Day 8: Gorsebridge - Shillelagh

Today we started from a spot high above Goresbridge, called 'Nine Rocks'. From here we had a fabulous down-hill descent for what seemed like hours, into a bracing stiff breeze.


Wind turbines thrummed nearby, peaking over the pine tops.


This is one of the scenic villages we passed through over the day, the church standing prominent over the clustered white buildings.





At one point during the day we seemed to disappear off the map, between two different map numbers, and wandered randomly east until stumbling across the tiny and quaint village of Clonegal, just across the Wicklow border.


Here we got chatting to several locals, including Brian from the hardware (and everything else) store and re-stocked on supplies, including water and peppermint cream. Brian thrust a bag of fresh lettuce into my hand for Lucy and as we retreated past the post office the post-master appeared with a piece of ham for Cara.

A long, long walk later, with some failed attempts at hitching, we finally arrived in Shillalagh, courtesy of Liam our B&B owner that night, who saved us the final couple of miles in his small Audi that somehow we all squeezed into with very little trace or mess!