Day 165: Asking my body too much

Day 165 - Saturday, September 22nd 2018: Courtown to Arklow 24 km / Total 3404 km, 12°C, rainy

As the weather was changing, and getting colder, with storm season coming, I admit I planned to finish my trip as quick as possible, which means that I had longer sections to walk every day. This also meant I needed more strength to go on (especially with colder temperature). So let's eat a double portion of porridge for breakfast, which also made my bag lighter. As often, before starting my walk, I looked up Google Map where I'd be able to find food on the road (pub, coffee shop). For that day, I spotted a coffee shop that opened at 10 am, 6kms away from Courtown. After one hour and a half, I reached the place and discovered that it was closed. Why? I knocked at the house next door, which was a house for disabled people, to know if the coffee shop would open. In fact, the two young ladies who opened the door were just volunteers and didn't know about the coffee shop. I felt very sad because it was the only place where I could find food and sit with a shelter above my head on that rainy day. So I decided to keep walking. After maybe 15min, out of the village, I looked back and discovered that one of the volunteers was running after me just to asked me to turn back and have a cup of tea. That was nice, but getting back would mean walking more kilometres, so I said thank you and kept going on. Lost in my thoughts along the road, surrounded by hedges and watching my feet to avoid rain in my face I realized I missed a crossroad and had been walking in the wrong direction for an hour, on the road near the noisy motorway instead of the one close to the sea. At least it didn't change the number of kilometres I had to walk. 

At the end of that long day, I reached Arklow with sore feet which had not enough rest time during the day. I wasn't sure I'd find something to eat in or near my hotel, so, as I had no lunch, I bought some food at the supermarket. When I arrived there, I went to the pub downstairs for check-in and ... Visa not accepted! Fortunately, the bank with ATM was just next door, so I didn't have to walk across the town to get cash. Then I dropped my bag in my bedroom and got back to the pub for dinner. I asked for the soup of the day, and as I was sitting at the bar, ordered as well half a cider, just because it would be weird to drink water at the bar. Finally, they brought me a pint of cider in the bottle. At least for once, I pronounced "cider" properly but apparently not "half". After that, I decided to take a hot shower and washed my pants (for the last time) at the same time. As I had almost finished, I started to feel bad. I couldn't hear anything, a kind of sickness. I recognized the signs, as it already happened to me once, in the subway in Paris, I couldn't hear and saw only white light (I remember I was standing up, holding the central iron bar to not fall, hoping no one would notice I was feeling sick to not interrupt the traffic). So I knew it was just temporary. I got out of the shower, put my towel around my body, and reached my bed. I laid there a few minutes until I felt better. 

Feeling better, I put on my pyjamas, ate the food I bought earlier and went to sleep. I definitely needed to recover, and thought I was pushing myself too much! Unfortunately, the pub downstairs was also a nightclub, and I was awakened by the noise in the middle of the night!