Portsalon
The weather turned even fouler overnight, and the conditions weren’t
only cold and rainy in the morning, but an icy wind blew in from the
North. Nevertheless, the weather made it easy to stay put, and we
both crawled back into our sleeping bags, zipped up the tents and
read books for the remainder of the day.
By 5 o’clock, we had enough of lying in the tents and headed to the
pub. The place consisted of a shop and pub (all in one), where a few
people were sitting at the bar. Soon the singing began, and the
evening became a jovial affair. It was three in the morning before
arriving back at our tents. I guess it will suffice to say we had a good
time.
Portsalon - Melmore Head – 59 kilometres
For obvious reasons, there was no rushing in packing up and 12h00
before eventually getting underway. The weather was horrendous; it
drizzled, a strong wind blew, and it became bitterly cold. Still, we
proceeded to tiny Carrickart, where we received information about a
hostel not far from there. In arctic conditions, we headed in the
direction pointed. I was frozen stiff; even Esther was in long sleeves.
The Hostel was considerably further than we were led to believe. Still,
we soldiered on up a steep hill to an extremely basic and remote
hostel. At least inside, the place was warm as toast.