We changed our plans for Day 12. The things we were GOING to
do (Achill Island and Keem Beach) will both have to be done on a future trip to
Ireland. Just another excuse to come back!
Instead, the local folk constantly insisted that we hike up “their
hill”, which was Mount Gable. It’s an odd piece of landscape near Clonbur,
where we were staying. There is Mount Gable, a nice sized mountain, and it’s
just sticking out in a landscape of rolling hills. Clonbur is also between two
lakes, and there are more mountains on the other sides of the lakes. All in
all, Mount Gable is all alone and towers over the village of Clonbur.
Anywho, since the locals said that the views from the top of
Mount Gable were incredible, we decided to do a bit of local hiking. We were
kinda sick of driving. The descriptions in internet-land say that the hike to
the top of Mount Gable is “an easy walk”. I brought my hiking boots on the
short drive to the parking lot, but of course, I totally forgot to put them on.
D’oh!
The “easy walk” was a zig zagging deep-rutted tractor road
that steeply goes up the mountain. Of course, it’s also a mountain full of
grazing sheep. Laugh. Even though it’s Day 12, and we’ve been hiking and
walking TONS by now, I was having a very difficult time going up this steep
path. I was gasping for my breath and seeing spots over and over. I was super embarrassed
because I assumed that I was in bad shape somehow.
Paul kept encouraging me that “it’s just around this corner!”
which were Lies! Lies! Lies! Finally, I was about to pass out, so Paul
suggested he would go on ahead to see how much farther it was going to be.
After a few minutes rest, I very slowly trudged up after him. He made it to the
top and was waving at me, and the sight of the actual top gave me a boost of
energy. Whew.
When I got to the top, I finally realized what the problem
was: this mountain was WAY taller than we thought it was! I have always
struggled with high altitudes, and I was seeing spots and gasping for breath
because the air was a bit thinner. It was hard to notice on the way up, but at
the top, WOW the views just went on and on forever. It was so incredibly
beautiful. We stayed up for a long time, and then it looked like it was going
to rain. It was weird to see the low rain clouds at the same level as us.
Going down was mainly easier, except that since I wasn’t
wearing my hiking boots (oops), I slipped once and slightly sprained my ankle.
Oh well.
After that awesome workout, we went back to our place to eat
lunch and meet our airbnb host. He was kind enough to let us rent his fishing
boat for one of the lakes. Paul was pretty excited about that. We went off on
one of Ireland’s adorable looking fishing boats, with directions from our host
on where to catch fish.
Of course, as we left shore, it started raining again. It
was light sprinkles, and Paul optimistically said ‘it’s almost done raining!’
Lies! Laugh. It got worse and worse and soon it was a steady rain. I was fine
for a while, because I had brought a towel and spare clothes to drape over me
for shelter. But then they all got sopping wet, and then I got soaked, and then
I started shivering and Paul drove me back to the car. He kept fishing, because
he’s a more diligent ghillie (local term for fishing guide) than I will ever be.
Unfortunately for Poor Paul, he only caught one fish, and it
wasn’t the pike or trout he was trying to catch. Sigh. All that cold and rain
for nothing…We went back to warm up with a nice cuppa, tired after another busy
adventure-filled day.
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