Long hike today at just under 40k, tarmac end to end except for the penultimate 1.5k into Aughnacloy which was not only not tarmac but was functionally impassable and were it not for the serendipitously fallen tree across the stream I would be at that spot still looking hopelessly forward at the nearby lights of Aughnacloy and nervously backward at the herd of cows with calfs blocking my retreat. A stiff note to WalkNI who co-ordinate the management of the Ulster Way route will follow this blog posting.
The Armagh countryside is green and lush, it’s not flat but its attempts at elevation and dip are very half-hearted so it lies like a badly rumpled bed. The lack of height means that you rarely view the countryside but you do feel yourself to be in the countryside. In the warmth of today’s sun even walking the roads felt good. Mind you, the warning sign below soon put me on guard against a simple carefree stroll. I have no idea what road bowls are.
18k into today’s hike I stopped for tea in Allens coffee shop in Caledon village. It was so nice that I left my prepared lunch in its box and treated myself to a pannini. Allen’s is a strange establishment it’s badged as a furniture, household goods and accessories shop but the back is given over to the coffee enterprise. Well I say “given over” but actually it sort of co-exists and bleeds into the furniture shop. I retrieved a salt cellar from another table to season my sandwich only to discover (a) it had no salt, and (b) it did have a price label. The cafe had lots of customers, the shop had none. In my head the café is run by Mr Allen’s ambitious daughter and each night when the shop closes she moves her tables an inch or so further into the shop so in a couple of years time her dad will patrol a single meter wide strip of cluttered household paraphernalia and his daughter will employ 20 staff and 3 chefs. I’m OK with that, as long as she keeps using the same tasty Victoria sponge recipe. She may even be able to send some of her staff up the road to Ella’s Barn – not just “cake artistry” but cake artistry sufficiently renowned to warrant a road sign.
For these last two hike sections I have been staying at the Fairylands B&B in Armagh. Now I actually dislike the whole B&B “thing”; the hushed breakfasts, mini-kettles that take an hour to boil, unfamiliar shower thermostat settings, and “how do you switch off/on the bloody light above the bed” conundrum. But actually Maureen who owns and runs this place is fabulously friendly. Some people seem born to work in hospitality and Maureen has all the easy good humour and generous attention to detail that make B&B accommodation pleasant even for a social inept like me. If you need to stay over in Armagh I would recommend you contact Maureen – you do not need to be a fairy to stay here.
Actually on the point of nice people I have to note that Armagh seems to have a high percentage of friendly folk. A number of them are clearly odd but they carry their eccentricity with confident assurance. A farmer stopped his car today (in the middle of the road, engine off and sit back folded arms for a chat) when I told him I was walking the Ulster Way his response was ..”Your walking! On foot? You’ll need a good pair of boots for that.” nothing he said was actually untrue so I only had to smile and nod. Earlier in the week in Portadown when I asked a woman the way to the canal she shook her head: “Noooo. No canal in Portadown”, not wanting to contradict I suggested it might be near the river: “Noooo. No river in Portadown”, When I challenged this saying “actually I think the Bann goes through the town” her face lit-up and she happily replied “The BANN, Oh yes, that’s just down this street. Here let me take you”. I wanted to ask her what she though the Bann was if not a river but I refrained because I suspect she thinks its a thin narrow sea at the edge of the world – mad, but friendly.
I loved the photo of the home owning cow. I regret I didn’t make the time to get closer to see if daddy cow was out the back chopping logs or baby cow was upstairs asleep.
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