On the road again…….. and more hills

We left Tipperary under a cloud of heavy mist or perhaps light rain, we have had 2 days rest, 5 days without a backpack on our backs, 2 days with no boots, 3 late nights, 31.2klms to walk and our legs are protesting. Today is not going to be a good day. Back through town past the small coloured houses perched on the edge of the footpaths, the Cathedral bells calling the faithful and we connect up to the Ballyhoura Way and the photos of O’Sullivan Beare start to appear again. About 2 hours into the day our first stop is the ruins of Moor Abby a Franciscan Priory established in the 13^th Century on the banks of the Aherlow River. This is the area where the descendants of Brian Boru or the O’Brien Clan now live, the mother of Donal O’Sullivan was Margaret O’Brien’s so the O’Sullivans had a connection to the Abby. Inside the Abbey is the remains of a tomb thought to be that of the owner, Donarch Ua’Brian.

 Onto Galbally and the first coffee stop for the day and what a surprise as we find coffee shops are few and far between. Lovely to get the boots off for a short time. On we trudge past several tomb signs but too far to walk there and back but guess we will see closer ones as we move along, the walking is slow as we also have to tackle some rather steep hills covered in very low cloud. Not a good sign. Past a couple of large Wind Farms and paddocks full of pink hay bales – pink for Breast Cancer Ireland, the crossroads loom and the village of Ballylanders a little larger than expected. Starting to rain, a valley to manoeuvre so this also means a hill to climb and we are in Kilfannane and to the Ballyhoura Luxury Hostel, our bed for the night. Our room is quite large and we do not have to share with anyone, a large log fire burning in the lounge area, not sure if this for our benefit but lovely as we are frozen to the bone. Not much life in the town as is the par for most of the smaller villages we have been through, mainly the result of the Celtic Tiger boom. We check out the Famine Cemetery and the first sighting of an O’Sullivan grave so close to Cork.

The next day is a very early, cool start and after a good night sleep we are feeling a little more human. Onto Ballymoe for the first stop and it is at a petrol station, we are finding them good places to stop as they have everything we need – shelter, coffee, cake, toilets and somewhere to sit down for a while. A bit like a McDonalds. Through Ardpatrick and around Effin and the day is starting to warm up, we are in Ballyhoura Country. The countryside has changed from sheep to cattle and wheat, the colours of the flowers still amaze us and some thatched roofed houses. We have remained on the little lanes with the high hedges on each side making cars trying to pass us and not run over the toes rather interesting at times. We have to cross a rather large and busy highway so we can pick up the Way on the other side so we walk for a short time on a grassy walk between a main road and the main Dublin railway. Makes us walk faster and concentrate, we are still following the little yellow man but he is appearing more regularly on the signposts, you must keep your eyes peeled for him as he is easy to miss if buried in among the tall grass on the sides of the road. There are more paddocks of golden wheat so close to cutting, farmers are relying on the fine days.
Churchtown looms and the rain has started and we are now in Cork. It is a small village but nothing, no shops are open mostly with Closed Signs displayed, no children playing in the yards and no teenagers hanging around the streets. In the village there is a large housing estate of well of 90 units but nearly all empty. They were built during the boom years and then handed back to the banks whom are now waiting for the market prices to rise. The same situation in so many villages.  Even the pubs do not open until late in the day and that is a sad sign. A meal at Fishers Traditional Chipper which also opens late in the day, fish and chips out of paper is always enjoyable when it is cold. Rained all night so not looking forward to walking tomorrow. We walked 24.1 klms today.

We are surprised, no rain and the sun is trying to break through but not for long. We head towards Liscarroll and our first stop is the Donkey Sanctuary which has been caring for the donkeys from all over Ireland since 1926 - the sick, abandoned, mistreated and those with special needs. About 1400 in total, all have their own names and a collar around their necks, lots of little guys and all want a pat, can’t deny them that pleasure. The Sanctuary relies on donations. Onto the 13^th century Liscarroll Castle remains which is not open to the public as it is situated on private land the only inhabitants were a handful of dairy cattle. Not a big village and again nothing is open, several very old deserted homes situated along the footpaths through town. We are noticing new monuments for the 1916 Rebellion starting to appear in the villages, big celebrations later this month. A few kilometres outside Liscarroll we are approached by a young man, Mick Mortell, who is to walk with us over a rather steep hill. The company was great as it takes our minds off our feet and the height of the hill and he tells us a little of the area. Onto the Ford of Bellaghan and John’s Bridge. In 1603 when O’Sullivan reached this Ford he was approached by Captain Cuffe of Liscarroll and a small battle took place with the loss and injury of a few of his men. To this day this ford crossing is known as O’Sullivan’s Ford. They buried their dead in Cillun Una, a sacred place on the ridge overlooking the river. Some of the wounded were nursed by locals and their descendants remain in the area today. A boot and coffee break at the crossroads sitting in the light rain overlooking the dairy cow paddocks. Not the nicest of smells.

The start of the Duhallow Way and the interesting, small and very old Kilmacow Cemetery, consisting of interesting earthworks, ruins of a church/chapel holy well and graveyard. What was really of interest on the sign was the following:

The Kilmacow Drum is heard when someone in the locality is dying. It is a ghostly phenomenon and only some can hear the sound. The sound resembles a barrel rolling downhill and it begins its perambulation at Sankeys Grave.

I have decided to put this belief in the Fairy Tree Basket – I feel I must not be as Irish as I had hoped.

Onto Lismire along the backroads and the feet are really crying out for the next bed. In Newmarket where we will be staying for 2 nights – accommodation was hard to locate in this area due to an International Horse Show at the same time. A few more hills a valley or two and a little bit of rain and we are where we want to be - no boots and flat out on the bed.

Not the best night as there was a 70/30 birthday party in the pub and the 30 side of the crowd decided to stay until well after 3am so today will be hard to walk even if we have no backpacks. The owner’s son drops us to Millstreet and we walk the 21.5klms back. Rained the complete walk, no scenery to talk about, no villages, some serious hills and traffic and we were sleep deprived. We were so happy to see the church spire in Newmarket. Probably the worst day of walking.  Spent the remainder of the afternoon getting ourselves ready for one more day of walking before a rest day. We have now walked over 427klms. In 1602/1603 O’Sullivan marched through Duhallow and received hospitality from the O’Keefe Clan in Millstreet.

The next morning is an early start, a local taxi drives us to Mill Street to pick up the walk and we have not anticipated the hills and I mean HILLS. Not just one hill but several but the scenery is much better on the eye. We are now back in sheep country again and hay cutting is in full swing. Wind Farms, roadside shrines, stone circles, row circles and some wedge tombs but no villages so no coffee stops. We are still on the Duhallow Way which is part of the Beara Breifne Way and the mist is very low over the mountains or we may be up in the clouds. We have started to see the purple Heather in flower among the rocky outcrops where the sheep appear to hide. The first part of the village of Ballyvourney and we know we have to rest the feet and get the boots off, the first Guinness for the day is on the house as we are walking for Cancer. This I can handle. We still have another 2 klms to walk to our accommodation, Mills Inn, no boots or backpacks for 48 hours. Today we walked 23.5 klms.

The little things in life that have suddenly become so important to us – a bed each day, a shower that works and you do not need a degree to operate, a toilet that flushes properly on the first time, dry boots each day and your main bag in your room when you arrive for the rest day. This means clean clothes. A big thankyou to the Pathway Porter for moving our luggage along.
So far we have walked 450.91 klms, had 4 rest days and the Cancer Donation site is over $10,000.

See you all in Castletownbeare in 4 days and the finish of the O’Sullivan March. We will have walked  it for Cancer Queensland with the boys always in our minds.