Our first proper walk 'The Bluestacks Way' or part thereof

No camping this time, we stayed in a Guesthouse so that my son and I could undertake the last section of the Bluestacks Way.

The Bluestacks Way is a two and a half day walk starting in Donegal and going past Lough Eske towards Cloghmeen Hill and on through the mountains to Glenties. We decided I'd do the last section, which was the half day river walk following the Owenroe River to Ardara which is about 12km. 

It is also a part of the international walk 'The Appalachian Trail' the 'IAT'.

"The IAT.....is a hiking trail which runs from the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail at Mount Katahdin, Maine......after which it follows a ferry route to Newfoundland and Labrador. As of July 2015, there were IAT walking trails in Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Ireland, Isle of Man, Wales, England, France, Spain, Portugal and Morocco" from Wikipedia

 

The Apalachian Trail marker

First couple of km

Leaving Glenties the first couple of kilometers is on quiet country road, and very well marked with posts. Then you take a left into a field where a grassy path directs the walker over a bridge to the far side of the river. The grass was worn into a path  and easy to follow. The field divisions were over a stile and the first few were fine, but after the first two or three the big space between the steps, which are probably better suited to male legs, were getting tough for me. 

 

 

A low point came when we reached 'Numpties Corner'. This is a section of river with a bridge and is obviously accessible by road (from the other side of the bridge) and there was a lot of rubbish and a picnic bench had been vandalised. Elsewhere on the walk it had been pristine with no litter. 'Numpties Corner' is about halfway through the walk but after a short while we had got into proper wilderness again with no roads or houses in sight.We started to follow a railway line that is still intact but hasn't been in use for years. Then at last we left the river bank at a fishing spot which was a small car park, picnic bench and a locked up shed. 

Unfortunately once back on the road we had two tough hills to get up and it was with relief that we finally reached a shop halfway up a steep hill on the edge of town at Ardara.

A full sugar ultra cold soft drink was amazingly good at that moment and gave us enough energy to get to the top of the hill and down the other side to Nancys Bar, where we ordered food and took a welcome seat. The downside to stopping walking is that every muscle started to seize up and it was very gingerly that we vacated our seats and hobbled out to the front where it turned out we missed our bus back to Glenties because we didn't know that it stopped outside the hotel up the road. Luckily the Taxi was reasonably priced at €12 and so that's how we made it back to the Guesthouse in one piece.

Back at the Guesthouse our intention was to shower, change and go to the Highland Hotel bar for a wind down drink. What actually happened was we promptly fell asleep. So there we were, on our holidays, and sleeping fast by 8.30pm.

The following morning went back to Ardara in the car this time and drove out past the village to Maghery Beach. There is a short walk, about a half a km, between the car park and the beach itself. The legs were wobbly, but we made it to the end of the boardwalk we were happy to find there. We found a convenient sand dune to sit on and relaxed. We did not make it further down the beach to the caves, that was asking too much of our groaning joints and so we will have to go back again. We watched other people dander over that way and decided that it wasn't for us. We then drove the Glengesh Valley which is a glacial valley. Lastly we went back to Ardara and went for a Sunday Lunch to a place aptly called 'The Ramblers Inn'. From there we drove straight home, about an hour and a half through Donegal Town.

Lessons

1) Fitness : this walk was beyond my current fitness level and I will need to work on that. 

2) Water :  would need double the amount of water as we took 1 litre each and we both ran out. 

3) Map :  I wish I'd printed off a bit of map to take with me as it would have been easier than using my phone which I couldn't see in the bright sunshine. 

4) Google Maps : just because it looks flat on Google maps, that doesn't mean it is. The hills at the end of the walk into Ardara completely took me by surprise. 

A quick kit list for newbie Campers.

This list is specifically for a couple, who are thinking of throwing a few things in the car and heading off on a mini adventure, It is inspired by an overnight camp I did in Corgreggan Mill, near Dunfanaghy. The nicest, craziest, most ill prepared couple came along and camped nearby me and I nearly wet myself when they tried to get a double airbed into a tiny, single skinned pop up tent. They were like an upturned turtle and the pair of them were in fits of hysterical giggles. We parted friends and it is in tribute to them that I write this post. 

Tent

Editors Choice Camping Magazine Awards 2014 chose this tent for good reason. It costs a shade under £120.

The Quechua 2 Seconds XL is double skinned, so it will keep you nice and snug in an inner pod which is breathable, will wick away all the condensation from your breath and will prevent your bedding from coming into contact with the waterproof outer tent. The tent is a pop up, so is easy to put up and although there's a knack, just as easy to put away. 

It's small enough you can probably dry it out in your living room when you get home. It's big enough to let you sit up in comfort, and gives you the space to get changed. It's super strong, even a strong wind will only flatten it but it will not break it. This particular one even has a built in light. 

It's a three berth tent which makes it better for two people because tent manufacturers are always a bit on the mean size when it comes to calculating how much room a person needs, and it has a porch for your smelly shoes, your clothes bag or for storing that little backpackers stove you've picked up to make a cuppa with. 

QUECHUA 2 SECONDS XL III ILLUMIN FRESH POP UP TENT - 3 MAN, WHITE/GREEN

Link to website

Argos Ready Bed Double

This is a budget solution (about £40 but often on sale) to a double sleeping arrangement in a tent. It is not the best airbed on the market, but then even the most expensive ones are prone to leakage, as anything inflatable is. I'm a fan of Ready Beds because they are one of the few sleeping solutions that have a sleeping bag built in to the design. It is essentially a double sleeping bag with an airbed slipped in to a big pocket on the underside. That means that when you turn around, the bedding stays put, and I find this far more comfortable than struggling with individual sleeping bags that twist around you when you turn. The bed is sealed all around which makes it a better option than taking bedding from home as you will have gaps around the sides which will let warm air out, and cold air in. 

The cons of this bed are that the bedding is quite flimsy. This can be offset by taking a big throw or fleecy blanket from home. And you'll be together, so you can keep each other warm. 

The dimensions of the bed are 180cm by 132cm. Considering the above tent has a sleeping area of 210cm by 210cm there's plenty of space left over. 

Ready Bed Double from Argos currently £28

Extra Insulation

As airbeds are essentially a big bag of cold air, if you have it adjacent to cold ground then the result will be that you will possibly get quite chilly. Counteract this by using a layer of insulation underneath the airbed. This can be something like cardboard from a local shop, or a foil backed picnic blanket. A few pounds spent on foam camping mats, or even yoga mats will help enormously.

These Yellowstone mats from Amazon are foil backed which will help reflect your body heat back at you. They are about £6 each and you will need two for putting under a double airbed.

A free alternative, other than the aforementioned cardboard, is if you are installing some laminate flooring at home keep a bit of the insulating layer that you put below the laminate for under your airbed. If you really have nothing else, a couple of newspapers spread out will be better than nothing.

Seating

A very basic seating area can be achieved with a picnic blanket. I think that if you are just trying this camping lark out and you are young and reasonably fit, you can't go far wrong with a picnic blanket as your seating solution for your first camping adventure at least. Then, if you really like camping you can start to look for camping chairs. 

These picnic blankets, from Home Bargains are £4.49 each.

I haven't touched on cooking or basic tea making facilities, because in my eyes you start to get in to a whole lot of extra equipment. However I would recommend taking snacks, drinks and a picnic and store food in an airtight container to minimize attracting wild life into your tent. You will probably find you eat out in the evenings at least. Just go, enjoy and if the weather turns bad shove it all in the car and go home. There's always next weekend! 

The Wild Atlantic Campsite and the Wild Wind

Camping at the Wild Atlantic Campsite in a storm.

The Wild Atlantic Campsite is in North Donegal right in the village of Creeslough. It is a hilly terrain and the campsite is downhill from a main street which has shops, dwellings and a fuel station along it. The effect is that when you are on the campsite the road and buildings are above you. The campsite has an all-weather sports pitch, an extensive childrens playground, and a bike hire facility. At the bottom of the site is a mini golf course. This area was waterlogged and was not being used as a golf course at the moment. Creeslough itself is about 6 miles from Dunfanaghy, which is a popular holiday home area and has a bit of an arty buzz to it (and a strong smell of money) from the newly retireds, who wander down the street with matching pale blue sweaters over their shoulders in true sloan style, in search of a latte. This is not deepest Ireland as you'd see it in the postcards, it's not a place with 17 pubs down one side of the street and 12 down the other. There's not a shamrock in sight, even the 'trad' music is cool acoustic jazz. Apparently there's even a Jazz festival in September.

On the Friday evening I ended up in Dunfanaghy. This was mainly because I needed a bank machine to get Euros as I had not time to sort that out while I was still in the 'North' (paradoxically, I was geographically more 'North' than my own home town but people from Northern Ireland and Ireland will know well that 'The North' means Northern Ireland which has sterling instead of Euros and Donegal, despite being geographically north, is considered 'The South' as it is a county of good old Eire. I include this for my English relatives who are all a bit confused by the distinction.) Anyway I knew for a fact that there was a bank machine in Dunfanaghy but not sure about the whereabouts of bank machines in Creeslough. On a practical note, it turns out the bank machine in the Centra Shop, in Dunfanaghy, is in fact the only bank machine around for miles. Welcome to Ireland.

The second reason for going to Dunfanaghy is that I knew I could get a really fancy, very tasty gourmet pizza in a pub with music (soft acoustic) and I knew because I'd been once last year. The pub is called Patsy Dans and it has this really cool beer garden with lots of glowing lights and vintage furniture. It was too cold to sit outside and so I ended up sharing a table indoors with two other women who chatted away and made me feel a little less lonely, as sitting on your own is never that much fun.

My podding friends weren't turning up until the next day. I spent a bit of time glamping my new Bell Tent up and really enjoyed having the luxury of a double bed this time. I took a 'readybed' and layered it underneath with mats for insulation and on top with blankets. I was going for a blue theme as I have a blue 'Beanstalk camping kitchen which is a collectable retro item now. The wind was quite bad and I didn't sleep that well due to the noise and worry about the fact I'd pitched under a tree, and I was concerned the wind would knock a branch down. Little was I to know that the storm was only going to get worse.

The following day the tent didn't seem to be coping all that well with the now incessant rain. A few places on the polycotton developed white patches which seemed to have drops of rain coming through the fabric (although it did not actually drip) and the wind was getting stronger and the tent was bowing in on one side. I got my peg bag out of the car and replaced all the windward side pegs with deltas.

It felt quite restrictive being in a Bell Tent in the rain, but the two windows came in to their own for the first time in the use of the tent so far. Honestly the walls would have been closing in if it wasn't for the fact that I could see out. So glad I have those windows and worth going polycotton for that feature alone.

I went off for a drive to check out another nearby campsite, but the storm was so bad I could barely get out of the car. When I got back to the campsite I parked the car on the windward side of the tent to take some pressure from the guyropes, which looked like they would snap.

As the day became night (and my friends and I went for a takeaway to a place conveniently beside the campsite) the storm gusted to approximately 35 miles per hour, according to accuweather - and when I went to bed that night I felt genuinely scared, and that I was really stupid for being in a canvas bag, under a pine tree, in what amounted to a Force 7 gale. The Accuweather proclaimed a weather warning for wind and for flooding was in place. I did sleep fitfully, but the wind would whoosh so loudly overhead and then hit the tent a second or two later, that I did think I could be in real danger.

Somehow, the tent and I survived until morning. The wind subsided and the sun even tried to come out. I went to the onsite coffee shop with my friends and it was decided that we'd go to the beach. Honestly, if you'd seen us you'd have thought it was December. I was in a heavy winter coat, my friends where in coats, hats and gloves and their kids were in wellies, hats, waterproof jackets and scarves. We enjoyed the beach anyway. We found mussels - I brought some home. Soaked them, ate them, they were nearly restaurant size. They were lovely.

I arrived back on site about 1pm and found a couple in a campervan were waiting for me to leave. It was my own fault, I should have packed in the morning. It being a Sunday I'd assumed I'd not have to rush off site. I even considered staying another night (as the weather was to vastly improve) but it was not to be. I actually don't think this couple had to take my pitch, as there were others available. But it was clear that they fancied my pitch and so it was that I had to pack up sharpish. They went for a walk so at least I was able to get on with it without an audience. However the heavens opened again and I was like a drowned rat, and now I'm home with a hideous wet tent.

The Bell Tent

Pros

It kept standing even in a Force 7 Gale even though it didn't look like it would.
It was nice to glamp it up a bit
It has windows

Cons

It's too heavy, it's a beast. I can barely handle it. I'm not exactly fit though.
The PVC floor is so substantial that it doesn't fold up easily when one person is having to do it by themselves.
It doesn't dry that quickly.
It's quite big so you take too much stuff to put inside it.

A One-nighter in North Donegal

In the past fortnight I have managed to aquire another tent. It is a Vango Halo which is a three man backpacker (sort of) it's really too heavy for true backpacking but for a light, throw up car camping tent it is ideal. More on my Vango Halo (300) to follow, for on this occasion I couldn't help myself but use the Bell Tent again.

I have a friend who is a biker. This guy and his friends all have a motorbike each and they go on these little road trips. I knew this in advance, knew where they were going to be and decided that I would take a run their way for the craic - well they had asked me, which was lovely of them.  As their location was an hour away I thought of just heading up for a few hours for a bite to eat but when my eldest son (aged 18) expressed interest in going too I thought why not stay over!

The site is a bit special, and a secret. I'm not saying anything more than North Donegal. It's on the coast in a bay where you can see mountains across the bay. There's a good reason for keeping this place quiet, the bit of land that is used for camping is not a designated campsite as such and there are complaining neighbours - so the current land owner might get the 'order of the boot' if the council come crashing down on him. However, while this site is still available it is well used. It has absolutely no facilities but there are public toilets within a minutes wander. There is a pub in front of the site and you can use their facilities and they also offer a bar menu. So it's good manners to support the pub with a pint and a pizza if you are going to be popping in and out of their loos.

Note: You may figure out for yourself where this secret place is, but if you are knowledgeable enough to know, then you deserve to know and I trust you not to blab about it either. 

Now I'm a girl who's golden time of music was a certain era. When Bon Jovi, Aerosmith and Guns & Roses blasted out guitar riffs and spectacular as their hair and makeup wasn't just for girls. And so it was that my son has been brought up on this stuff, and guess what - he's a fan! Big time, he even has long hair and plays guitar. He does not wear eyeliner though.

My playlist was loaded and ready to go. It was entitled 'Road Trip'. The weather was stunning. 21 degrees (in April) and not a cloud in the sky. I felt a bit like that girl from the Aerosmith video Cryin' and I was breaking out, disappearing in to the far blue yonder all shiny blond hair and aviator sunglasses. The music was on extra loud, and the windows were down. The both of us sang the whole way. For once in my life I really started to relax, and I my frown was turned upside down.

The Bell Tent practically pitched itself. The other guys were already camped, but there was no sign of them or their bikes. They had a variety of dome tents and one was a Halo as well so at least I got to look at one. Just as I was getting water boiled for a coffee I said to my son that we'll hear those guys before we see them. And funny enough - the loud rumble of big motorbikes, across the bay to a road we could see. We counted as they appeared and within another minute they were with us on the campsite.

I'd met three out of the four of them before, and so introductions were made and we all got on really well. The guys had brought themselves a picnic table over from another part of the site and we were quite content sitting there, soaking up the rays and drinking red wine out of a plastic mug.

Things were so relaxed and there was no pressure to do anything or go anywhere. In the end we split up for tea and met up again in the bar. I was on half un's of Guiness all night and the bar was busy with a great atmostphere. They have a really cool beer garden, but all that cloudless sky translated into a nippy evening and there was a turf fire in the bar so we stayed in.

The Bell Tent was very basic in it's set up, you can really bling these things up but all I took was a self inflating mat each, a big 35l 'really useful' box with  all the bits and pieces we wanted like mugs and torches. I took one small camping chair and a fold up bench as well. I brought a table but didn't use it.

We had no source of heat, and so I took extra sleeping bags. The night was terribly cold, I ended up sleeping inside a sleeping bag inside another sleeping bag. I didn't sleep that well, I probably should have drank a lot more Guinness. My pillows kept slipping off the top of my self inflating mat which really got on my nerves. I've been googling this all week and it seems I'm not the only one complaining of pillows slipping. Various workarounds are mentioned, such as putting your t-shirt over the pillow and over the whole end of the mat. Anyway I ended up putting the chair on it's side and butting it up against the top of my pillows, and managed a few hours sleep after that.

I was up at 6am answering the call of nature and just happened on the moment the sun came up. It was so spectacular I crossed my legs and went back to the tent for the camera.

The following day there was no pressure to be up, or to leave. I was up about 8 am and over to a nearby shop for a coffee and took it to the sea front for a half hour stare at the sea. I could see the guys emerging from their tents over at the campsite. I wandered over their way. I made coffee. My son woke up. We went to the cafe for a wonderful breakfast of french toast served with bacon, maple syrup and a dollop of blueberry yogurt on the side, for €7 (about £5) and then went back to the campsite. Two more bikers had turned up late the evening before, so we all introduced ourselves and had a good chinwag and then they all started to pack. I'd no intention of packing, so waved goodbye to all the men and went for a drive. We drove to the top of a mountain where you have views of the sea all around, and I filled out my sons Student Finance form as this was the only spare bit of time I'd had in weeks. I got burnt sitting in the sun and we drove back to pack the tent. I think we got cleared up about 4pm and we put the music on full blast and drove home, completely refreshed, chilled and still feeling like I was in a 90's rock ballad music video.

I'm warming to the Bell Tent. The low door didn't annoy me as much and I wasn't bothered by the main guy rope coming from the centre of the door as much as the last time. I got it packed away completely dry and it was quite easy to get inside it's bag once I used the pole bag to really compact it down. I think I'll keep it.

Overview of 2014

It's been a funny old year. This is the year in which my teenagers rebelled against 'Family Holidays' and I had to hire a holiday cottage in order to bribe them into one last go of it. In the first part of the year camping was hampered by my re-taking of a GCSE I didn't pass 20 odd years ago, which thankfully I can claim a pass now. I was busy studying for a June Exam and since I also had a son taking all of his GCSE's, going away for quick weekends ate in to valuable study time so we didn't bother.

In that period of time I lost my 'wee camping buddy', Toby my long haired Jack Russell dog. He was only two. He got out through a hedge with a fence in it on to a busy road during a walk in a Forest Park and he was instantly killed. We decided not to try and replace Toby as he was one of a kind.

Our main family holiday took place in Cruit Island off the coast of West Donegal. It is an island that you access by driving over a bridge. The holiday cottage was compact but easy to keep clean and it was a bit like camping only in a brick tent. We pretty much did everything that we would normally do camping except I had a proper double bed to sleep in and a proper fridge, cooker etc, which was nice. I did miss the company of other people on a campsite though.

We spent our days fishing, exploring beaches because Donegal is probably one of the few places on earth where you'll have a beach, in mid July (incidentally, in another heatwave - great timing) all to yourself. I even swam in the same bit of sea as a Dolphin which was a real treat. We had a few great meals out and I read a few books and we walked our wee legs off.

Some photos of our holiday in Donegal

www.cruitholidayhome.com

Interior of cottage

The Poison Glen

Errigal Mountain

Fishing off Braade Head

Glenveigh National Park