STAGE 48: Brian and me at Rathlackan Strand

                   

                            Stage 48

                        

                                Co. Mayo: Rathlackan/Killala to Beal Deirg

                                            Saturday 19 September 2020

                                                37.8 km or 23.5 miles

''To lift the lid of the peat and find this pupil dreaming of neolithic wheat.'' (Seamus Heaney wrote this after he met Patrick Caulfield in 1974. Patrick was the man who discovered the Ceide Fields - see later) 

Maureen, Brian and I made the long trip back down to Ballina on the Friday night, staying at the lovely Twin Trees Hotel again. We woke to a beautiful sunny morning and after a light breakfast Maureen drove me back (almost) to the point where I finished Stage 47 (on 22 August). If you remember back in August I tried to get across the narrow stretch of Lackan Bay but in the end decided it was a little dangerous to try to cross the river. So I began Stage 48 on the west side of Lackan Strand, running north towards Downpatrick Head. My plan for today was to run to Porturlin (Port Durlainne) but as you’ll read later, that didn’t happen!

Dun Briste and Downpatrick Head

I headed north along the coast road from Rathlackan. After about 8km I saw the sign for Downpatrick Head. It was about 2km run down to the Head but definitely worth the visit. 

View of Dun Briste at Downpatrick Head

There is a massive rock here that broke off the coast (its 50 metres high and only 50 metres from the main coastline). It’s called Dun Briste. Apparently there was a strong storm here in 1393, which caused the arc (or bridge) that connected the two parts to collapse overnight. (briste means break in Irish). It all happened so fast that some residents were trapped and had to be rescued with ropes. How anyone could have lived on the top of this massive Dun Briste rock is a mystery in itself.  

Dun Briste - 50 metres from mainland

I spotted another huge EIRE lettering on the ground at Downpatrick headland. I’m getting a bit blasé now about these big EIRE marks as I’ve seen so many (these signs were made during WW2 to indicate to airline pilots that they were entering the Republic of Ireland which was a neutral country during the war.) 

Nearby there are ruins of a church that was founded by St. Patrick, hence the name Downpatrick. There is also an underground cave (Poll na Seantuinne) on this headland. You need to climb down steps at the top of the big mound to see it. It was here that thirty local people were drowned as they escaped British soldiers in September 1798. This was really a ‘revenge act’ after General Humbert’s victories in Ballina and Castlebar. See my previous report on Stage 47.   

 

So I left Downpatrick Head, running south towards Ballycastle. I actually missed a turn here down to the beach at a very small crossroads at Gortmore. I should have taken a right turn down to the strand at this junction. I did come to another crossroads about 1km later and was able to get onto Ballycastle beach that way. It’s always special to run on a sandy beach (and this was my only one today!). There was a stream I had to cross over (barefoot) but there’s something good about taking your shoes off and dipping your feet in the cold sea water.

Crossing the stream at Ballycastle Beach

Just after the crossing the river I spotted a trail up through sand dunes which eventually led up to the main road. (I bypassed the village of Ballycastle by going this way.) Back on the main road again it was a tough climb along the twisty coastal road but I was determined to keep running until I reached the Ceide Fields.

Ceide Fields

This is the oldest know field system in the world going back 5,500 year. The discovery of the Céide Fields originally began in the 1930s when Patrick Caulfield working in the bog, noticed piles of rocks that must have been placed there by people and put there even before the bog developed. Forty years later Patrick’s son, Seamus, having studied archaeology, investigated further and discovered, under the bog, a system of fields, houses and megalithic tombs.

It was warming up nicely now and I was glad to get some water at the Tourist Centre at the Ceide Fields. I was still struggling though as I carried on west towards Beal Deirg and there were even more hills to climb. There was so little traffic on the road now and after a while I heard a car behind me. I was so glad it was Maureen and Brian. I drank some more water but I knew I only had a few miles left in me. I kept running as far as Belderrig, making sure to take a right turn after the bridge in the village. I then decided to finish today’s stage at the pier at Belderrig.

At Belderrig Pier

Not a bad place to finish today's leg and a nice secluded spot for the three of us to have a picnic on a sunny September day. While we were having our wee snack at the pier we couldn’t help notice the red (dearg) coloured heather in the surrounding hills. I was convinced that this was why Belderrig is so called. However I read later that Belderrig (the red mouth) got its name from the red colour of the water at the river mouth which has deposits of iron ore mixed with clay.   

Belderrig (Beal Dearg)

Even calling Belderrig a village is a bit of an overstatement - there really is so little here. However, all that could have been so different if there had been a railway line to Belmullet with a station at Belderrig. This was a serious considered project at the beginning of the twentieth century and there was even a hotel built in Belderrig in anticipation (another hotel was built in Ballycastle for the expected railway). The idea of a train service in this part of Mayo was to reach Belmullet (Blacksod Bay) and then connect further on to America via trans-Atlantic shipping.