Day 138: The road was made to meet the right people

Day 138 - Thursday, August 23rd 2018: Sheep's Head Lighthouse to Kealties 20 km / Total 2838 km, cloudy

Cloudy sky, windy morning. I often mention the weather, it's not because I have nothing else to write about. It's just because when you're living outside, like me, the weather has a more important impact. So it was windy. This means on that morning, I had to be very careful while packing my tent, to not let it fly away, which would have meant for it falling into the lack, 100m right down. 

I left the place quite early and met almost no one. I didn't really even noticed there had been a quick shower. I just enjoyed being alone on a quiet road. As the West Coast is nearly over, I don't know if I'll still be able to enjoy such peaceful moments. 

The sun came out step by step. It's not the summer sun anymore, and I would say that the summer is over now. The sunlight is more ... softer? I don't know how to explain, it's less bright, and it doesn't hurt or burn or heat as before. It's almost a kind of winter sunlight, and I really like that sort of light. 

After nearly ten kilometres I made a stop in a gallery to get a hot cup of tea (I only ate the scone I got for free as breakfast that morning), and rest there for a moment, listening to Coldplay the owner put when I arrived.

Then I reached Kilcronane where I expected to find lunch. I read the menu of one of the restaurants and it seemed to be very delicious until I read "open at 4 pm". Oh no! So I went to the pub (empty) where the owner told me she could only make me a toasted sandwich. Thank you, but I have expected a real meal (how to explain I'm walking twenty kilometres per day, and have already lost ten kilogrammes, I need big meals, I want food). She told me to go to the old dairy shop, and in fact, there I could get a black pudding salad with soda bread and a crumble. The guests at the table next to me asked me about my walk and my big bag, so I explained to them my trip. The guy, who looked like the actor Jim Broadbent, was really impressed, especially because I was a woman, carrying a big bag. After enjoying my meal, I went to pay, and the waitress told me these guests I was talking to had already paid for my lunch. I went to thank them, they hug me and wished me good luck for my trip. How generous they were with me!

I realized after leaving the village, that I forgot to fill up my bottle. Never mind, I could do it in the next village. When I reached Akahista, I went into the first pub and asked for a cup of tea, but they told me they don't serve it, but that I could find a café three minutes away on the road. So I went on and reached a crossroad. I was supposed to turn right and follow the Wild Atlantic Way, but the café was on the left road. So I took that road and arrived at the gallery, which was a café as well and got my cup of tea with a scone. And I could fill my bottle. 

As I followed that little road, I started to search for a place for my tent. Suddenly, a black labrador came out from nowhere and started to bark at me. As usual, now, I took my walking sticks and got ready to defend myself, just in case. His mistress, Jean, came out of a field just after him and called him back. I explained to her why I reacted like that. So we started to chat a little bit, I asked if she was living in the area and she told me she was doing CouchSurfing, and that's how I said I could put my tent in her garden if she didn't mind. She asked me if I would like to take a shower. Oh yes definitely. So that's how she showed me the place where her guests usually stayed and how I got a roof above my head for the night. 

I dropped my bag in the bedroom and joined her for a cup of tea (how many cups of tea did I drink on that day?). She's originally from England (Sussex) and moved to Ireland in 2000. While we were dining (she was happy to cook dinner for someone else than only her and her dog William) she told me about her life and it was in fact a very interesting life. I think I'd like to be like her when I'll be older. She had been traveling a lot, especially in South America where she goes during winter. When she was 19 she crossed Europe hitch-hiking and she went from Berlin West to Berlin East before the Wall was built. I loved that kind of testimony, as I love History. And so does she. She started reading "The Fall of the Giants" by Ken Follet, one of my favourite authors. And as she likes History as well she's interesting in genealogy (just like me) and did some research about her family. Especially about one of her sisters. When she was younger, her family emigrated to Australia, while she stayed in England. Some years ago, she went to visit her sister Stella who's living in Perth, and she decided to investigate her other sister cold case. In the 1970's she killed a man in self-defence in Sydney. I was really impressed by the research she had done there, asking for police reports, post-mortem and death certificates, looking for people living in the area at that time (I was as well very impressed how easy it was to get some information from the administration ... It seems like that the Australian administration and the French one are really different ...). She might never know the truth about her sister, but she did a remarkable job with that cold case. After all, the first meaning of History is "investigation"!