Since the Moyle way 3 weekends ago, a family “do” last weekend, meant that today was the first day that Mr Clark and I could don the walking boots and set out for our regular Sunday dander. We agreed that a walk by the sea would be nice so we choose that old favourite for folks around here, the Causeway. So along with two new friends  David and Norman and sundry canine chums we set off for a bit of plod on the coast.

Portballintrae

So we started out from Portballintrae car park and headed east along Runkerry beach towards Runkerry house on the headland. Runkerry House was part of the Macnaughtens of Dunderave Estate, built in the early 1860’s by Sir Edward Macnaughten  the fourth Baronet who became Lord of Appeal for the United Kingdom in 1887 with a life peerage. In 1951 Sir Malcolm Macnaughten donated Runkerry House to the Northern Ireland government for

Runkerry House

public use. It was used for many years as a wonderful retirement home, later as a Residential Activity Centre and finally a Rehabilitation Unit. It was closed down and in 1996 without consultation with the community for other possible public/social uses, placed on the open market and sold at Public Auction to Seaport Investments Limited. At the time the sale caused controversy in relation to the moral ‘right of sale’  by the government of a charitably donated property. But then we are talking politicians here and to be fair are we surprised that they are a bunch of thieving amoral money grubbing arseholes? The

Portcoon

apartments the house were converted into were reputed to be the most expensive in the North and they do have a superb view. Being Hyper expensive meant the properties were bought by people with “money” who objected to plebs like me walking past their front door and tried to deny a right of way around the head land. Thankfully they lost and it is still possible to make your way around the headland to Portcoon and the causeway itself.

To the West from above the ampitheatre

The causeway visitor center is having a bit of a face lift at the minute so we headed down the path down to the causeway itself and then out towards the organ and up the steep “shepherd’s steps” to the cliff edge. We headed east to have a look at “Amphitheatre” while having our sandwiches and coffee. Whilst there we were treated to a fly by from some of the planes from the Causeway Air show happening in Portrush.

Heading back to the vistor centre car

Chuffy Puffy Train

park we had to make a detour down to the road to avoid the building work and we made our way down to the tram station past the Causeway School and the Nook Bar, (Beloved of mr Bill Buchan) and down past the golf course following the tram track back into Portballintrae and the cars. The Trams were still on the go even this late in the year and here for all fans of Thomas the Tank Engine is some “Train Porn”, it is small and blue and goes WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep! every now and then and is generally train like. More than that I have no idea what it is. 😉

7.5 miles of lovely weather, excellent views and bracing sea air was finished off by a wee detour to Mr Clark’s cousin Avril’s cafe above Dunluce Castle “The Wee Cottage” for Coffee and freshly made scones which I have to say were EXCELLENT!!!! and if you ever in the vicinity do call in and take 20 mins for a sit by the fire and some excellent grub.

Now where to next week?

Well after all the hype, the very generous donations and acquisition of the kilts it kinda had to be done and it is with genuine surprise that I sit here the next day and say the Domino Danderers and the Coleraine Bog Faeries managed to do the whole 26.22 miles of the Moyle way and not only did it but managed not to get rained on ONCE!

Breakfast in a skirt

The day started bright and early around 6:30am with brekkie andI have to say some unfortunate laughter as sundry females felt it necessary to giggle and yes guffaw at the sight of me in a kilt.

The Yellow Bleeders should note the UKLUG polo shirt and the fine “READ MY BLOG” badge from BLUG (Thanks Theo!) that completed the ensemble. I thought I cut quite a “dashing” figure alas this was not a sentiment shared by Val whose comment was “OH MY GOD!” or it would have been if she had managed to stop giggling long enough to get the words out.

Anyway breakfast completed, Eileen appeared from the Guest Annex (My mother’s spare room) and we were ready for the off. Picking up Andy Clark , also be-kilted, in suburban Aghadowey we made for the start some 35 miles away in Glenariff on the Antrim Coast.

Mr Clark Divesting himself of extra weight

The Glens, as we passed through them, were covered in mist, but the skies were clearing and the sun was bravely shining in the odd bit of blue sky that dotted the horizon.
Reaching the start our brave support driver Val left us at the side of the road and there was nothing left but to start the walk. It has to be said at this point that Mr Clark had perhaps packed too much in his rucksack, so with the sage advice of Mr McDonagh and Ms Fitzgerald, both seasoned danderers, he reluctantly parted company with the Barbie and Ken figures he had packed for extra company. He was unable to explain why they were naked but the other team members did not pursue that point.

The Anti Kilt sentiments of the locals

I have to add at this point the rather anti-kilt sentiments of the wall adornments at the start of the Moyle Way were quite frankly shocking in this day and age! As can be seen by myself and Mr Clark taking a stand (so to speak) against the parochial fascism of the trousered classes and their anti-kilt signage. We are nothing if not passionate wearers of the kilt, Mr Clark being as he is of Glaswegian birth. It is said that on a good day with the wind in the right direction his sporran still smells of the burger and hot dog vans that line the roadways of his birth within a snail’s fart of the Glasgow Rangers Football ground – then again it may be his “first” breakfast.

How wrong can one sign be?

So it was without further ado we started the long ascent of Trostan (the hill at the top of Glenariff) at the start of the up hill bit there is a sign that would imply that you are entering a place of much joy and stress busting properties. Well that may be so for the non-danderer, however for the intrepid danderers for dosh this was just the first of 3 ascents so there was stress aplenty with the thought of the next 20 miles!

Eileen takes on the steps 2 at a time

Glenariff is a wonderful place of moving water, waterfalls and ancient deciduous woodland and were it not for the fact we needed to get to Ballycastle it is well worth stopping and sucking in the natural beauty. Not so for the intrepid Danderers. Here you can see the bold Ms Fitzfgerald striding purposely up the stairs by the biggest of the waterfalls. What a trooper she is!

I should add at this time she had just said in her strong Corkonian accent “There is not way in God’s green earth I am following 2 men in kilts up steps that steep! I learnt that lesson following Big “Firm” Tony up hills in Canada and he was only wearing shorts!

How to Flutter Safely in a Kilt

At this point I have to mention kilts. I think I can heartily recommend kilts for the gentleman danderer. Both Mr Clark and I found the experience liberating , but greater care needs to be given to wind direction, nettles, thistles, all biting insects and the chaffing effect of having sweaty nether regions. Kilt Rash can become unpleasant after 20 miles but it does allow for a rather excellent impersonation of John Wayne in the later stages of a long walk.

Eileen reads the "Walking with men in Kilts" ITIL protocol

Eileen had as always come prepared, her rucksack, part tardis, part outward bound shop, contained many many things including the ITIL protocol for lone females surround by men in Kilts and special “Ms Bono” wrap around sunglasses that had a special coating that darkened 0.35 secs before a gust of wind made her line of sight “distressing”. The photo on the left is of the pause for “3rd Breakfast” – yes we do take the business of being Hobbits VERY seriously

Eileen using "Kiltorama" glasses in wind

The effect of the these new and innovative sunglasses can be seen here. Just out of shot Andy Clark was giving us a rendition of the “Glasgow Hill Climbers Mountain Song” with actions and fancy foot work. Note how dark Eileen’s sunglasses have become when the wind got up!

These sunglasses are a must for all ladies of taste and refinement on the hills this season!

Trostan was duly conquered and I have to say at this time that the other two were very understanding of gammy leg which necessitated me stopping frequently to stretch the hernia on my shin back to where it should be and not where it was.

Down the other side of Trostan we plodded and managed to lose the path!. This was the only time we actually went “off piste” in the whole 26.22 miles and then only for about 200 yards of deep heather and boggy loveliness. Reaching the base of Slieveanorra we paused for dinner or perhaps 4th breakfast and then headed up the boggy sides of Slieveanorra.

Half way up Slieveanora

About half way up we met some walkers coming down and I used the “Give me some money or I will dance the Gay Gordon” ploy and managed to get some more cash for the charity coffers! I can be a devious danderer when I put my mind to it.!

At the top we discovered Northern Ireland Mountain rescue. The thought of lots of fit strong and un-kilted men spurred Eileen up to the top but alas they were packing up and leaving 🙁

No walk is complete without a “Great Universal Catalogue” picture of Mr Clark and rightly so! So without further ado here you are

Eileen was not impressed

Over Slieveanorra and down into the Forest of Breen and along a rather lovely river valley to the bridge of “despair”. This is a lovely little bridge over the Glenshesk River which both Mr Clark and I had sat on before .. we both knew the last main ascent was ahead and that is was a really quite nasty bit of sheer bog, bramble and tree. So we had a bit of a sit down.

The Bridge of Despair

.. and a spot of afternoon tea. It is at this time important to point out that not arranging ones kilt and sitting on cold metal “anti-slip” grating is NOT Recommended particularly 18 miles into a walk!

We may have sat longer than we should, but grasping our walking poles firmly off we set and as per usual my leg caused some (many) pauses for yours truly. Eileen waited for me half way up and gave me some chocolate and extra water which was gratefully received. 🙂

Having eventually beaten that nasty climb we set off through the Forest of Breen and arrived at the final rest point before skirting the base of Knocklayde and getting to Ballycastle
It was around this time tbat everyone including Eileen pointed out that “yes our feet did hurt” and it was good we were within 5 miles of the pub.

Practising walking like John Wayne

The effects of 20 miles on legs, feet and nether regions where kicking in big time for myself and Andy. Much to the amusement of Ms Fitzgerald we were now dandering like those heros of Hollywood Westerns.

It is also worthy of note that we started to hallucinate at this point and the object of our desire was a pub, any pub, it didn’t matter the size, shape or tidyness, we just needed a pub.

In the bar and we are DONE

Then after 10 hours and 6 minutes and 26.22 miles of dandering we entered the Harbour Bar in Ballycastle and we were DONE! Pints were ordered and sitting down was attempted amidst groans, creaks and fissiling of kilt material.

We had done it and we are PROUD!

Now to the Thank Yous. Thank you to Andy and Eileen who were, as always excellent companions and understanding of my frequent stops to rearrange my wonky leg. Thanks to our support driver the ever patient and understanding Val, who not only got us to the start but came and got us at the end.
Most of all an enormous

THANK YOU!!!

to all the people who donated cash to our Dandering Charity the Disaster Emergency Committee for Hunger in Africa. Currently the total stands at an amazing £1,375.00 which quite honestly is humbling ! When you consider that £0.25 can bring a child back from the brink of death your generosity is just wonderful. Eileen. Andy and I thank you from the bottom of our hearts for supporting us in this way.. To borrow an expression from our American Chums “You Guys ROCK!”

More Piccies can be found here and here

Knocklayde

With only 2 weekends until the “Dander for Dosh” Mr Clark an yiourse truely descided that it was a perfect time to have a go at Knocklyade. Now for those that don’t know Knocklayde is a 1695 ft  hill above Ballycastle on the north Antrim coast and right on the top is Carn na Truagh (The Carin of the Sorrows) and it was with the aim of having lunch on that very cairn that Andy and I set out from Ballycastle Diamond at 8:30 Sunday morning. From our starting point it was going to be a 8 mile slog up and down this rather soggy key piece of the north coast’s up and downy-ness

Taking the Fairhill road that leads out of the diamond beside the Antrim Arms Hotel we followed the signs for the Moyle/Ulster way for 5 miles up onto the shoulders of Knocklayde. The going was uphill but none to arduous being mainly on forestry tracks.
You will come to a large section of cleared forest and the Moyle/Ulster way veers off to the left and a less trodden path continues along to the end of the cleared section. Follow this path and you will come to a path heading to the right up towards the hill. When you come to gate where the full horror of what lies ahead can be seen for a full 180 degrees.

Hop over the gate and turn left until you get to a sheep fold, then follow the fence/wall up the side of the hill … and that is really about it……

However

The fench on the way up

It gets really really really steep, there are rocks and holes in the grass (down which a wee stream flows unseen but not unheard so those of you with weakish bladders beware!) My gammy leg did not fair well as each time I push down on my toes a bit of muscle pops out of a fasica hernia and unless I pop it back in things get all tainted with SORE! At one point I was sat waiting for the lump to subside and I thought to myself “no this is just silly” and I was about to phone Andy who had wandered on ahead and tell him to fire away and I would wait for him where I was. A passing sheep stopped looked at me and said “Wuss” in a loud most unsheepish way and then bounded up the hill .. there was no way a fecking sheep was going to best me!! So onwards and upwards i plodded, taking my time and resting frequently.

The view from the top

When you get to the top of the fench, all you need to do is climb over it (no barbed wire!!) and turn to the left and 30 yards away is the cairn and you are there. From the top the views are spectacular, 360 degrees of uninterupted loveliness (an no comms masts!!!) from Donegal in the west to Scotland in the east. Truly well worth the unpleasantness (for me) getting there.

The Carn of the sorrows

A word about the Cairn at the top, Carn na Truagh, this is a very impressive site. This huge hilltop cairn, on the top of Knocklayd Mountain, almost certainly contains a Neolithic passage tomb,(5000 years old) but there are no external signs of an interior structure. It is over 3m tall and about 20m in diameter. Most of the stones that form it are covered by a layer of peat and tough grass, but on the south and west sides the prevailing winds have exposed the stones and a large section of the huge kerb.

Oddly, the kerb is not formed by stones that are set into the ground, but that are lying against the slope of the cairn itself … this site has not be excavated so it remains a mystery and a good place to have a cuppa after that sodding climb!

A great day out!

Piccies can be found here =>

I am a bit late getting this post up on the blog but no excuses I am a lazy blurt!

So.. this sunday Mr Clark and myself, (which reminds me I must apologise to his SWMBO  who is Julie Clark not CLARKE as previously stated in the last walkies post! – Sorry Julie), decided that it was time for a bit of a seaside dander so we walked from Portrush Harbour through Portstewart and out to the Bar Mouth where the River Bann hits the sea.

Ballyreagh Castle

We started outside the Harbour Bar in Portrush and set off down the West Strand prom, under Barry’s amusements and then onto the coastal path that wanders on the top of the low cliffs that separate the two coastal towns. Over the now barely visible remains of Ballyreagh Castle the once sister castle to Dunluce to the east of Portrush.

On past the grave of an unknown and un-named sailor whose body ended up on the shore 100 feet away in the 1800’s. His last resting place is tucked away under the cliffs near Juniper hill and few if any people know he is there, it certainly came as a surprise to Andy who even though he is a local of many years standing had never heard of this wee grave monument.

It remains to this day well tended and looked after by someone. Then on and over the hill and down to Portstewart harbour and along the prom to the stairs that mark the start of the “Nuns Walk”

The Nun's Walk

The Nun’s Walk is thus named because the big white castley building is a Dominican convent and in times gone by the path from the Prom to the beach was haunted by fearsome female’s dressed in full religious regalia casting disapproving looks at any passing teenager or be-sandaled hippy Protestant. Those times are long past although the name remains.

Then down to Port nah’aple an old salmon fishery and one of the places I and many of my

Port nah'aple

age learnt to swim, catch crabs and the odd flounder. Family friends lived just around the corner and many glorious summer days were spent in the rock pools and inlets of this bit of the coast.

The headland in the distance is the head land on which stands the enigmatic Mussenden Temple built by the slightly doolally Bishop of Derry and Earl of Bristol. Beyond that in the far distance is Donegal.

From there it is around by the site of the old Strand Hotel … OOOO if the rocks could talk the stories they could tell of nights of passion after the disco on the grassy hill leading down to the small cove.

The Strand Hotel and the Edgewater Hotel beside like my ability to disco dance all night and charm young ladies it is now long gone and worthy of only a short nostalgic pause before descending the stairs to the long stretch of sand that ends with the piers of the Bar Mouth. This is where the Bann , the river that bisects Norn Iron into a west and an eastern half. Living in the western half of the province like I do means that we get to look down on the folks that live in the eastern half who are all no better than they should be!

Reaching the wee white lighthouse on the end of the pier Mr Clark and I had a sit down, a coffee some sarnies and then we walked all the way back for a pint of Guinness in the Harbour Bar.

A route just short of 15 miles, very easy going yet blessed with wonderful views and I you are up this way well worth taking a couple of hours and doing some if not all of the walk.

HOWEVER could the scum-sucking-arse-chutney-oozing-brain-dead-bollockes that insist on dropping every wrapper, paper cup, crisp bag and fag packet on the ground even within 5 feet of a rubbish bin PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE STAY THE F**K AWAY! Thank you

Folk of the Blogverse and others that come to read my witterings I make no apologies for coming to you cap in hand looking for $’s £’s and €’s for this year’s Domino Danderers Dander for Dosh.

Eileen and I are going to walk the Moyle Way on the 19th August this year. 26 miles of mainly off road dandering in the Glens of Antrim. We may well will be joined by some of the “AVX Bog Faeries” and perhaps a couple of bods from ni-wild.org This will be a long hard dander for this old grumpy codger and I fully expect to be punctured at the end of it.

So why am I and the rest of the team here cap in hand looking for cash from my friends, colleagues and the odd total stranger? Well for the past couple of days the news out of East Africa is getting pretty grim. Only last night I was in tears watching the 10 o’clock news as a child too weak to scream was brought back from the brink of starvation and dehydration by the doctors working in the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya.This camp was built to care for 90,000 but it has swollen to 400,000 with 1000+ new arrivals everyday, each arrival brings chilling tales of horror and anguish, like this…

…A mother of six was forced to decide today whether to leave behind her daughter, who is simply too sick to travel, in order to save the rest of her family. Suffering from malnutrition, her daughter wasn’t strong enough to continue with their 30-day, 50-mile journey from Somalia into neighboring Kenya. The mother, who was so traumatized that she couldn’t continue describing her ordeal to the doctors or to even give her name, had to leave her child by the side of the road to die where she was left, unburied for the wild scavengers.

I sit here at my desk, comfortable, warm , well fed and well watered and I feel guilty , as well I might, that I am so well served by my lifestyle. Death does not sit as an un-invited guest at my table each evening. I am never faced with making the choice of which of my family will live and which will die because there is not enough to go round … I and you gentle reader are lucky, really really lucky!

Eileen, I and our dandering friends will be walking a mere 26 miles, in comfy boots, well supplied with liquids and sandwiches. We will end up in a pub and raise a few glasses to our achievement but that achievement will be as nothing to those now walking to the refugee camps . These are men, women and children for whom each step is an achivement! Therse are the people that are dying NOW and we can help stop it NOW.

If you know Eileen or myself and would perhps buy us a pint at a LUG event please please please buy us a pint now, buy us 2 or 3 or even 4, whatever you can manage. Visit our Just Giving page and click the DONATE button and give what you can. You can give on this site no matter what country you are from.

To quote Bob Geldolf  at live aid  “Give us your F***ing Money NOW!” 🙂

Thank you for reading this far and thank you for giving

** Update **
The Current List of Walkers :
Steve McDonagh
Eileen Fitzgerald
Andy Clarke

** Update **
It has been suggested that a donation might be made if I were to do the dander in a kilt and have pictures taken … Hmmm we shall see about that.

** Update **
Now I have been asked for doing it in either (a) A Yellow Kilt (b) A Yellow Tutu or (c) a Yellow Mankini I would appreciate feed back on this

First off I have to give credit to Julie Clarke, long suffering better half of Andy who danders will me on Sundays for the title of this post., both apt and more erudite that my more usual post titles. Thank you Julie!

This Sunday Andy and I set off for a plod around the high up bits of the Sperrins. The Mournes have the seven sevens (Seven summits all more than 700 metres) well the dander we did could well have been called the six fives for the same reason. Our target for the day was the summits of Bohillbreagha, Craig-na-shoke, Mullaghmore, White Mountain, Glenshane and Corrick. This essentially is the ridge line that forms the southern side of the Glenshane pass, the main road between Belfast and Derry through the Sperrins.

The Starting Point

The starting point is the first lay by on the right past “The Ponderosa bar” probably the highest bar in Ireland, definitely the highest in Northern Ireland but more of that later.
Cross the road and take great care this is a main road and drivers are inclined to go a tad quickly!! Turn left and about 200 yards down the road you will come to a turn that leads you down into Glenshane forest.

Enter the forest and at the first junction turn right and then immediately left and walk along the main forest road. This track follows the stream that will eventually become the River Roe and it gradually starts to climb and around 2 miles in turns away and gets steeper.

The Mass Rock

After a mile or so you come to the site of a “mass rock”  in a glade in the trees. This is another of those places that dates back to the penal lawswhen celebrating mass was against the law, so Catholics worshipped at places like this. A local told us later that the congregations in Dungiven were still using this site once or twice a year as a place of pilgrimage until fairly recently. This was indicated by the Cross that marks the old altar stone, the collection of copper coins and rosaries left by visitors fairly recently.

If you stand with your back to the mass rock the route out is up the hill to the fallen trees then turn left and follow a raggedy path up and out of the forest. In a 100 feet or so you will come to the boundary fence where there is a style. which you cross and you are on the open side of Bohillbreagha. Head straight up almost south and you will come to the summit of the hill. One down!

The ridge of Mullaghmore

From the summit turn take a bearing on the mast on Mullaghmore (around 283 Magnetic) and head towards it the next summit you get to is Craig-na-Shoke. Be careful there are cliffs to the left of the ridge, however the path is set a good 100 yards in from them. From Craig-na-Shoke head west, cross a fence at the gate you can see and then head up the grassy firm slopes of Mullaghmore and follow the path along the ridge to the summit. Again taking care of the slope and cliffs on your left that run down to Moydamlaght forest. Once you get to the mast at the top of Mullaghmore you get the most stupendous view (eather permitting) of Donegal, Derry, Antrim,Down, Lough Neagh, Tyrone, the Irish Sea and Scotland in the distance.

Follow the road down off the summit for a couple of yards and the bank on the left is a wonderful place to get out of the wind and have a spot of lunch. When you are down follow the road down through one gate and just before the second one you will see a gate made of a wooden pallet in the fence on your right. Go through this gate and follow the fence that runs up to the summit of White Mountain.

Andy after his stick breaking jump

Be careful! The path is rutted with deep channels in the peat cut by small streams over the years. Some of these are 6-7 feet deep and the peat on the bottom is very very soft and deep. As Andy discovered when he bravely jumped into one and sank up to his knees, falling backwards and breaking his walking pole neatly into two bits.

He took this loss of kit stoically and finding a only fence post used this as a replacement for the next couple of ascents.

Be careful there is an old fence line just inside the new and there are tangles of old metal post and wire that will snag the unwary foot.

Follow the fence up and over White Mountain and then down into the col between it and Glenshane mountain. The going is quite tough as the path disappears into old growth heather and some very sucky peat bogs. It was around this point that Andy and I decided to pitch for a new BBC series called “The Bog Faeries”, but more of that later perhaps, depends on if the BBC commissioning editor bites at my suggestion.

The Stones New Home

At the end of the climb up to Glenshane mountain I left my “Mountain Stone” just to the right of the fence. Some people plant flags on mountains they climb, some build cairns … me I leave varnished stones.
If you ever find a stone like this on some mountain or coastal path, if you like it please take it home if you have the urge, I don’t expect to see them again 😉

Keep following the fence on to the last summit of the day on Corick mountain the follow it down slowly until you come to a fence running down toward the forest where you started. turn and follow this fence down until you come to a small gorge, cross at the head of the waterfall, cross the fence at the gate (another pallet) and keep heading downwards until you come to a proper gate on the right, Cross this gate and follow the path back to the entrance to the forest and cross the road to the car park.

Walks statistics => Distance – 10 miles , Total ascent – 1175m , Walking time 5 hours.
You should NOT do this walk in mist or rain the path out of the forest is hard to follow in reduced visibility and there are unfenced cliffs and some seriously deep peat sheughs that would appear to suffer from flash floods!

The Ponderosa Bar is a marvelous place for an end of walk pint, the staff are helpful, friendly and chatty. The beer is gloriously cold and very very very welcome after 6 hours on the mountains.

My Pictures here

and Andy’s pictures here