Having walked from Galway to Belfast, I have demonstrated that existing national trails can be linked together to produce a more ambitious route that could be part of the E2 European Long Distance Path, extending all the way to Nice in the south of France. Starting from Galway on the abandoned Connemara Way, I joined the Western Way through Counties Galway and Mayo, which ended at start of the Sligo Way. At the end of the Sligo Way I made a short linking section to the Miners Way which joins the Cavan Way. This brought me to Blacklion and the Ulster Way which I followed to Coleraine. On a second trip I walked the Ulster Way from Coleraine to Belfast and caught the ferry to Stranraer in Scotland where the E2 continues.
As with any long distance path some parts were more exciting and beautiful than others. The Western Way from Oughterard to Westport, the Sligo Way from Collooney to Dromahair and the Causeway Coast Path were among the highlights, and all the hard work from Crockback Mountain to the Cam Forest on the Ulster Way was worth the effort. Rain and forest road construction probably dampened my enthusiasm on other sections. Although a lot of walking was on roads and forest tracks, possibly due to the lack of "rights of way" or "freedom to roam", legislation in Ireland, this was a lot better than walking over pathless bog, and the roads were overwhelmingly quiet and single track, aside from a section of the A2 on the latter part of the Ulster Way. I walked from Galway to Coleraine in April which avoided the midges which others have warned are a real problem later in the year. One downside was frost on some nights, which I did not expect based on average temperatures reported for nearby large towns. Rain was expected, Ireland catches the fronts coming in on westerly winds off the Atlantic, so I was prepared. However I also enjoyed many dry and even sunny days. I walked from Coleraine to Belfast in September, in weather which was largely dry and often sunny.
Almost half my nights were spent wild camping due to the lack of accommodation, whether because it did not exist, had not opened again after the Coronavirus pandemic, or was fully booked up (part of my trip coincided with the Easter school holidays and Ukrainian refugees were also being housed in Bed & Breakfast establishments). In some places the wild camping opportunities were good and tacitly accepted locally, if not entirely legal without the landowner's consent (whomever they might be). In other places wet, boggy land, tightly packed conifer trees, tussocky ground, barbed wire topped fences, farmland and frequent houses made discrete and comfortable wild camping more difficult. However with more research (I missed some opportunities), advanced planning, using buses to shuttle to lodgings, diversions off the trail and similar tactics the route could be completed with a lot less or maybe no camping. There are also luggage transfer and booking services on at least some of the route.
Compared to my first visit to the Republic of Ireland at the end of the 1970s, the country had become more prosperous, and in many ways, more like Britain. More white bungalows dotted the countryside; groceries were now purchased from modern supermarkets and convenience stores, and less likely to be from the village bar cum shop cum petrol pump; bars could equally well have been in Britain apart from the Irish accents and the lack of real ale from a hand pump; there were donkeys but they no longer pulled carts. Such is progress.
My first visit to Northern Island was at the tail end of "the troubles", when I stayed on business at the Europa, the most bombed hotel in Europe. Thankfully the border was now no longer fortified, security was not evident and there was no longer the tension, the "edge", the possibility that you were passing a car bomb. However memorials and political parties on sectarian lines, showed that while differences are no longer the source of violence they have not been forgotten. However people did not raise the subject with me, and I prudently did not ask. However my tour of Belfast was a highlight, giving some insight into people's current attitudes.
Such matters are modern history however my trip also took me by older monuments: stone age tombs, a stone circle, a round tower and the ruins of farmhouses left by emigrating Irish. However most of the walk was about landscape and their villages - soaring mountains, dark lakes, dense conifer forests, blanket bog, sheep and poor grazing. An exploration of rural Ireland with the much visited Causeway Coast of Northern Ireland and the city of Belfast providing a contrasting experience.
Start of blog on walk through Ireland is here.
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