BIKING BIRDER I May 31st 2010 Towards Slieve Donard, The Highest Northern Ireland Peak

 

31st May 2010

Rocky Mountain Way   Joe Walsh

What fabulous views of Slieve Donard as I cycled along the road. I arrived there for lunchtime and left my bike at a sheltered accommodation home, thanks go to Jackalyn, the manager for being so kind as to let me leave my heavily-laden bike there.

I started to follow a path through a large conifer plantation but got a bit lost amongst the tall trees but as usual on this trip fate leads me to new opportunities. In the dense forest, I met yet another brilliant family of Mum, Rita [Queen of Speed!], Dad, Dave and their sons, Tom and the joker, Connor. They were camping out using superb looking hammocks that had extensive canopies above each. I Must get me one of those one day for future adventures. A Hennessey hammock.

What's small, round and white and can't stop laughing - a tickled onion. Thanks Rita.

Leaving them to their wonderful camping adventure, I found my way up Slieve Donard. It was a long climb but relatively easy with a good path the whole way and a large stone wall along the side of the upper slopes sheltered one from the strong gale at the summit.

I met a group of folk musicians from near to my beloved Birmingham. They were going down as I was going up but we had a long natter anyway. They were all members of the Tamworth Folk Club.
I met Mark at the top, a man who has walked up Slieve Donard over three hundred times. A real inspiration this man as he had only been up once before he was 52.
Thanks Kieran from Armagh, for chasing after me with my pen that I had dropped some way up the mountain.
Boy, was I lucky? The weather at the top was clear even if rather cold and with a gale blowing. So the views over to Scotland, the Isle of Man and towards the Wicklow Mountains were clear also. A few clouds bubbled up but these were below the summit and added to the atmosphere.

Down the mountain by late afternoon, I collected the bike and journeyed through Castlewellan, camping about five miles to the north west, on the Bainbridge road.

So May ends and I continue to circumnavigate Northern Ireland.

Tickle My Feathers

BIKING BIRDER I May 29th and 30th Castle Espie WWT Centre and Coincidence

 

29th May 2010                                                          Flintstones, Meet the Flintstones

Down an excellent cycle path I headed south of the city towards my next destination with drizzle to keep me cool. The path started opposite a large heavily fortified fort structure, the local police station, replete with high massed barb wire fences and watchtowers.

I arrived at Castle Espie WWT reserve before it was open but did not have too long to wait. A superb visitor's centre had views over lakes and greens through tall glass windows. It also had an extremely interesting displays of historical artefacts, including a collection of stone age flint arrowheads found during recent excavations in display in glass covered display boxes within the floor space.

On meeting the staff and warden I was given one of these Neolithic flint arrowheads as a gift for my achievement of cycling here. I had always dreamed of holding one let alone having one. I have in the past been to places far afield in order to see such implements; Tauteval, Lascaux and Chauvet in France, the Natural History Museum in Vienna and many more such places visited over my many years.

I was not to have it for long but more about that later.

After being guided around the reserve with explanations on the building site appearance and future plans, I was left to my own devices for the rest of the day. Indeed I did spend the whole day here exploring every habitat the reserve presented, muddy estuary type to woodland, manufactured lake to mature meadow. There was even an old jetty like extension into the tidal area made of large stones fascinating for their lichen zonation. 

Out onto the estuarine muds I photographed seaweeds and mollusc casts. In the meadows I photographed butterflies and flowers. I really enjoyed the diversity.

Now the area of new works included Stone and Iron Age reconstructions and scrapes for waders. Indeed a Little Ringed Plover was already feeding along the newly created shoreline.

Castle Espie had provided an absolutely fabulous day. The staff were so friendly, as with everyone I was meeting in the province, and the beautiful landscaped areas were all up to the highest standards that one is used to with Wildfowl & Wetland Trust reserves. A particular love was how every visitor was seen to be thoroughly enjoying being there.

Camping as the sun set with views down a grassy slope to the sea, was beautiful, both for the calm weather and the views.

 

 30th May

 

The amount of daylight hours in late May allows one to both explore new places fully and get some miles under one's belt. Today was a great example of just that.

A ride down towards Downpatrick and beyond towards Newcastle was suddenly curtailed as a new, much longer route was suggested to me. I took it because the promise of masses of Green-winged Orchids was enough of a pull to divert me.

An attractive river side path led to a nature reserve and local museum, the Quoile Countryside Centre and after looking around all of both I cycled on towards Killard Point. On arriving at the headland, I went up to the first of a few cottages along the road. On having the door opened on knocking and having asked the question. “Could I please leave my bike in your garden?”

I received a quickly spoken reply before I could explain why.

“I have seen you before!” Said the cottage owner, Catherine,

“You were at Tintern Abbey.”

Now that was many months before. You may recall that on that day I got soaked as I rode down from St Brieval's Castle and Youth Hostel and then went around the extensive ruins of Tintern Abbey. Here I now was, at a very obscure location on the Northern Ireland east coast, with maybe four cottages along a noticeably quiet road.

“I recognise your teddy!”

It turned out that Catherine remembered seeing me there with Barnaby Bear, the Geography Association teddy bear with me, riding pillion on my bike with Albert the RSPB Albatross and Sid, the Wildfowl & Wetland Trust rainforest frog, whilst she was visiting her son! What an incredible coincidence.

The bike and possessions secured in the garden, I walked down to look for the orchids and found tens of them just up from the sandy cliffs of the headland.

Now back in my home county of Worcestershire there is a lovely large nature reserve belonging to Worcestershire Wildlife Trust named Eades Meadow. Here in May, on a Wildlife Trust open day, one can walk around the meadow and witness the amazing sight of tens of thousands of Green-winged Orchids. The hundred or so orchids, here on this undulating headland, brought pangs of homesickness to me but not too bad. Northern Ireland is too beautiful and the people so wonderful to worry about being so far from home.

After seeing the orchids, I returned to my hidden bike with some new friends, a family, Janet, Sidney and William, a future birder at the age of ten. Sidney and William were new to birdwatching but both very keen to learn.

Together with Janet, Sidney's wife of thirty years, this was a lovely family to meet and walk with. They were particularly keen to talk about their religious faith, being Pentecostal Christians deeply into their faith.

More distance to be covered, I bade goodbye and cycled on. The next destination, Slieve Donard, the highest mountain in the Mountains of Mourne range, indeed the highest mountain in Northern Ireland, was in view nearly all the time from a beautiful coastal road.

After purchasing a bag of chips from a small fish and chip shop, I found a field with a view over a large bay towards the Slieve Donard mountain range and camped up. The day had been as diverse as ever. A large distance had been covered and the weather had been fine, sunny and dry. A comfortable night was guaranteed.

Tickle My Feathers