Day 9: Crossing Northern Ireland border

Day 9 - Tuesday, March 27th 2018: Cooley Point to Newry 27 km / Total 198 km, 11°C, rainy

Sun, rain, wind. And repeat, sun, rain, wind. A little walk along the beach, and then in the countryside. It's cold, I'm tired because the night was noisy due to strong winds, and I'm hungry. At Boher, I found a church, so I could make a little stop there, get warm and dry for a moment. And it was a quiet place, safe for a moment. But then the rain came again, upon my face, and by noon, I got wet feet again. So I decided to have lunch in a pub in Carlingford. I really like the pub atmosphere, fireplace, and there's always a lot of funny sentences, even the barista was funny. And I always feel ashamed to drink only water, and not beer, but I have a long day of walk so... Tourists, workers and people who live around, everybody comes to the pub. And there's always good music.

I didn't know, but there's a footpath between Carlingford and O'meath, called "Greenway". I was walking along the big road when I saw it, but there was a barrier around, and it took me more than a kilometre until I could find the entrance. That's crazy, even the footpath has barriers, everything is with barrier here. After O'meath, I decided to leave the bid road and to take the little one, because after 5 pm people get back from work, and there's too much traffic. I didn't expect the road to climb so much, and in fact, it took me to the top of the mountain, to Flagstaff Point. I was surprised to see so many rubbish along the road, between the trees. It was really disgusting, fridges, toys, pieces of cars. I knew I crossed the border, just because people living around left a sign to show how they are against Brexit. Here they vote to remain and don't want a border again. After a long day of walk and so much rain, I was exhausted, but when I arrived at Anne's place, she found me in good form. I was lucky to find this AirBnB, and she really took care of me, giving me the nice cup of tea I really needed, taking me to a dry place for my stuff, and inviting me to share the dinner with her family. It was really great to discuss with them. She's from the Republic so as her sons, while her husband Eamon is from the North, and when she asked him if he felt Irish or English, he answered "Northern Irish" which I thought was a good answer, and well resume the situation. Anne doesn't think Northern Ireland will be reunited with the Irish Republic, because it's been separated for too long, and the North benefits some advantage, they wouldn't have in the South. It reminds me of people from South Korea who don't want to be reunited with the North because they don't know the people living there anymore. But at least, people from Northern Ireland can choose to have a passport from the Irish Republic. Who else on Earth can choose which nationality he wants to have?

And the best thing that night, I had a heating mattress, what a luxury!