Day 106: No pain no gain

Day 106 - Friday, July 20th 2018: Loop Head to Doonaha 24 km / Total 2191 km, 17°C, cloudy

Imagine, you open your tent and you're in a cloud. With a tent surrounded by cliffs. You can hear the sea, but you can't see it. Misty morning weather.

I walked along the lighthouse wall, just to be sure I wouldn't get lost in that deep fog and fall from the cliffs. And then I strictly followed the road. I wanted to climb the lighthouse, but actually, there was no need: no view at all. The air was 100% wet (and who packed her tent wet once again ?). And it smelled ...seagull poo. No one ever told me the cliffs could smell so bad really. 

After one hour, I reached Kilbaha and saw some lights inside an art gallery that had homemade cakes. Hum let's go for a cup of tea and scones. One hour later, the weather was still the same. Less wet, warmer, but still misty. What could I see of the landscape? Nothing. I just walked the little road with hedges on each side hiding fields with cows. The smell changed. It was cows poo. Farmers put it in the fields, it fertilized the land. But it really smelled s*** and they lost a lot of it on the road (my shoes are gonna smell it too) maybe because sometimes, tractors are driven by a 12 years old boy ...

Life goes slowly in this area. I saw an old man stocking his turf. I think he's probably been doing the same thing since the 1950s.

Clouds above my head, hedges around me, the little road straight ahead. No one. No noise. 

I finally took my kindle to read, because time seemed to be endless.

In the afternoon, I arrived at Carrigaholt. Where there was a pub. A real pub. The one you like because when you get inside it's warm (while it's still misty out there), people are friendly, smiling, laughing, and the atmosphere is cosy. It was so good to sit there. I enjoyed my soup of the day and my black pudding with marmalade, not to mention the nice cup of tea. After that, I was ready for the last 6 km. In fact, I walked 24kms without feeling it, and with no pain at all.

In the camping, I found the manager and explained I was looking for a place just for me and my tent, just for one night. He told me where the area for campers was. When I asked for the payment, he told me he'll come to see me later for the check-in. I said ok and that he'll find me there building my tent.

I built my tent and then sat in it, door open, planning the days of my trip, waiting for the manager. After one hour and a half, still no one. I got hungry, and went to the kitchen, near the entrance, to cook my noodles. No sign of the manager. At 9 pm, I finally showered (the first one in five days) and went to sleep. It was good to sleep on flat ground. I left the camping at 11 am in the morning, still with no trace of the manager. So maybe he forgot me or he didn't care about getting money from a single hiker?