Day 72: "Hell or Connaught," said Cromwell

Day 72 - Wednesday, June 6th 2018: Driminiffrin to Ballycroy 20 km / Total 1549 km, 22°C, sunny

8:30 am - sunshine - 30°C inside the tent. I found a tick walking on my hand while I was reading in the evening, and another one walking in the tent in the morning. And despite the mosquitos repellent, midges still bite me. It's not so easy to live in the wild.

I left my wild campsite as the cows were crossing the river. So there was a hole in the barbed wire that I didn't see. I crossed their field and was back on the road. Very quiet on that morning, with many many rhododendrons all around.

In Bangor Erris, I found a little restaurant for my lunch. My first real meal since ... well apart from the Irish Breakfast, I don't remember when was the last time I had a real meal for lunch. And, incredible, for once, there is lamb on the menu! Strange that in a country with so many sheep, I don't eat it more often. Maybe they sell it only for kebabs?

With my bottles filled and my phone charged, I started to walk the long road along Ballycroy National Park. With all that bog around, I understand why Cromwell said "Hell or Connaught". Well, I'm definitely in Connaught!

From time to time, there's some pine trees forest, when they are not cut. There was a little path, so I chose to take it to get some shadow and have a nap there. Bad idea: it was full of midges.

I finally decided to sit a little bit at a crossroad, in the open air, some miles away. A car arrived, the man was on the phone, the engine on. After 15min, the engine was still on, polluting the air, so I left the place. Hard to find a good place to stop along this road. Many farmers here are quite old. What's gonna happen when they won't be there anymore? Who's gonna take care of all these cattle? What's gonna happen to the land? Will the bog cover it all?

The ones who'll certainly remain will be the midges. It's a nightmare to walk with them. I put my bandana on my face, like in Westerns movie, to protect me. I couldn't search for a place for my tent with Google Earth, as there are clouds in the pictures, so it was hard to find a place between bog and closed fields with cows and sheep. I finally found a place in a field entrance, used to park the sheep. Big and dry enough for my tent. It's hidden, but I'll have to leave early in the morning to avoid the farmer finding me.