Ireland – Hike Norfolk Walking Trip Day 2

Day one had been a challenging day in terms of the weather, but the second day was far more leisurely. We arranged to meet up at 09:30 near to the accommodation closest to Dave and myself, and only two people were late. But it was only by four minutes, so that was acceptable. Sort of.

We were walking from Doolin to Fanore and I decided to follow the Burren Way rather than take the coast road. The signage is pretty good along the entire route of the Burren Way and it would be difficult to go too far wrong.

Susanna has spent the week singing the tune to a song that she can’t identify. Despite her remembering it perfectly and making lyrical noises of some clarity, no-one has a bloody clue what tune it is. Above she’s performing another impromptu rendition of the ditty….

The walk wasn’t particularly far, only around eight miles, and so we were done by late lunch-time, one of my earliest finishes to a walk. Although we were on the Burren Way which is a little inland, there were though excellent views over the coast.

We were also welcomed to Fanore with a rather lovely rainbow over the Atlantic Ocean.

Initially the plan had been to visit either the pub or cafe for lunch, and this seemed like a marvellous plan. However, the bloody pub was shut and the cafe had shut down. Instead we piled into the little shop in the village whilst Dave managed to take control of the sandwich purchasing project. This involved the poor man in the shop having to make a pile of sandwiches whilst also dealing with all of the other customers coming in. But, since this was Ireland, no-one minded and the atmosphere was convivial. Well, not from me it wasn’t, as I wanted to go into the pub, which we discovered wasn’t open until 8pm. We knew this as Maggie knocked on the window of O’Donohues to find out.

Three of us were located in a small B&B in Fanore, so we had a little wander down to the sea. The rest of the party went onto their accommodation in Ballyvaughan, a hotel which was run by a former TD (more on this accommodation later).

 

The highlight of the trip down to the beach (and indeed the whole week for me) was seeing Rosie, a border collie who was full of enthusiasm and excitement. Although I find that border collies usually are.

She helpfully posed for a photograph, such a well behaved dog.

Steve playing with the dog.

Steve taking photos of the sea, and he also took some artistic photos which can be seen on his Facebook page.

It was a really nice area to visit and take some photos, with no-one else around during the time which we were there.

Whilst the others were arguing and drinking away in Ballyvaughan, plans were being drawn up as to what the three residents of Fanore were going to eat since everything was now shut. Steve had a marvellous idea to make a lasagne, so we went back to the village shop excited about all the marvellous opportunities that might be available to us.

We discovered that they didn’t have much in the way of meat, or indeed vegetables. I wasn’t too bothered by this though as the shop had Dr. Oetker’s pizzas and this sort of food seemed perfect to me. So we purchased three pizzas, potato wedges, two bottles of wine, some crisps (they were my idea) and a Viennetta.

Sarah and Steve supervised the cooking arrangements and for this Sarah was to win the cook of the week. I dealt with the cooking and plating up of the Viennetta, a role which I excelled in, especially since the cooking element was rather minimal. We discovered that the Viennetta that we had purchased was designed for ten people, and Steve and Sarah only wanted a portion size for 2.5 people each, meaning I was stuck with five portions of Viennetta. This wasn’t a problem, although I decided that we probably wouldn’t get another one for the following day. There’s a limit to how much Viennetta is healthy for one person…..

Actually, on to the B&B that we had selected, which was Annaly House, just a short walk away from the beating heart of the village with its closed pub and cafe. The owner was friendly and helpful, and she had a charming dog which greeted us. Two of us had normal sized rooms, which Sarah was presented with an entire extension which had two floors and cooking facilities. Given this situation, Steve and I decided to make her accommodation our shared lounge, so this was a win-win. Well, technically a win-win-lose.

So, another marvellous day, more sedate and peaceful than the first, and we about to walk a route on day three which was to test even the most hardened of souls in the group…..