Lg 21 today 36k, a road walk section starting at Lisnaskea and ending up at Florence Court. For logistical reasons (I got a lift once more with the ever obliging Sandra and her niece Allie) I walked this in reverse (that is I walked from Floerence Court to Lisnaskea, not that I walked backwards along the route – that would be silly).
I realise that my post of yesterday may have upset those Fermanagh lovers who think that images of junk yards, fly tipping, and motorised anti-social behaviour reflects badly on their preferred county. Reasonable enough comments and I am happy to emphasise in this post that Fermanagh Lakeland scenery is indeed very pretty. People have tried to count the lakes in Fermanagh but its a pointless exercise as (a) they are so numerous, and (b) they arbitrarily appear and vanish – like supermarket value deals. Its best to think of the place as essentially one big lake with a number of shallow domes of occasionally dry land that bob to the surface for a gasp of air. The people are almost without exception lovely – in the final hour of my walk after the rain started no less than 3 cars or vans stopped and offered me a lift (thanked, but declined – of course).
Kinawley village is on the route and it has everything a village with aspirations to be a town should have: post office, church, two graveyards, picnic area, school, pensioner with small dog, street cleaner, florist, pub, and an abandoned shop premise clad in trompe l’oeil images to make it look look like a welcoming tea and cake shop! I approached Kinawley around mid-morning, spotted the tea shop and detoured to treat myself … it is now 10 hours later and no meal I have had since that moment has fully purged the sense of despairing loss caused by the deceit of that shop. This was not helped by the lunch I did have an hour or so later in a popular but disappointing cafe in Derrylin. I should have stuck to my usual sandwich fare but opted for a chicken cream sauce pasta dish which when it arrived gave the impression that mine might not be the first digestive tract this meal had journeyed through. But it can’t have been that bad as I did eat it.
WalkNI draws attention to the precarious nature of the road walk between Lisnaskea and Derrylin, they do not exaggerate. The road in question is narrow, windy and contains a large number of hidden dips that could easily conceal a car, a lorry or – as they nearly did today – the mangled corpse of a lone walker. Lady Brooke Bridge connects Trasna Island to the south shore and it is wide enough for 2 cars or one speeding heavy goods lorry. Its horrible to cross but is a beach stroll compared to Lady Craigavon Bridge which connects to the north shore. This bridge is only just wide enough for a lorry, is approached from both sides by a blind corner and it is humped in the middle so you can’t see the other side. The procedure for a walker to cross it is: (a) find or re-find faith in a benign Deity, (b) wear every luminous reflective or light emitting device you posses, (c) wait for a lull in the traffic flow – if you are in a group it’s a good idea to send one of the weaker members over first as a sacrificial distraction as a fatal accident is will generally slow down if not completely stop the traffic flow – (d) take up a position in the middle of the road and run as fast as a tightly clenched rectum and a continuous breathless scream will permit.
I’m climbing Cuilcagh Mountain tomorrow, the highest point in the Ulster Way. I am very much looking forward to getting off the roads.
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