Day 161: Hard walk in the sand

Day 161 - Tuesday, September 18th 2018: Kilmore Quay to Carnsore Point 21 km / Total 3315 km, 18°C, windy

I was quite tired on that day, due to the very shaky night I had. And packing my tent with strong winds was not easy. But hey, at least, it was dry for once!

I bought some bread and banana for the day, as I knew there would be nowhere to stop and eat something. 

Kilmore Quay is a pretty village with lovely typical houses with a thatch roof. 

The plan of the day was to walk only along the shore, on the Wexford Coastal Path. But I didn't find where the path started in the village. Maybe when it was created the path was along the shore but has slipped into the sea now. So I walked on the road for one hour, until I could reach the shore again. I waited for the tide to be low and started to walk between the cliffs and the sea. It was quite rocky and not an easy walk on the pebbles, and despite it was very windy, it was sunny.

I reached the sand dunes in Bastardtown beach, where I found the Wexford Coastal Path again. I made a little break, sitting on my backpack to eat my bread. But with the wind, it quickly felt cold so I didn't stop for a long time. 

Then it was hours of hard walk in the sand dunes with a strong wind coming from the sea, on my right side. Not to mention that, of course, I met no one that day.

Before Carnsore Point, the southeast corner of Ireland, there were two salt lakes on my left side. They made me think of the Camargue, an area in the south of France with big "lakes" like that with many birds. I think these lakes here host as well a lot of birds. 

There were many wind turbines at Carnsore Point, not to mention they were working well on that day, with such strong wind. Another effect of this wind was the spray in the air, which put salt on my clothes and skin. I definitely tasted salty at the end of the day. 

My plan was to camp at Carne's campsite. It's supposed to be closed since the end of August, but as I know now, sometimes "closed", doesn't really mean "closed" in Ireland, and I probably camped in some campsite at the beginning of my trip which was not already opened, so I tried my chance.

I found an entrance into the campsite, which was apparently not the main one, with a front desk that I never found. The place was so large. Apparently, the main entrance wasn't on the incoming roadside. It was really strange to walk in that desert mobile-home park, with absolutely nobody. A ghost town. I really felt like I was the last human on Earth! Finally, I found the campsite part, where there were some caravans. That meant for me there were people and the place was still open. But still, no one in sight. I was definitely way too tired to go anywhere else. So I decided to try a new concept: wild camping at a campsite. I built my tent in the camping area. Two cars passed nearby, but no one stopped or asked me anything. Maybe it was resident people living in mobile-home. If someone came I was ready to pay the fee, but nobody came. I found drinkable water and filled up my bottles. I just slept there, with a good shelter against the wind.