Leg 22, 34k The Cuilaigh Way, a long loop from near Florence Court to the Marble Arch caves via the mountain top. This was a tough enough walk, half the speed of road waling but twice the fun and interest. It rained all day and the mist was a constant companion so the hoped for splendid views were not available.
The Ulster Way runs from Florence Court across some rising but very wet bog land to the short but very steep north east wall up to the summit. This route should not be attempted in either poor visibility or in bad weather conditions unless you have a compass and the correct OS Map, and know how to use them. This is one of the rare sections where the WalkNI Ulster Way maps are not up to scratch because the route they shown is not the same route as that staked out on the ground with the yellow topped marker posts. Walkers who choose to take the mapped route i.e. walk on compass bearings and ignore the marker posts may find they are stranded on the wrong side of the Owenbrean River which after rain is quite substantial. Foot bridges like the one in the photo are only on the way-marked route. I will let WalkNI know – I imaging the reaction my emails get in that office is “Ah shit! Navigation Boy has found another cock-up in the route” but they should take some comfort because unless Florence Court has 2 stream powered sawmills I walked in at least one circle this morning…
Once out of the Florence Court forest the mist was at times too thick to see more than a few hundred meters ahead so I enjoyed the post hunting even if it slowed me up and added kilometres. The mist was a bit thinner at the top so at least I got a photo of the trig pillar. The descent is much easier mostly because to protect the delicate habitat the Mabel Arch geo-park folk have installed a 2.5k long board walk from top plateau to the approach track. Its an impressive piece of manual engineering though its presence does jar a bit in such a wilderness setting.
Along the final walk-off portion I cam across the orange topped hut in which Dermot Breen took shelter from the wind this summer. Its a handy refuge but I don’t understand why they made it so diminutive, that is a standard size bin outside. The hut itself is probably only about a meter and a half high with two tiny dolls house benches on the inside. Perhaps the folk who laid the board walk were little people, the hut could comfortably accommodate 6 or 8 Leprechauns or up to a dozen Elves as long as they left their bloody bows outside.
On the walk back to Arch House a wonderful B&B where Rosemary also does beautiful evening meals I had to navigate around a number of cattle that had obviously escaped from some field. A kilometre further along the road I flagged down a speeding farmer in a pickup truck to warn him that there were cattle on the road ahead. He surprised me by asking “What sort?”, I didn’t think it mattered so I said “I don’t know! Big enough to do your car damage if you hit one”. But he wasn’t going to let it go, “Are they Holstein? ‘Cos I only keep Kerry. Better milkers for this ground”. My civic duty to warn of impending danger had somehow morphed into a conversation about milk yield. “They are big and black and are in the middle of the road” I said. “If they are black they might be mine, But sure if they are Holstein I’ll let Sean know. Bye”. I like Fermanagh people more every day.
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