Rest Day looming....

Ballaghaderren to Frenchpark

It has been nice to have a sleep in and the continual rain through the night has made for a great night’s sleep and not as many aches and pains as we expected after the long walk yesterday. I hope we do not experience anymore days as long as that.  We even sat down to breakfast with the other residents before we headed off, can’t sit still for long – too much to see and do. We do not plan to leave the town for a few hours as the next part of the walk is only a few hours but on a busy main road again. Perhaps we are putting the walk off. A young man in the bar suggested we get a taxi to Frenchpark, the offer sounds lovely but we decline as we are here to walk. Perhaps!! 

We head off through the town centre in a light shower of rain, quite sad as there are many empty homes and shops.  As usual nothing is open except the Cathedral Church of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Nathy, open to the early worshippers. The amazing timbered ceiling of the nave, paintings of the Annunciation on the chancel roof and the beautiful stain-glassed windows that line the walls of the Cathedral, the Confessional Boxes with their deep blue curtains, the large container of Holy Water, the lit candles and the Mercy Door. At the rear of the Cathedral are the Old Military Barracks built in 1798 and now the home to the town’s secondary school, St. Nathy’s College, named after the patron saint of the diocese. Most schools are currently closed as the students have commenced their summer holidays. The St Mary’s Convent with some strange crypts in the grounds was opened by the Sisters of Charity and later handled by the Sisters of Mercy and now stands vacant and closed.  Past the Convent buildings there is the much older St Mary’s cemetery with some old 19^th Century ivy covered headstones and family tombs, carved grave markers including decorative crosses but large sections in the grounds lie vacant and grassed over. We squeeze in through the stone gates with fences topped with sharp and rough stones which are there to deter people from climbing over or sitting on. Such a peaceful area lying among the modern houses and old buildings. The town centre is a line of different coloured shops and in the centre are some seats and hanging baskets of flowers, parking bays, directions on signposts, and the Town Library close by. The empty beer and Guinness kegs lie in the gutters ready for collection by the brewery trucks but many “For Sale” signs are posted in the windows. The main employer of the town appears to be the Creamery Co-op Milk Factory built in 1898. At the entrance and exit to the town are several cane displays which are extremely interesting but not sure what the significance of them is.

We have caught up with our diaries and a lovely coffee and we know it is time to leave this friendly little town and head to our next bed, a rest day and two nights in the same place. We are staying with Philip and Beverley, a contact I made online several months ago. He is a walker, hill climber and a tour guide and has a passion for what we are doing.

We head out to meet up with the N5 and the first 6klms is spent moving on and off the yellow line, narrow verges, changing sides of the road so we can see around corners to be sure what traffic especially trucks are looming. It is getting rather warm so a stop is in order at Tibohine which has a couple of houses, a small corner store and a large tool/machinery business. We are more exhausted than we first thought and the traffic is increasing on the road making walking extremely dangerous. The owner of the business can see our predicament so we accept his offer of a lift to Frenchpark – for our own safety and off we went in his Audi A4 with its leather seats. Sheer luxury.  Don’t tell the children that their mothers accepted a lift from a stranger. This puts us in Frenchpark much quicker than we had planned so have a few hours to fill in until Philip is home from work. We find a cafe for some lunch and sort out our plans for the remainder of the day which means a chance to have a good walk around the village. 

We slowly head towards where we are staying and as we wait near a Housing Estate we are approached by two Garda who start to ask questions – our names, reason for being in Frenchpark, where we are going and so the questions go on.  Makes us feel a little uncomfortable but we are told later that they were just looking out for us as the Estate was not the best place to be loitering near. Did we look like we were loitering?

Philip is quite surprised that we have no maps and fully depending on signposts and local’s directions so he quickly takes us under his wing. Before we leave in 36hours we are fully equipped with maps, a map APP on Sue’s phone and a quick lesson on how to read maps. We have a Guardian Angel for the remainder of the walk. It is lovely to have found such a lovely “Map man”. Our main bags are sitting in the bedroom; they are such a welcome site as they mean clean clothes.

A bottle of wine before bed and decisions to be made for tomorrow, our first rest day of this walk. No boots for 48 hours.