some water, some ponds and more mud …. Gaiters are highly recommended, I’d say a necessity. (Wellies, waders and a snorkel might not be required..) .. and I walked on a dry day after a few dry days!

If there is no breeze there are loads of midgies! Be prepared.

I mean really, if that doesn't make you want to curl up and go back to bed on a Saturday morning I don't know what does! But we are hardy walkers, so off we went, knowing that it would probably take us significantly more than 7 hours because Andrew is pretty fit and walking on your own is always faster than with a big group.

The walk started off along a lovely river-side trail, before breaking off and heading up-hill along a road towards Cuilcagh, our mountain for the day. Once we got past the end of the road the going was tough. Matting had been put down along the way so that you didn't sink into the bog, but the matting was slippery and so there was much sliding, with the occasional serious fall. It takes an unusual amount of effort to climb vertical bog, particularly when it is green and slimy in places. Cuilcagh is steep, and it was hard work getting to the top. I suggest you check out wikipedia if you want to know what the views are like from the top. What we saw? Was this:

Misty pea-soup, really.

We stopped at the top only long enough to take a photo, and then headed along the ridge, and down an incredibly steep slope. Some people opted to slide down the slope on their butts to avoid falling, and this might have been the best plan. The rest of us tentatively walked down, slipping occasionally. The hill was steep enough that when you slipped it was almost impossible to stop, and the people below you were in danger of being collected as you slid down.

Near the bottom we stopped for a well-deserved lunch, offering around treats and sharing hot-drinks with those who had forgotten theirs.

After lunch we re-entered the bog. To be honest, it wasn't that boggy at this point. At least not as wet as the vertical bog up the side of Cuilcagh had been. The weather had been dry for the previous week, and we were well equipped with gaiters. Even so, walking through bog is hard work - kind of like being on a stair-master for hours on end. But there was enough of a breeze to keep the midges away, and the cloud lifted to allow us views out across the golden grass.

The afternoon was long, and the entire walk took 8 hours. Once we got back on the road our spirits lifted as we believed we were entering the final stages of the walk, only to be told by Andrew that we had another 6 kilometers, and more bog, to go. By the end of the walk we were all pretty tired, but it had been worthwhile - lovely views, good exercise, fresh air, and no rain, which is always something to be thankful for when hiking in Northern Ireland.

Back at our cabins, exhausted but happy, we showered and prepared our BBQ dinner. Burgers, sausages, steaks, pork chops, with the odd vege-kebab thrown in for good measure. And of course plenty of booze. Our energy levels picked up with the food and alcohol, and we ended dancing the night away, despite having already walked for 8 hours. I rolled into bed at about 2 am, completely shattered.

Sunday was far more civilized. Most of the group had opted to do "water activities" in the morning, while four of us had chosen to go for a short walk. We drove out to the supposed start of the walk but, after a few confused miles, couldn't figure out where the trail started. In the end, we drove up the top of a mountain, where we were the only people apart from a woman and her son who arrived just after us. We admired the view lovely view across to Cuilcagh and made our plan for the rest of the day. We decided that, instead of walking, we would explore the town of Enniskillen as none of us had ever spent time there before. We were all in our walking gear, so did a quick change. Suddenly it dawned on us: the woman and her son who were also up the hill had seen four people arrive by car, have a quick look, change, and then get back in their cars and drive off. We had to giggle at the absurdity of it.

Enniskillen is a lovely island town, and we walked along the river and up the main street before settling in to a cafe for coffee, and both the boys indulged in hot fudge sundaes. We met the others for lunch in Cafe Merlot (divine fish pie and chips) and tried to convince them that we'd "been to the top of a mountain" but they saw through our deception and correctly guessed that we'd driven to the top.

It was a great weekend, and my first time in County Fermanagh, but I think my legs are still recovering.

Altbritain Circuit

I had the first hike in a long time yesterday, the Altbritain Circuit in the Sperrin Mountains. The walk is a horseshoe walk exploring the eastern tip of the main Sperrins range. The route visits four mountains, Mullagheneany (627m), Outghtmore (569m) and Spelhoagh (568m) and Meenard (620m).

We started with a steep ascent through Banagher Forest before breaking up above the tree line. After a bit more climbing we reached the top of Mullagheneany. The walk between Mullagheneany and Meenard is fairly easy but slightly boggy. After reaching the top of Meenard we doubled back on ourselves and walked along the side of Mullagheneany, avoiding the summit this time. After lunch we headed on to Oughtmore. From the top of Oughtmore we crossed Spelhoagh, after which we had a sharp descent before an equally sharp ascent to the top of Craigagh Hill, from the top of which we followed a rough track back to the road and to our cars.

The weather was fantastic, sunny with not too much of a breeze. I've never been in the Sperrins on a sunny day before and was stunned by their beauty. Rolling tussock-covered hills, not dramatic landscape, but stunningly beautiful.

Grade: Moderate/Moderate+
Distance: 8.4 miles/13.5 km
Duration: 5 hours approx.
Highest Point: 627m
Terrain: Undulating over track, tussock grass and open hillside, moderate ascents and descents.
Start/Finish Point: Glenedra Bridge GR 706003
Maps: OSNI 1:25,000 Sheets 7 & 8 or 1:50,000 Sperrins Activity Map

Back to Nature

I'm squatting in the dark, pants down, when my friend Anne, also on a bathroom break, starts freaking out: "oh my god, there is someone over there!! What are we going to do?". My heart races and I pull up my jeans as fast as I can while trying to see where she is pointing. All I can see is pitch black. Anne has the torch but its a cheap one and doesn't project its light very far. I stumble back to where she is, and slowly my eyes adjust. She is pointing at a tree. My heartbeat slows back to normal and I manage to calm Anne down while telling her off for almost giving me a heart attack. Repeat this scene every time I make the mistake of going to the bathroom with Anne.

We went camping this weekend. Seven of us. Cooking over the campfire, drinking, trying to go to the bathroom in the dark and having a heart attack, sleeping in a tent which was clearly not pitched on flat ground. It was loads of fun. Plus weather was fantastic - possibly the warmest it has been since I arrived in Belfast in March last year.

We were in the Mourne mountains, a steep 45 minute walk from the carpark. My friend Julian goes camping every year with several of his friends for a "boys' weekend" but this year most of his friends couldn't make it so he invited his girlfriend Jen, Anne and I, as well as John, their friend Stephen, and his girlfriend Sinead. He camps in the same place every time, a lovely spot next to a stream. Its a hard slog to get there, especially when carrying everything you need for the night. John isn't an outdoors-man, so I helped him out by taking most of our stuff - a 60 litre backpack for me, plus a tent under my arm because it wouldn't fit in the pack, a day-pack for him with his sweater, a spare pair of jeans, and a couple of cans of Guinness (the rest of the 18 pack of Guinness was in my bag, together with dinner, a bottle of wine, sleeping bag, my spare clothes, and a few extra beers I was carrying for Anne). Not that I'm complaining - I would have carried far more just to have him experience the Mournes.

We arrived at the campsite late afternoon. First things first, we put our beers in the stream to cool,  before tents were pitched and firewood was collected. We sat in the sunshine sipping beer and enjoying being out in the wild. The sun set early, and  we lit our fire for warmth as well as for light as the evening was cold. Dinner was cooked over the fire: sausages in buns. Jen had wrapped some potatoes in foil and put them in the fire to cook on the embers, but by the time she judged them to be done they were completely burnt and inedible. We toasted marshmallows, drank, and chatted into the small hours before crawling off to our tents to sleep, toasty warm in our sleeping bags.

The next morning saw some of our campers worse for wear. Unfortunately we needed to be back in Belfast by mid-afternoon, and after cooking breakfast  we had little time for relaxing before breaking camp and heading back down to the cars.

It was a fun weekend, and a nice way to end the summer. Good company, not a drop of rain, and only  two minor injuries: I fell over on the rocks (before I'd even had one drink) and Julian slipped down a hill in the dark.

Also, I may have been a little over-excited about my wine, marshmallows, and my lovingly sharpened marshmallow toasting sticks:

Quiet

A quiet week with not much to report.

Sunday I walked in both Ness Country Park and Roe Valley Country Park with my hiking group. Nice, easy walks with cake at the coffee shop to finish.

Tuesday night we went to see Taking of Pelham 123 - thoroughly enjoyable and a good escape from reality.

I've been strangely tired all week and fell asleep after work on Wednesday, before waking up to attend my polercize class.

Thursday, a quiet night at home, making chocolate and vanilla cupcakes for a commission and skyping with my Mom for her birthday (Happy Birthday Mom!).

Now its Friday. Plans for the weekend? Out for a fancy dinner tonight with my extended family for my Aunt and Uncle's 40th wedding anniversary. And the Tall Ships are in town so I will probably check that out on Saturday. No plans for Sunday, but I might spend the day pottering around in the kitchen - I'm thinking a big pot of soup, some sweet treats and maybe a casserole for diner.

Hopefully I'll have some stories and photos for you on Monday.

Antrim Coast

Another weekend away, hiking. This time on the Antrim Coast of Northern Ireland. A good group of us headed up to Portrush early on Saturday morning. On the way, several people parked their cars at the hostel in Ballintoy, as the final destination of our walk.

The walk took us from the town of Portrush along the coast to Ballintoy. The walk was 22 miles (35.5km) along the coast, incorporating beaches, roads and tracks. We stopped for lunch at The Giant's Causeway and carried on to Ballintoy. The walk itself wasn't difficult, just long. Fortunately it was a gorgeously sunny day (it would have been a miserable walk in the rain) and we had stunning views across Rathlin Island to Scotland and the Scottish Isles of Islay and Jura.

We arrived at the hostel weary in the early evening, before firing up a bbq and cooking dinner. We gathered around eating, drinking and chatting until the small hours. At 1am four Scottish folk arrived unexpectedly, asking if the hostel was a pub. We told them it wasn't, and they were rather upset - apparently they had asked the taxi driver to take them to a pub and he had brought them to us. We noticed they were carrying traditional instruments and proposed a trade - some of our alcohol (we had far more than we could consume) for some tunes. We even threw in some dinner leftover BBQ. They happily agreed, and as the evening progressed we drank to Scottish jigs and learnt to Ceilidh (pronounced Keili) dance.

Sunday dawned over quiet bodies, and we had a slow start. Once we were up there was a discussion as to what to do for the day - the original plan had been to go for a walk, but some people felt that 20 miles in one weekend was more than enough. Those with blisters and injuries decided to head to the beach, while the rest of us walked down to the harbour. From there we walked along the cliff-tops to the Carrick-a-rede rope bridge and back - an easy 2 hour stroll over flat ground - before heading home.

Trostan & Slievenanee

On Sunday I finally went for another hike - my first since returning from holiday. We were due to climb Trostan, the highest mountain in County Antrim, and its neighbour Slievenanee. I'd had a rough night's sleep and was tempted to call it all off on Sunday morning, but the bright morning sunshine and clear blue skies motivated me to get up and get moving. Unfortunately the sunshine was a morning-only phenomenon and it poured with rain on and off for most of the walk.

It was, however, a lovely hike. And an easy one. Starting at Essathohan Bridge we followed a short section of the Moyle Way to the lovely Essathohan Waterfall before turning East onto the lower slopes of Trostan where we picked up an overgrown track. The track contoured around Trostan to its Northern side before ascending to the summit. The top of Trostan is moon-like, as the peat layer has been washed away to reveal the rock below. Lunch was had near the peak, sheltering against a turf bank, before we headed South-West towards Slievenanee.

The saddle between Trostan and Slievenanee and slopes of Slievenanee were wet and boggy with a prolific abundance of bog grass - white and feathery tufts sticking up from the wet and uneven ground. From the summit of Slievenanee descended to Agan Bridge and followed the forest track along a section of the Dungonnell Way back to the cars.

During breaks in the rain we had fine views of the surrounding Antrim Hills, Glenariffe, Glenballyeamon and Glendun. The Belfast Hills were visible to the South, and to the East we could see the Mull of Kintyre.

Distance: 11km/6.5 miles
Highest Point: 550m
Time: 4 hours
Terrain: Open hillside, peat upland, boggy in places, forest tracks.
Maps: OSNI 1:50,000 Sheet 9, 1:25,000 Glens of Antrim

Italy & Switzerland - Part 2

Its not often that one experiences a temperature drop of almost 30 degrees in the space of a few hours. The road between Menaggio and St Moritz is full of hairpin bends and an elevation gain of 1600 meters, which means we left 30 degree weather for temperatures close to freezing.

We arrived at St Moritz close to 7pm, found our hostel and showered. The hostel provided half board, so we had dinner there before heading out to explore the town. While St Moritz is a bustling ski resort in the winter, it was very quiet on a Monday night in June. We found a couple of bars but neither were very busy, and the most exciting sign of life we saw was a mouse running through the bar as we were sipping our pints.

The next morning dawned fairly clear. After breakfast, we stopped at the supermarket before catching a bus to the cable car. We took the cable car up to the first stop to start our walk for the day. The original plan had been to walk from the cable car up to Fuorcla Surlej (a mountain hut at 2755m) and work our way back down the valley. Unfortunately snow covered the path, and Colin wasn't too keen on the idea of walking on snow. We put our heads together and came up with a plan: Christian and I would walk up to Fuorcla Surlej and return the way we came. In the meantime, Colin would settle himself in the cafe at the cable car station and wait for us. We would then have  lunch and walk down the mountain back to St Moritz together.

Christian and I headed off, following the footsteps of those who had gone before and occasionally sinking deep into the snow. It was tough work, but we reached the hut after about 40 minutes. We had been hoping for views across the valley to Piz Bernina, but cloud was coming in quickly obscuring our view. We had a quick photo and chocolate break (the hut was closed, so no coffee and cake for us) before returning to pick up Colin. As we headed back, the snow began to fall, and we spent some time fooling around sliding down slopes - mostly on our feet but occasionally on our backsides. We reached the cable car station and found Colin warm and well-caffeinated.

We had our sandwiches and all three of us headed off down the mountain. There was not much snow on the ground for the descent, but it was snowing on and off until we reached lower altitudes. The walk was lovely, and a nice break from the hard slog we'd done the day before at Monte Grona. At first we were above the tree line on stony ground and spotted some marmots before we dipped down below the treeline. As usual we eventually came across a refuge where we stopped for coffee, cake (for the boys) and apple strudel (for me) before continuing on our way. The walk brought us right back to the hostel and we were back in time for dinner.

Having decided that we'd had all the fun that could be had in St Moritz the night before, we decided to head to the nearby town of Pontresina. Pontresina was a lovely town which felt much more "real" than St Moritz. St Moritz had been full of YSL and Gucci shops, while Pontresina sported a number of good looking climbing/hiking gear shops. The place was livelier too, and we settled down in comfy armchairs in a nice pub for a couple of pints.

After two nights in St Moritz we'd felt we'd had enough, and the next morning all three of us were happy to be back in the car and heading South to the warmer climes of Locarno, the southernmost town in Switzerland. Located on the Northern tip of Lake Maggiore, Locarno is Italian speaking, very Italian feeling, with a warm climate. No more Swiss food, we were back on to pizza and pasta in the sunshine. We'd booked into a bed and breakfast just off the lovely main square. When we went to check in it turned out that the owners were away and had left the keys with the proprietor of the restaurant next door. Unfortunately it appeared that they had forgotten about our booking and hadn't told him about us, but after a few extended telephone calls we managed to get it sorted out. We dropped our bags in our room and went out to explore the town/go for a run. I bet you can guess which of the two I did!

We caught the funicular railway up to the sanctuary of the Madonna del Sasso and the boys headed off running. Being far more sensible, I walked along with my camera, making my way back to the lake and the central piazza for a gelato. We decided to splurge for dinner and went out to a lovely restaurant specialising in seafood. I had a divine gazpacho to start, and linguini di frutti di mare which was full of mussels, clams, squid and fish and served with a simple  garlic, parsley and white wine sauce. After dinner we took a stroll to the lake shore before enjoying a limoncello at an outdoor cafe.

The next day we had a fair amount of driving to do. But first of all we took some time to do some shopping in Locarno, checking out the market which had sprung up in the piazza, before hopping in the car and heading to Zermatt through the Simplon Pass.

Zermatt is a car-free town, and so we parked in Tasch and got the train in. Zermatt is a picture post-card of a town situated in a long valley at the Northern base of the Matterhorn. We'd rented an apartment for a couple of nights, and our balcony looked out across the town and to the Matterhorn. Enjoying having a little space to ourselves after staying in hostels and bed and breakfasts we picked up a bottle of wine in town to drink on the balcony before heading out for dinner. Seeing as we were in Switzerland we decided to go out for a local desh - cheese fondue. After an evening dipping hunks of bread into a boiling pot of cheese and wine, washed down with more wine, we strolled (or staggered) back to the apartment.

The next morning dawned overcast but not rainy. We'd spent some time the night before planning our walk for the day - a mammoth 22 km trek. We headed straight out from the apartment after breakfast, making our way up to the Eidelweiss hut, where we stopped for a drink. We pushed onwards and upwards to the Hotel Trift. It was a hard slog, almost straight uphill for close to three hours. At Hotel Trift we turned to ascend some more across rocky fields past flocks of Valais sheep.

We crossed the Hohbalmen Traverse, a long narrow track through the fields with a steep drop-off down one side. The path eventually dropped back down to the riverbed, and we followed the river back down the valley, stopping in Zmutt for a coffee. It began to rain just as we left Zmutt, our first rain for the trip, and we hurried back to Zermatt.

That evening we went out for dinner at a lovely homely restaurant - the kind where they offer you second helpings. The boys had soup to start, but I opted for a "country patter" consisting of cold smoked meats, pickles and cheese. For a main Colin and Christian both had venison, and I had a veal bratwurst served with potato gratin and spinach and washed it down with a delicious French red. We shared a toblerone mousse for desert (and I had a hot chocolate) before we headed back to the apartment, exhausted, full and truly content.

The next morning was spent shopping in Zermatt before we started our trip back through the Simplon Pass towards Milan airport.

We had a couple of hours to spare so we stopped at our third (and final) Italian lake: Lake Orta.

We stopped in Orta San Giulio, a lakeshore town popular with Italian tourists. The main piazza is right on the shore, with beautiful views of the lake's islands. Unfortunately we didn't have time to take a boat trip out to the islands, but we did have time for a gelato before heading on to the airport and back to Belfast.