Day 24 - 20/07/20 - Monday Monday
0550 or ten to six in the morning!
That's the time I woke up this morning!!
Why? Who knows. Could I get back to sleep? Nope!! 🙄
So I decided to have some breakfast in the tent and consumed two satsumas, two apricots and a boiled egg.
That done I wondered what to do next and as I lay looking at the roof of my tent I could see the schiloettes of two objects perched on the top of my tent.
That's funny I thought. You'd think I would hear the birds landing there 🤔.
Then DAMMIT! I left my socks on the roof of the tent last night 😑.
Wanting to dry them out before putting them away I set them in the sun and forgot clean about them 🤦♂️.
So I decide to get up and on the move. No point in hanging about when there is walking to be done.
The dew is still on the ground and the tent is still wet but I'm not worried as the next two days are rest days and I'll have time to sort everything out then.
So with everything away and my selfie taken, I hit the road at 0700 with plans to meet Ethan and my parents for our regular Monday picnic.
First stop of the day was Navan Fort which I bounced up (it was early enough for bouncing) and took a wee 360 video.
It's not long before I'm into Armagh itself and enjoying the old Georgian buildings making a nice change from fields and trees.
Not having had a brew this morning I called into SuperValu to get a cuppa tea and was charged the hefty sum of £2.40 for the privilege!! I thought about choking on the tea just to get my monies worth 🤨. Not so 'Valu' possibly?
Leaving Armagh through a lovely wee woodland area called Folly Glen the mapping was taking me over the the first of two bridges and through a residential care homes demesne before coming out on the other side onto a road.
The two Golden Retrievers and one Jack Russell had other ideas though and I had to back up (basically chased) back across the bridge and head through the folly again.
Looking on the GPS for a way round I could see I'd have to cross the second bridge and come out the other side of the wooded area before turning left and then working my way though a housing development. All this adding about 2km to my trip! Dam dogs!
Luckily I crossed the second bridge and nearly straight away spotted a small track leading up the the left. It wasn't on the map but looked like it might lead to the housing development. It did and I adjusted my map for this new route.
Navigating through the development was easy enough but long winded, as the road was now only 50m was in a straight line but about 400m on the roads within the development. Luckily someone else had the same problem as I was having and had decided to remove 3 fence planks onto a common area bringing me straight out onto the road.
Jonny -1 Dogs -0
From here on it was plain sailing to Markethill were we agreed to meet for the picnic. Only problem was I was moving too fast and would either have to hang about in Gosford forest park or rearrange the meet for further up the road.
I'm not one for hanging about so on the move I rearranged the meeting point for closer to tandragee.
Things were going that well I actually had to stop to remove my t-shirt and apply suncream 😁.
After a bit of too-ing and fro-ing with the parents we finally met up at Clare Glen just south west of Tandragee and had a lovely wee picnic in the sun were I got my boots off again 😀.
After which a wee scoot into Portadown for coffee and a bun before we parted company and I headed to my RV for my rest days.
A nice early start with a 1230 finish got me a 27km punt, which I was happy with.
I had a good six day run there and am looking forward to re-energising and getting back into it on Thursday.
I reckon the best part is to come as Newry, Warrenpoint and Rostrevor on the banks of Carlingford Lough are all fantastic areas and a great springboard into the Mournes mountains themselves.
