Monday, April 4, 2022

Newport to Nephin Wilderness: E2 Day 7

A day of rain and drizzle as I walked up roads and tracks to the start of the Nephin Wilderness, the route then became more difficult. 

Breakfast was not until 9:30 am at my B&B, so my departure was a rather late 10:15 am. It appears one resident could not wait this long and set off the burglar alarm trying to leave.

For the first 12 kilometres or so, the route was on a single lane road with little traffic, with excursions on tracks across sheep pasture. It drizzled or rained most of the time, but I was enjoying the scenery. Large lakes provided a view to my left until the route took me through a valley between substantial mountains. By the roadside last year's bracken was a chestnut brown, while the grass was a bleached yellow. The heather was brown with tints of green and in patches, still in flower! Clumps of reeds were shaded from green to reddish brown up their needle like stems. The wet weather had warmed up the colours. There was even a patch a white bluebells. 

Road to the Nephin "Wilderness".

On the boundary of the Nephin Wilderness a sign warned me that there was an Orange Fire risk and no camping was allowed, which could make finding a place to camp tonight difficult. A little further on was a car park, bothy, some picnic tables and a few people, one of them by a Park Rangers van. As it was raining I ate my lunch in the bothy. Although very clean there were no chairs or benches to sit on, so I made do with the edge of the fireplace. 

A notice said a one way system was in effect on the area's paths due to Covid, which would mean a longer walk around the "Red Loop" to join up with the Western Way further north. At the time I just accepted that I would follow these instructions, and started following the arrows that marked the start of the one-way system. I assumed without investigating that these loops were like others I had come across, easy walks for people with cars, not used to much hiking. I was wrong. I should have read all the details on the notices. The loops were long and over uneven ground. Large and small stones, boggy peat and overflowing streams made for difficult walking. It reminded me of the conditions that caused me to interrupt my walk to John o'Groats last year due to the damage they did to my knee. Proceeding cautiously by a river (which I would have admired if I was not trying to avoid slipping on stones) then across open hillside, making full use of my trekking poles for balance on wet rocks, and probing the peat ahead of me to see how soft it was, I made slow progress. Thankfully there were two bridges over the larger water courses, swollen by the day's rain. My first milestone was when the "Blue Loop" left the "Red Loop", a sign of progress. I was particularly happy when the "Red Loop" left the "Purple Loop", as the trail immediately improved. On entering the trees, first there was a boardwalk and then a forest track, and better still, they were now heading in the right direction. After a final climb down over outcrops of rock I joined the Western Way on a forest track heading north. Possibly I should have ignored the one way system and just followed the route of the Western Way from the car park.

Maumarratta in full spate, the stony path visible on is left.

Although called a "Wilderness" the area looked a lot like a commercial conifer plantation but with a lot more rules. One of the rules was that you should register to walk in it, but I could not get an internet signal so I ignored that one. Maybe they will make it more of a wilderness in time. This was not as easy as it might appear, pine saplings from the commercial trees were springing up in vacant land. Near my entrance to the "wilderness" there were extensive areas of rhododendron, not a native Irish plant but an invasive shrub that can easily spread if left to go "wild". 

Around 5:00 pm I reached the Altnabrochy shelter. An open fronted shelter, maybe similar to ones I had read about on the Appalachian Trail. Camping is permitted at the shelter if the fire risk is "Green", i.e. low. After all the rain today I was finding it hard to believe that it was anything other than low. Fortunately I now had a signal on my mobile. The Nephin Wilderness website fire risk had been changed from Orange to Green so I immediately registered for camping in the shelter obeying all the rules. I believe the emphasis on prohibiting camping when there is an elevated fire risk is wrong. Camping by itself does not cause fires. Fires, BBQs, cigarettes and to a lesser extent stoves cause fires, and these can be associated with people out for a walk, not camping, preventing such things should be the focus. When I camp I never light fires, do not smoke and do not carry a stove. I am not a fire risk. I was surprised that there was a fire pit at the shelter, as this can only encourage undesirable behaviour.

Altnabrochy shelter, you sleep on the wooden platform, note the fire pit in front.

I decided to just lay out my sleeping bag in the shelter as it was surrounded by hard core unsuitable for pitching my tent on. Evidently it was used by people with vehicles. A log book showed it had regular visitors, which generally seemed more impressed by the wilderness than myself, spotting interesting birds and deer. Maybe I just picked a bad day!

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