Day 23: Bye bye East Coast

Day 23 - Thursday, April 12th 2018: Glenariff Forest Park to Torr Head 27 km / 494 km, 8°C, cloudy

Walking along the coastline is good, because most of the time, I stay at sea level, so it's flat. While walking in the Glens, means getting up, and getting down, and my feet don't really like it, especially, getting down. But that's how the day started. Well not exactly, at the beginning, I had to get out of the forest, and then to get out of the cloud, or get under the cloud. Just me, the little road, and the cloud, nobody, nothing. Lost in the middle of nowhere. That day was cool because there was no one on the road, so it was very quiet and calm. Well quiet ... apart from all the "baaaaa" from the sheep. Most of the time, when the mother sheep see me approaching, she calls her babies, who rush to her to have milk. Except in the morning, when they all rush to me, thinking I'm the farmer who's going to feed them (so disappointed when there realise I'm not).

Just before lunch and arriving in Cushendun, I could see Scotland. It' so close! I made a stop in Cushendun for lunch in a pub, before climbing again on the little road to Torr Head. It's really a wild place, and the end of the East Coast. I walked at the top of the cliff, and it was very windy. It's good I've no problem with vertigo. It must be a touristic road because there were some explanations about the abandoned houses, left by people who emigrated to Canada because the land was too isolated. The road is only from XIXe century, made by dynamite. Until then, the only way out was the sea, and the closest place to go was Scotland. I finally reached Torr Head, where there used to be a Coast Guard station until 1920, which remain abandoned now. So it was a good place to put my tent, at the crossing point between the Irish sea and the Ocean, where they melt. It was very windy. Some people came around, I don't know if it was for the view or to drink beer, they saw my tent, but they said nothing and didn't disturb me, before getting away. Finally it was a quiet night, apart from the wind. And for the 1st time, in the morning, my tent didn't get wet! So great to pack it dry for once!