Walk Simon`s Way

From Friday the 25th through to Sunday the 27th of September, we participated in the inaugural Walk Simon’s Way, as part of the annual Simon Week to raise awareness of homelessness and funds to support the work of the Mid West Simon Community. It was a 72 kilometer walk in eight stages along the Clare Coast, through what some consider the most breathtaking scenery in the world—from Kilrush to Fanore.

Having walked 50 km several weeks before with our packs, we really enjoyed the fact that they shuttled our gear for us on most of this trip and supplied lots of bananas for snacks at the end of each stage!

Excited for the Friday morning start, we took the earliest Bus Eireann to Kilrush from Limerick, expecting to arrive 25 minutes late for stage one. However, the bus broke down and we ended up sitting on the side of the motorway for half an hour which was alright for us, but some of the people on the bus were close to missing their flights at Shannon Airport! An hour late, we arrived at Ennis. After the bus station manager finished his coffee break, Bus Eireann set up a taxi ride free of charge for us and the other two bus passengers who had been hoping to go to Kilrush. Needless to say, we were quite late for stage one of the hike! Not a bit phased, we decided to do our own 8 km loop down to Kilrush Wood and Vandeleur Walled Gardens (we made up the other 4.5 km in the evenings on Friday and Saturday)(also, the Irish really like their walls...).

 

We joined up with the walk at 2:30 for stage 2. To get from Kilrush to Doonbeg, we had to cut across the bottom of the peninsula, and we enjoyed the several hour walk through pastures and met a nice donkey along the way!

Upon arriving in the small coastal farming town of Doonbeg, the walk organizer tracked down the Community Hall key holder. Once she got the keys, she explained to us that we were welcome to set up our sleeping bags upstairs at the back of the hall but would have to wait to rest our weary feet till friday night bingo finished at 10:30 pm. Despite having only one street in town, the town hall was quite a large building, as it is used for a major drama festival in the area once a year, and bingo every Friday, where we were told that 200 people often show up! We found a large actors` dressing room that seemed suitable, set up our beds, stretched our sore muscles, and went for a walk around town to find a nice place to eat our packed dinner... On a beautiful hard wood polished picnic table near the Bay, we cracked open our canned herring in curry sauce and made some delicious wraps. Both of us were somewhat apprehensive of the canned fish but it tasted great, albiet a bit oily...Must have been the saving grace of the strong Irish cheddar!

 

After dinner, we returned to the Hall and went up and sat down in our room. Still a little peckish, we opened up our granola and nibbled, while talking about the beautiful farmland we had passed through earlier in the day. Suddenly, a soft knock at the door pulled us from our idle conversation. A retired Irishman stuck out his hand and said,

"Hello. My name is John Smith. I heard you were staying here tonight and here are some warm scones, butter and milk from my wife for you. Now listen, I'm calling the bingo tonight til half ten but, look here, my kids are all grown up and we have extra rooms and beds in our house. Look, would the two of ye want to stay with us tonight. We'd give you a warm shower. Anyway, think it over and I'll go make you a cuppa downstairs to go with the scones..."

Saturday morning at 9am, after a delicious Irish breakfast of toast, sausage, ham, bacon and fresh bread and scones, John gave us a ride back to the community hall. We helped the organizers load up the walk supplies that had been stored at the town hall overnight and got a ride from them to the start of the 3rd stage: Lehinch.

They say Lehinch is one of the top surfing beaches in Ireland and from the size of it - we'd have to agree! We arrived at low tide and started walking along a couple kilometers of fine golden sand with thirty or so other walkers who met us there. One of the best surprises of the weekend was the bus that arrived at the start of the day with Hala and Mary, two friends from Laura's program.

After the initial beach front, the walk meandered through farmland for quite some time. Slowly gaining elevation we enjoyed meeting lots of local walkers who had come out to support the Simon Community.

By mid-morning, the slow gain in elevation paid off and we found ourselves at the start of a long expanse of still rising sea cliffs and shimmering coastline. The cliffs of Moher are 200 m high and on a sunny day they are majestic (you may recognize them from the Princess Bride or Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince!)

 

The Purple Heather was in bloom!

After lunch, most of the walkers finished for the day and we became a small group of six. We met up with a local guy who lived in Doolin to lead us on the final stretch towards his hometown. As we began our descent from the cliffs, the local road was suddenly swarming with semi trucks! Our guide explained that there was a "Truck Run" for charity and 600 semi trucks were barreling around county Clare blaring their horns. It was quite a sight and the cattle in the field next to us had quite a fright. Our walk leader had to stop the walk in order to call around to his farmer friends, and the police to make sure that the cows didn`t get run over.

Following the coastline through farmers` mucky fields, the trail wound by a cement slab near a large sea cliff. Our guide explained that during the famine the local people would lower baskets over the cliff with their children inside to gather the eggs from seabirds` nests for food.

Gradually the cliffs turned into a calm bay and we arrived in Doolin, the Home of Irish Traditional Music (one of them, anyway :). Doolin is a vacation town for Irish and internationals alike. Every pub advertised live traditional music starting at 9pm and there was even a traditional music shop to explore.

Saturday night we slept with two other walkers at the Doolin Community Hall after a delicious dinner and some live music at the pub. Used mostly for a local dance studio, boxing classes, and coast guard training, Doolin`s Hall was quite a large building, and even had a zipline out back!

The final day of the walk was grand (as they say around here). We followed an old road through some beautiful hills above the coast that overlooked the Aran Islands and Galway Bay and ended in the small coastal village of Fanore (in Irish, Fánóir or Fán Óir, meaning "the golden slope").

 Just down from the bright blue pub we stopped by the local graveyard where John O'Donohue, the contemporary Irish writer, was buried several years ago.

After seeing John's grave (we had been talking with a local on the walk who had recorded John on her choir`s cd, reading some of his work between their songs), we raced to catch up with the final stage of the walk. The Fanore Loop trail is one of many in the middle of the world famous Burren National Park. Weathered limestone plateaus sloped down to the Atlantic coastline. The sunlight swimming in bright green grass patches and floundering over moonscape like boulders made for a fantastic end to a stunning weekend!