ARKLOW - WEXFORD
I'm now too far from home for day trips on the train, so it's off today for a two night break.
Train and bus to Arklow, the big hill out of the town was a hard start. Then smooth going to Gorey for a tea beak and down to the small seaside resort of Courtown. Stayed in the Harbour House and dined on chips from the Dinky chip shop - one of Ireland's best, apparently. Although a windy seat at the end of the pier wasn't the ideal place to eat.
Next morning, I was awake, as usual, at 5:30am ready to go running. For some reason, breakfast in this place wasn't until 9:00am, so I wasn't leaving just yet. Another problem was that, when I looked out the window, all I could see was rain lashing down on a large flat roof - and this is supposed to be the driest part of Ireland. I thought of getting the first train back to Belfast but hung around the B&B reading yesterday's papers until 11 am hoping that things would improve. The forecast improved but the weather didn't! Anyway, no point in quitting, so I set off in the wet gloom on the long trek south.
The original plan had been to follow the roads and then the 20K long beach to Curracloe. Due to the rain and strong southerly wind, there was no option but to run inland. Watching out for traffic on the narrow twisting roads, I passed through the well-kept small villages of Ballygarrett, Kilmuckridge and Blackwater.
They say that you know you are in the countryside when people start waving at you. Every driver in Wexford seemed friendly - at the very least, every driver lifted their index finger a fraction off their steering wheel as they passed. At the end of the day, I was more tired from waving than running.
The conditions weren't easy and it was a great relief,after running 21 miles, to reach the farm owned by my friends Jim & Chris. Had a great meal there, a few drinks and a long sleep in a massive bed.
Next morning it was a short 6 miles into Wexford and bus/train home. That's it for the eastern coast; now I'm turning right and heading towards Cork.
