Day 151: The Irish Way

Day 151 - Saturday, September 08th 2018: Clonpriest to Ardmore 23 km / Total 3128 km, 17°C, rainy

I met a couple from Arras, in the North of France the day before, who asked me if it was raining a lot in Ireland. And I answered not so much, at least once per week. In fact, it happens more often in September, to be honest. 

So after a rainy night, let's face a rainy day with a heavily soaked tent in my backpack. At least it stopped raining (or it was just soft rain) when I started my walk that morning. 

After a few kilometres, I joined Youghal's strand. It was really great to walk along the beach, which didn't happen since Banna Beach in North Kerry, in July!

Youghal used to be where was filmed "Moby Dick", so there's a pub named like that, and Sir Walter Raleigh (Elizabeth Ist favourite man) used to be mayor of the town. Apart from that and its clock tower, on that Saturday it was such a dead city that I wondered if it wasn't Sunday!

For my lunch break, I found an American-Italian restaurant where a real Italian man, Luggio (not sure of the spelling) made me real pasta carbonara which means without tomatoes! As I was the only guest, we talked a little bit about Ireland. We agreed that there's a serious lack of bins in public area and that it's weird to get your left hand hot and your right-hand cold when you wash them as there's no mix tap. But he explained to me this was the Irish way. We don't know why, but even if it's not the best way or the most modern way to do something, people keep doing it like that, just because that's the Irish way to do it. That could explain a lot of things. Is it because Ireland has been ruled by the English for so many centuries that now they want to do things their own way? He told me that before Ireland joined the European Union, there was in fact a lack of rules, so people used to do things the way they wanted. Of course, when joining the EU, it might have changed. Which doesn't mean that everybody respect all the rules now, some people keep doing things their own way. Regarding dumping and rubbish on the road, I totally agree.

And he told me "you'll see when you'll rent an apartment...". Oh! I hope it won't be too many troubles (despite the fact that everybody already told me how expensive it is to live in Dublin!)

In the afternoon, as I was walking around Youghal Bay, and crossing the bridge over Blackwater River to get into Waterford County the rain was back. With some wind. As long as I was walking on little roads, protected by hedges, the wind didn't really bother me. But my plan was to camp close to the sea. But when I saw the sea in the distance, with big waves, I thought it might not be a good idea. Unfortunately, the fields were bigger in the area, which is definitely not as wild as on the west coast, so there was nowhere to hide. Not to mention the fact that the ground was soaked as well, and quite muddy. 

So on that evening, I was really tired of being wet and really didn't fancy spending a cold night in a wet tent. That's how I ended up in the only hotel which had a room available (I can't tell how much it was expensive especially on Saturday night). But at least I got a hot shower and I had a very good and quiet sleep in a very comfy bed, which was all I dreamt of!