Day 146: 3000 km "I've seen worst"

Day 146 - Friday, August 31st 2018: Clonakilty to Garrettstown 18 km / Total 3016 km, 18°C, rainy Ireland is the only country, where you can see two cars, coming from opposite directions, stopping close to each other, just to allow drivers to talk. On the little road, I don't mind it, it's almost funny. But at 1:30 am just beside my tent, it is not ... So it was a rainy day. A German guy asked me about my trip and worried about the weather for my walk. As always I answered, "I've seen worst". On that morning, I walked my 3000th kilometre. For the 1000th, I wrote it on the cycling path. For the 2000th, I made it with little stones. For the 3000th, I bought white pepper to mark it on the road under the rain (salt and sugar would have disappeared too fast and were more expensive). Unfortunately, it never happened on the beach, it would have been so much easier to write it on the sand. And I knew it would be at least 3000kms, but I know it won't be 4000kms. I think there's still 500kms left ... In Timoleague, I visited the ruins of an abbey, which in fact used to be a Franciscan fraternity, destroyed by Cromwell's soldiers in the 1600s. That man really damaged Ireland, its people of course (he hated the Catholic, so the Irish) but also some of its most beautiful monuments, such as this abbey. Regarding what's remaining today, I think it used to be wonderful, nestled close to the shore, with a stunning view. Well, I guess it must be a stunning view because, on that day, I just saw the fog.  Then I took lunch in a lovely restaurant. When I was leaving, the owner, coming from outside, saw me and said: "don't go out, the weather is really bad". I've seen worst ... The afternoon was just misty. Walking in the clouds. Fog all around me. 100% wet. I even had to take off my glasses, as I couldn't see anything. A woman stopped her car to offer me a lift, because, as she told me "this road is dangerous" and I answered "like all the roads in Ireland" and she said "oh I know" and she felt so sorry about that. It's not her fault, and I'm used to it and to be really careful. But it was so foggy on that day, that at some point, I started to think of wearing my headlight! Finally, I chose to leave the main road and to take little roads. They were not on my map. Fortunately, I had Google Map, because when you are at a crossroad, with roads so little that they are not on the map, in complete fog with no clue of what's around, absolutely no road sign, and no one to ask, Google starts to be a really good ally! I crossed a forest, with so much fog, that I wouldn't have been surprised if Michael Jackson would have suddenly appeared, singing "Thriller". And imagine when I reached my campsite, nestled in an old Georgian park with its ancient house on ruins! Really weird atmosphere. When I built my tent, I realized it was so soaked, that even the floor was wet, and I had to dry it with toilet paper, before putting it on my mattress. Even inside my bag, it was wet. Not to mention my socks and shoes soaked. And I knew it was not going to dry at night. I let you imagine the smell of all that!