Day 93 - Gougane Barra

This is the first weekend of phase two of easing the restrictions. This means that we can travel anywhere within county Cork. We’re really feeling the advantages of living in the biggest county in Ireland now!

We decided to head to Gougane Barra, which is just over an hour west of us. When we arrived, there were hundreds of cars, and Peter was quite nervous of getting out. But, actually, we didn’t encounter too many people on our walk. It was annoying on the paths near the car park, as you had to stay alert to move out of people’s way and to always stay 2m from people. However, we did the longest hiking trail and, once we were on that, we encountered almost nobody.

The weather was amazingly sunny until we got to about ten minutes from the car at the end. Then the heavens opened. We sheltered in the trees for about fifteen minutes, before eventually making a dash for the car.

It was so nice to be out in the open countryside. Even the drive felt so liberating! I love the new gratitude that lockdown has given me for simple things. We’re both very tired this evening though - we did a lot of walking!

Oh, and in the morning, I had a question read out at the parkrun quiz on YouTube. I was delighted - it felt like being a celebrity to hear the man who reads the questions every week saying my name! Haha! It was a very warm and humid day today, and I think that my red post-run face shows that very well! It was another Crusaders virtual race today, and the distance was 3km. I did it in 13:50, despite predicting 13:32. I’m actually quite happy with that. We’ve done a lot of virtual racing in recent weeks so my body and mind are a bit tired!

What a great day overall though. It’s good to be getting a few nice things back, after over three months of lockdown!Read more