I did a couple of things today that I felt very proud of myself. Just as a background, super lazy, just getting out for some physical activity is difficult. Forget hiking, even high street walking was too much with the number of steps i was doing daily. But something made me plan for a hike as the trial 'Bog on Frog Loop' was fascinating. Even though the reviews were good and rated hard, I wanted to try. I had the whole day to spend, so here we go.
To start, the day was very grim, raining, windy. Kinda whether you don't feel like leaving the bed. But I not only took a shower but left to go to Howth as per plan at 9 am.
Quick 15min walk to the train, got the tickets to just get to know that the tracks are flooded and trains are delayed. The alternative was to walk 10 mins to get a bus. I did finally find it out, waited for 20 mins and took the 45min bus ride. The ride was actually very scenic and I am very impressed by the Irish countryside.
Getting to Howth, it was drizzling, I found the details from the information center (red, blue, and purple routes were the option. All go thru the same path for the first half and Purple continues on the coast to cut into the hills later and is longer by a couple of hrs) and I started walking. The lighthouse was the first stop, the walk on the shore was good but very windy giving me chill ears. Then the climb to the cliff was good. Nice altitude getting me to sweat and add I go to the top feeling warm, The view there was breathtaking. The flowers, the cliff, and the terrain were insanely beautiful.
The sky opened making it bright and sunny, like the gods wanted me to see the whole beauty. I called a few to show how beautiful it was. I walked thru taking many pics and enjoying the hike and got down to another small lighthouse where the paths change. You could take the red or blue back to the station or the purple to the bog of frog loop. I was sure the bog route was no more scenic as the main cliffs were done. But I did take that bog route as that is what I came to hike today, I'm not giving in to the temptation of cutting things short.
Thanks to my luck it started pouring in and the path was more dense. My umbrella was useless, was getting stuck in the bushes and the path had so many puddles, my shoes are completely wet with water inside. I tried my best splits to cross them but couldn't. And in all this walk, I got my knee injury back. 😫 I get this nagging pain in right knee when I walk long bumpy terrain, especially downhill.
I saw a small path leading to the road and took it as the rain was bad and my shoes and clothes were soaked. On the road, I saw something small but really cool coincidence which was a nice surprise.
Then I decided to walk than wait for a bus. I go to the stage where the hiking path crossed the road and decided to have a quick look at the cliffs. Found this awesome spot with a bench, took pics as the rains completely cleared, and hurried back to the road as the bus was 5 mins away.
Then something happened, I was like I came here for the hike, for the nature. And I dint even bother sitting on the bench and taking nature in. So had a choice to make, the bus in 5 mins or sit on the bench, staring at the sea and cliffs. So here I am, being proud that I stopped and smelled the flowers 💐 🙂
