Slightly Doolally

I really am quite impressed with “Cardiac Trainer”  for Android Phones, it is free in it’s basic form, which is more than ample for what I want it to do which is basically record where and how long my dander are and according to it in the last 10 danders in the last 7 days I have managed a grand total of 52.02 miles! Which it has to be said is way way more than I could have imagined every having done in a year let along a week back in 2008 when I started dandering.

My Cardiac Training Log

Anyway this weekend I had a client/friend visit on Saturday afternoon and as a result my usual 8-10 miler was curtailed somewhat to a wander into town and back in the morning to get “not just smoked haddock fish cakes but M&S smoked haddock fish cakes”, a 250 cc tube of Zinc White Acrylic Paint, a tin of yacth varnish and 4 feet of plastic lawn edging thingie stuff. Now I didnt think this would amount to a lot of miles.. but to my surprise it came out at just under 5 in total. I supplimented this with a another 5 miler before bed so I don’t feel guilty shirking my weekend danders when the weather is fine.

Since I woke up Sunday whilst Dawn was still yawning and scratching his “bits” and wondering why Night had not filled the coffee machine before he buggered off. I got an early start and I hit the road at 8:30am. Now Sunday was the first rainy start we have had in 9 days! For Northern Ireland in April that is a LONG time between rain. However it was only a brief bit of yuckiness and then it faired up and became another sunny day

🙂

I broke in a new walk too, I have been doing some hills in my other danders but none that steep and none too long. So I thought I would tackle one of the steepest bits of road in the area. The dander was as follows and is very pleasant but there is a section of about 2 miles of exceedingly steep climbing so not perhaps for the first time danderer or the hungover.

• Park the car at the 12 Apostles/Black Glen car park in Castlerock
• Enter the Black Glen walk towards lake
• At sign post take a right and down the grassy path to the lake
• Follow the edge of the lake to the damn
• Cross over to the other side and join the path up the other side (very steep and slippery if wet)
• Over the steps at the top and follow the cliff edge wall to the right
• Arrive Mussenden Temple
• Turn left and up to the Castle
• Round the Castle and down to the Lions Gate
• Turn Right down the road to the beach @ Downhill
• Follow the road until the Bishop’s Road turns off to the Left
• Go up the Bishops Road.. There is above 2km of 10% Hill … you get well puffed out but the views are stunning
• Keep on the Bishops road for a bit and take the first turn to the left onto the Drumagully Road
• Follow the road until you come to the Burrenmore Road and turn left
• Follow the road until you turn right onto the Ballywoodcock Road
• At the small village on the crossroads turn left at the church onto Ballywoodcock Cresent
• This is a very wiggly and up and downy road although not as steep as before
• Eventually you come out on the A2 Mussenden road, which you cross and turn right
• Resist the urge to turn off to Castlerock and the car keep going towards Articlave
• When you reach the Hazlett primary school turn left onto Ballywoolen Road
• Keep on Ballywoolen road until you meet the Barmouth Road on the left ,
• Take the Barmouth Road
• When you run out of road you will be 100 yards from the River Bann
• Follow the path to the river’s edge
• Turn left and follow the edge of the river to the Barmouth
• At the Barmouth turn left and follow the beach along until you get to Castlerock Promenade
• Up the hill to Main Street turn right and follow the road to the 12 apostles and your car
• Collapse

You can see the route here on WalkJogRun
That is around 9 miles, with some fairly serious hills, a nice long beach and some stunning views over to Donegal in the west and the Giant’s Causeway in the East. I recommend it on a nice day with not too much wind and rain. If you are mad enuff you could even run it.