Weather: ☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️
Picnic: none, but good lunch at the bike cafe in Clonmel!
Track: ☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️(5 out of 5, beautiful and diverse scenery, good roads and tracks through the countryside and forest!)
Hotel: 🏨🛌🛌🛌🛌 (4 out of 5, good beds great shower, nice staf and good food!)
Name of followed trail: East Munster way
We left our secret hideaway around 8 on a crisp sunny morning. The grass had some white edges to it, so it must have been a cold night. Luckily our sleepingbags have been refilled before we left, so we had a comfortable warm night of sleep.
Before leaving, Mark decides he can make the process of brushing teeth more efficient by moving my head around while I keep the brush still. We soon find out that this is not more efficient, but a good way to start you morning with a good laugh 😂 (If you’re not a morning person, do try. It brightens your day)
We walk through the rolling green hills of Tipperary, loving the countryside. Everything looks beautiful today. The sunshine of the last few days brightened up the whole country. People are smiling, birds sing and flowers bloom. Spring is in the air!
We soak in all the sights and enjoy the walk. We go uphill and pass a traffic jam of cows waiting to be milked. On top we get into a forest for the next kilometers. A nice forest that goes from pine forest into a, much older deciduous forest. We follow a path that must be centuries old, walking along a river. We pass a castle ruin on the other side of the river.
We make good progress today and it really feels like a holiday on trail. The uphill bits do tickle the muscles a bit, but it feels good. We’re becoming more fit again, as is the hiker on the signposts, so it seems!
After crossing the river we walk up the hill through farmland, and into the empty wild Heather hills again. That was a surprise, so close to the city of Clonmel! We only skirt the hills, and descend towards the city, our destination for today.
We walk into town around 13.30, time for lunch at a café! After lunch, we check in at Befani’s townhouse and have a good shower and siesta!
After that (and a proper gear explosion in the room of course) we go for a pint in the pub. Tomorrow we’ll have a restday to do some cleaning, repairing and planning ahead for the following section.