Day 55: This One Had a Rainbow In It (BBW25 Hymany Way: Ahascragh-Ballygar)

Sometimes I might be a bit coy about my favorite part of the day, to keep you all guessing or something, I don’t know. But rainbows! Today legitimately had rainbows in it guys! Yes even more than one!

Also I got farther than I planned – I was aiming to get near but not all the way in to Ballygar today. But then I got all stubborn as I sometimes do and I am super glad because otherwise I would have probably missed the rainbow and that would have been tragic. Though I did annoy my feet somewhat, so that might not have been as good. I suppose we will see tomorrow. But the Hymany Way is now done! 7 sections out of 10 (or 12 if I decide to go to Blacklion, which is still very much TBD) complete!

I am getting way ahead of myself and putting the ends at the beginning of this post. Consider it an edgy experiment in the blog-writing form rather than me not being able to contain myself, won’t you?

Okay. Let’s try this again.

Today started with a sheep by a swingset, which seemed marvelously surreal to me

Then I saw a black lamb, who I will call today’s Lamb of the Day though I wish I had caught a better picture

And after that I went through a field and over a bridge and by some foxgloves

And rhodys (apparently non-native here but they are still pretty, sigh)

Also I took a photograph of shamrocks because I am in Ireland after all and today was a very Irish day (uh, I think these are shamrocks anyway. They might not be. Plant experts, can you confirm or deny?)

Then a stile had fallen over or else been horribly vandalized, not sure which (at least the fence next to its corpse had an easy gap so that all worked out)

In a spectacular wildlife find, nearly unprecedented in my travels so far, I came across a whole herd of Benches Along Irish Walking Trails, which as I have mentioned in the past are a deeply endangered species. This photo took a great deal of perseverence and patience, these shy benches are very easily startled and quite rare

They had come to water next to this very pretty bridge over the Bunowen River

Reflections of the forest

Another graveyard, another mysterious set of structural remnants (no obvoius notes about this one)

Another crumbled house being reclaimed by the land

A rather peculiar wall of… stuff… somewhere along the path

Not long after the Wall Of Things, I encountered one of the most egregious “where’s the waymarker?” situations I have come across yet. A previous waymarker had told me to come into this area:

But, uh, how am I supposed to leave?

I eventually headed sort of left and up the hill, which was definitively wrong despite a little road-ish thing that I was able to follow for a while – until it dead-ended into a boggy precipice. But after consulting the map, I decided to improvise and climb up the hill to my right, where I was able to spot a waymarker from the route I apparently should have taken (though I actually couldn’t see good waymarkers for that path farther back either… so… yeah, very confusing.) I managed to not be lost and continue bogging along so it all worked out in the end, but I think this section could have used a bit more clarity.

Regaining the path

At this point such directions are beginning to no longer phase me, I must have been at this a while

Lunch spot (that tree protected me, my shoes, and my socks from a rather sudden downpour. Thanks, tree!)

This is where all that turf we have been seeing ends up. Weird to me who is used to woodpiles for such purposes

Very pretty woodland trail

Bog bursting into bloom

Bog blossoms

Horses and trees

Look! Skies of color that is not grey! Reflected in river! Very good! (the Shiven River, apparently)

Though not all blue everywhere, as you can see

The house had a babyyyyy isn’t it cute!

The wind today was exquisitely pleasant, and seemed as though it was trying to whisper the secrets of life the universe and everything through the leaves in the trees. If only I spoke ash

Another of the childhood smelling roses (is it Double Delight? I think maybe?)

And wild roses, which smell of Bellevue to me as they grew alongside the sidewalks I walked nearly every day while living there

Towards the end of the day the path led pretty much exactly away from Ballygar for a bit, but the idea was to lead you to a nice bit of trail through this bird sanctuary so it all sort of made sense

And it made even more sense when after dealing with fickle on again off again rain all day, the sun managed to peek out at just the right angle and the great reward appeared:

RRRRRAINBOW!

I took a ridiculous number of pictures of it, and also got to watch it grow in strength – from just the little tail pictured above to a full, beautiful bow. This is probably my best shot of it in its full glory:

I mean that’s pretty damn classic right there

So today. Not unicorns, but rainbows. YES.

I finally stopped squealing and staring and moved on, continually glancing over my shoulder. I then went through perhaps the most “under the hedge”-ish greenery tunnel yet:

Seriously, it was pretty intense under here

Sadly it emptied me onto a road instead of a more wondrous location. Ah well.

The trail led past another graveyard, this one with a mini-round tower

Different angles, different light

And then I reached the end of the Hymany Way! What! Crazy!

And what should await me but ANOTHER RAINBOW! (not quite as good as the first but you can still see it there!) Apparently this is a Momentous Moment!

And then I walked by a door with this lovely quote which my mom has had hanging on the refrigerator for pretty much my entire living memory. MOM HI I’M DOING IT NOW

After getting a ride back to Aughrim thanks to the kind Robert Cooke, I enjoyed another round of battered cod (seriously, it is one of the better ones I have had) and Guinness, and then stepped out to watch the ceili (pronounced just like the mechanic from Firefly), a rousing folk dance going on out back.

There were many complex steps and sets of dances called things like the “Rory Collins Set” or the “Merchant’s Set”. It had a strong resemblance to many other folk dances I have seen, but with more complex footwork, which given that many folks had taps on their shoes made for a really compelling rhythmic experience. An accordionist, keyboard player, and drummer played live in the front of the hall, throwing down jigs and reels and all manner of hectic tunes. I watched for a bit and determined that I would love to learn ceili dancing at some point — but this event was decidedly aimed at people who knew what they were doing already, with no calling or instruction. Between that and my rather sore feet I decided to decline (sometimes a bit strong) attempts by a couple gents to get me on the floor.

Fun times, but eventually my exhaustion got the better of me and I crept back to my room to sleep my last night at Valerie’s in Aughrim, where I have been for nearly a week (!) Tomorrow, on to Ballygar and the Suck Valley Way…