Dandelion

"It's a flower not a dandelion" insisted the indignant three-year-old yesterday before we left her for a trip to rugby disappointment. There's a lion theme to this blog, dandy or not, coincidently as Leo Vradkar vies to replace Enda Kenny running the country. We've seen the Leinster Rugby mascot, Leo the Leinster Lion for the last time this season. It's Scarlets that head to the Pro12 final in our home city. 

I came away from the game last night, dispirited, thinking of George Best who said "I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just squandered." It's the last bit that came to mind. Maybe coach Leo Cullen and his management team have squandered the talent that earned five selections for the imminent Lions tour of New Zealand. Saracens, who are on track for a double double had six Lions selected. Leinster, in the same two seasons, have managed to lose two semis and one final. That's poor, very poor. A management problem with serious implications; the inspiration of three European Championships in the four seasons 2009-2102, the European Challenge Cup in 2013 and the Pro12 in 2013 and 2014, successes that filled the rugby academy with amazing young talent, is perhaps being squandered.

dandelions,

dandelions

on the sandy shore -

spring

opens its eyes

Ogiwara Aeisensui

These are things that were in my head as I walked 8 km just to to get to the start of the Dublin Mountains Way in Rathmichael Wood. There were other thoughts too, as I put on and off my rain-gear as the showers drifted over me. I had been to a Cecil Beaton photo exhibition during the week where I realised that fake news and photoshop are just new terms for old concepts. Char to Dowager is worth a look, from the Beetles+Huxley gallery where some 70 photos, all printed before 1945, are being sold.

The beach and some of the mountain walks were augmented by the musky smell of valerian. There were no deer to see because the forest is being logged.

Imagine being so sick that you need home visits by nurses. Imagine having a friend who one day takes you out to lunch where one of your carers happens to see you. Imagine being told that since you have a friend who can drive you to lunch, you no longer need home visits. Is this nationalised health care? 

I wanted to walk the whole way, as I did last year. But I hit the wall on Ballyedmonduff, carried on to Three Rock where my packed lunch did nothing to restore me. So I called for rescue and walked back to Johnnie Fox's pub where I was collected and transported to sanctuary. Only 26 km today according to Walkmeter. But it's OK, there's a month to recover from the blisters and even better, we have reached one of our sponsorship goals.

And I see that I also used Dandelion as a title in 2011.

Scalps

It's 11 km from Scalpwilliam to The Scalp and I walked there and back in the rain. I've done it before. This time I walked and it rained. I walked and walked and it rained and rained. I was soaked through, squelching sock wet despite all the rain gear. Once I left the coast, it was so overcast at times that there was nothing visible beyond twenty metres. Yes, there were vaguely interesting thicker clouds sitting on the highest ground but to this walker, it was simply more suspended water, waiting for me. With my back pack, I was like a snail, going up the mountain, slowly, wetly.

As ever, it's a shame about the roadside litter. I saw many glittering harps, perhaps because I was rain avoiding, looking down rather than around and above.

21.5 km today, 449.5 to go. I last did this return walk on December 30, 2015 and a few months later completed the entire Dublin Mountain Way in one go, blogged here.

Prime

I’d like to think I could live to see my 25th prime birthday. For now, as I prepare for my 18th prime year, I can reflect on how much has changed since my 17th. Key among those changes are that I’ve been successfully treated for prostate cancer and I’ve met two more grandchildren. So I’ve lots to be thankful for.

In a fit of fitness insanity, I set out from Killiney to the start of The Dublin Mountains Way (DMW) at 8 am. I walked down to Killiney Beach and south along the beach to get to Shankill. That 5km took an hour. It was cold and damp but bright and not actually raining. I bought some bread and bottled coffee in Spar since the coffee shop at the start hadn’t opened yet. Added to two litres of water in my camelbak and the apples, bananas, figs and yoghurt drinks, I thought I had enough to sustain me for the next eight hours but it took over ten.

I headed west past Brady’s pub into Rathmichael Wood and on eventually to Carrickgollan and the Lead Mines. The views of the city were great but the hints of rain and sleet became my main interest. The DMW signs were easy to follow as I ascended through Barnaslingan Wood up to The Scalp, the border between Dublin and Wicklow counties, 12 km walked.

The worst part of the entire walk is the section from The Scalp to Ticknock. Six kilometres along busy roads including the hazards on that long climb to Johnny Foxes pub on narrow roads with blind bends and hurtling cars. I found myself pressed into roadside bushes twice. Over reaction? Maybe, though safety trumps injury from driver inattention or protruding wing mirrors.

I entered Ticknock Forest, 18 km since I left home, to see quite a few deer watching me. It’s Monday and I’m almost the only person on the walk so the deer have the place to themselves. I needed some distraction at the point of no return at the top of Three Rock Mountain. Great views but the chill was getting to me. I plugged in my earbuds and listened to the William Boyd novel Sweet Caress read to me by Jilly Bond. Her style is annoying and her range of accents not quite as broad or consistent as the novel deserves. I wonder if Lee Miller was at least a part of the inspiration for the story.

Low noon at Fairy Castle 

I passed the Fairy Castle cairn where two dogless people were taking selfies and panorama photos. This was the highest point of the walk, 537 m amsl. The top of nearby Kippure was still covered in snow, the ground around me patchy with snow and frozen water.


And I went on to the boggy top of Tibradden where another couple were exercising a dog with hurling stick and ball. Odd how easily we can ignore the Neolithic summer solstice aligned ‘grave’ that’s been here for five thousand years.

My 28th kilometre found me entering Cruagh Forest, walking up Cruagh Mountain and down to Glendoo Brook where my phone rang and I needed to stand still to maintain coverage for a 15 minute business discussion. It had started to drizzle as I resumed and reached Killakee and crossed the completely logged Killakee Wood. I hate the sense of post-nuclear desolation such clearances leave. Again, my phone summoned me and I stood on a stump for ten minutes with a line of sight to the distant cellular tower on Kippure. I skipped the optional Hellfire Club loop because there were only two more hours of light and I was tiring.

And then the walk got boring again, a pointless six kilometre trudge along tarmac roads from Piperstown down to Cunard and Castlekelly. I saw several ravens calling and rolling as they flew in the light breeze. I read at St Anne’s graveyard that the O’Tooles ‘wasted’ the area in 1306.  I had been  angered and ashamed by the amount of rubbish fly-tipped into the drainage ditches beside the road though I didn't blame those O'Tooles. I wasn’t in any mood to visit the church after nine hours walking.

I walked with a cock pheasant for 100 m along the Dodder River entering Glenasmole Reservoir. I carried alongside the river to Kiltipper Park and some abandoned, presumably stolen bicycles. By now, my patience was as exhausted as my legs. I had run out of food and water and hadn’t passed a shop or pub since Johnny Foxes, five hours long past.

I reached the suburban sprawls of Oldbawn and Kilinarden as the sun set spectacularly over a closed cafe. So I pushed on to Sean Walsh Park and the Square in Tallaght. That last six kilometres was flat, very boring and tedious and I amused myself by counting registration plates beginning 161, those new since January 1st. The economy must be booming again because there were a lot.

I crossed the Tallaght bridge and went into Burger King for a large fries and a pint of milk before getting a taxi home, arriving an hour late for the dinner prepared for me. I wasn’t too sore after 48 kilometres, ten and a half hours, though my lumbar spine was reminding me where I broke it in my seventh prime year. As said earlier, I have many reasons to be thankful.

In short, I can't recommend this walk in it’s entirety. Several sections are great with rewarding views (Lead Mines, Three Rock, Tibradden) but they are stitched together by three tedious six kilometre stretches, one of which puts walkers into hazardous contention with fast travelling and frankly, distracted drivers. I don’t imagine the Dublin Mountains Way would be any more rewarding walked in the opposite direction.