So You Want to go For a Wee Walk?

I will warn you now that this is my first “Posted on the fly” blog while I am living it, written and sent straight from my phone…

As most people following my blog will know , we have been waiting a long time to start our 3-1/2 year cruise around the world. It seems that I am not really good at sitting around, so when the idea for a long, long walk came up I was anxious to do it.

Kit and Randy Cassingham invited Dusty and me to share an apartment with them a few weeks ago when the ship we are all planning to sail on together was once again delayed in launching. Two days ago, over a dinner of pizza and salad we had prepared in our shared apartment, Randy suggested that Kit take a hike to have something do that she enjoys and counter the press saying we were trapped. Walking from Belfast to Dublin sounded a bit crazy at first, but Kit had been on much longer walks in the past. In Italy, Spain, and Portugal she had spent weeks on The Camino de Santiago and others. Dusty said ok and I was in as a co-walker on a multi-day adventure.

By the morning of Friday the thirteen the route had been changed to Belfast to Derry/Londonderry for a more scenic route and one that was new to Kit. I was still in. Packing a few changes of socks and such with food and water in my backpack and with new padded insoles in my shoes I was ready to go.

Randy has press contacts since he writes for a living and has a site residentialcruising.com. He had been in touch with The Belfast Telegraph and they were interested in the story. We were told that a videographer would meet us enroute to interview us about this crazy walk every-two miles across North Ireland.

Our starting point would be at the current dock for our lovely ship Villa Vie Odyssey. The morning chill was about 4 degrees Celsius, or 39 degrees Fahrenheit, but the sun soon warmed us enough as we headed through the city and into the hills beyond.

The landmarks and graffiti were familiar as we walked, as we had been here for months. We even had the Lord Mayor invite us all for a farewell gathering at city hall two weeks earlier.

Artwork along the waterway with the Nomad beyond and Titanic museum in the background

Pedestrian walk over the river with the leaning clocktower.

Belfast graffiti and me

I had set our route to avoid the busiest roads and the app did my bidding. The roads got narrower and narrower as we finally climbed the hills surrounding Belfast. Walking through parks and countryside we met several people with dogs and we chatted with a few. The people, not the dogs.

We came to a spot with barely room enough for two cars to pass each other when a woman in a blue car approached from below and called out to us. It was Kirsten, the videographer from the Belfast Telegraph. I guess this really was going to happen.

She said she heard we were taking the walk to Derry, but didn’t know much more. After setting up her camera and moving Kit up Kirsten started to ask questions. Her eyes started to get wide when Kit told her that we were “those people from the ship” they had been talking about in Belfast.

By the end she was excited to hear how we were doing such an adventure in the middle of waiting to start an even bigger one.

Kit told her about her hikes in the past and earned our interviewer’s respect. After telling my background of biking from San Francisco to Los Angeles and hiking Mount Whitney she figured I was serious too. With hugs and farewells we were on our way. She said the video post should be this evening.

The road got narrower still and we met someone with his dog hiking down the hill saying they had been to the top. At a turn onto what was now a trail, but still on my phone’s map, we met a young lady, Margaret, coming from that trail. She insisted that walking to Derry was not possible. You must be looking to find a bus, she said. Once we made clear what our plans were she let us know there was a small creek ahead that we should take care as we crossed.

Eventually we managed to work our way up the trail and came out onto one of the larger roads where we frequently stepped off the road as traffic went by. I had told Dusty I would do my best to be safe. Just before leaving that main road Kit got a call from the print journalist for the Belfast Telegraph and spent awhile doing her interview from the side of the road.

I was happy when we could get back onto a small side road and walk without all the traffic. Signs with cute names, sheep, horses, cows. This felt more like the walk in the countryside that I’d hoped for.

We had gone over hill and dale and were starting to feel the lack of preparation we had put into this. It would be smart to call it a day if we could find a place to stay. A quick search showed a bed and breakfast just a half mile ahead on the little back road, Ballymather Road, that we were on. https://therocksbedandbreakfast.co.uk

We made the turn at the sign on the road and walked up the long drive passing a beautiful horse as we approached the beautiful house.

When we came to the tractor grading the drive it stopped and Noel, the owner climbed down. We asked about rooms and he asked if we had just called. We said no, and he said he would have to ask Cathy, his wife.

He escorted us to the front of the house and yelled across to the barn.

Cathy came out with splotches of black paint all over and greeted us saying she was sure they had something, but had to check if she’d missed anything online. A quick check and we were in. Rather than order some Ubereats it turned out there was homemade Irish stew from the day before. Yes please. Real food.

A first rate room with a nice meal and hosts that made us feel at home. What more could you ask for? They allowed us to take a picture of them in front of their guest map.

Later, Cathy brought up the breakfasts she had made for our early departure in the morning to our third story rooms. Before going back down she said if we needed any help in our walk to Derry. Anything. Give them a call. Irish hospitality.

Tomorrow is an early start. I hope it can live up to today.