Oughterard to Mám Éan: E2 Day 3

A sunny morning by the blue waters of Lough Corrib and an evening climb up towards Mám Éan pass in the mountains.

My left knee was "creaking", "clicking" and "cracking" this morning as I struggled through my exercises which are designed to strengthen the muscles supporting the joint. It seems to have suffered from my difficulties on boggy ground yesterday morning. Except when camping I try to complete a variety of exercises each day covering my knees, ankles, back, "core" and upper body. Despite my perseverance my level of fitness seems to go up and down for no particular reason, it seems to be on a "down" this trip and I was struggling to complete my routine. Still the stiff back I suffered from just before leaving (or more accurately a stiff left upper buttock) seems to have resolved itself...although today I developed a runny nose.

My GPS track had the Western Way following the "low road" out of Oughterard, but this was out of date. The Western Way now follows the "high road". An improvement as it gave views down on Lough Corrib, one of Ireland's larger lakes with a multitude of islands. Today it looked especially beautiful beneath blue skies as I sat and admired it from Barbara Edward's seat, a bench dedicated to her memory.

Road followed by the Western Way by the waters of Lough Corrib.

The quiet "high road" dropped down to join the slightly busier "low road" which continued around the lough, coming close to the shore in its latter stages. At almost the end of the road there was a car park above an old stone quay. An ideal spot to enjoy my lunch, sitting on the edge of the pier in the sunshine, leaning against a stone bollard, looking at the clear, lapping water and the mountains beyond. A motor boat passed in the distance beyond a diminutive island and there were distant voices from a nearby house.

Blue skies and the blue waters of Lough Corrib by old stone jetties where I had lunch.

Shortly after I left the tarmac for a long section of path. At times the path was made of loose stone at others it consisted of boardwalk. The two, parallel wooden planks of the boardwalk, also called bog bridges it seems, had either those "u" shaped nails hammered into them or attached chicken wire to stop it becoming too slippery. Most of the route was through forestry, all commercial conifers, usually following fire breaks. Such efforts made the hike quicker and easier, and protected the wet ground, its plants and mosses from being turned into a muddy quagmire from the boots of walkers.

A donkey took an interest in me but was maybe disappointed that I had no apple to give him.

Boardwalk across wet ground in forestry.

After the board walk section there was a busy road for a few kilometres. Fortunately it had a good verge and the views ahead of the mountains, a patchwork of sunlit areas and shade, was attractive to look at. I diverted to Maum for a coffee and a pastry at the food store. While enjoying them a man told me that the Western Way had once continued along the lake instead of joining the road. There was an old cottage used by hikers but it burnt down. The landowner blamed hikers and consequently withdrew permission for the Western Way to cross his land, forcing it to use the section of busy road. In Ireland it seems a land owner's agreement was needed for any path open to the public across their estate. Before leaving the food store I could not resist buying a bag of "shamrock and sour cream" crisps to go with my tea, although they tasted like sour cream and chives to me.

There had been a few wintry showers, the kind where it was on and off with my waterproof over trousers, as the showers started and stopped. However the weather was fine as I climbed up towards a pass. Leaving a dead end road, empty of traffic, I followed a track over the brow of a small ridge and found a flat dry spot, sheltered by a bank of rocks on one side, perfect for tonight's camp site. As it was after 6 pm I doubted there would be anyone passing. A consideration as wild camping without the land owner's permission was probably illegal, although camping "on durable land" as the signs say, seems widely accepted. Which was fortunate as soon after I had pitched my tent, and struggled in out of the wind, a vehicle went by. Then the vehicle came back. However they did not try to attract my attention in the tent. I had thought I heard a succession of people go through a nearby gate, but when I looked I realised it was sheep rubbing their flanks against it. As I went to sleep in the darkness I kept hearing bursts of "whirring" sounds but I was too tired (or lazy) to investigate what kind of bird or insect was responsible.