At last!!! The forecast looked good for the weekend and so I phoned Chris and Sandy Taylor and asked if they fancied coming with me on this stretch. Yes, they most definitely did.
They brought Andy and Rachel, so I was in the company of three doctors and one medical student - useful if anything went wrong!
We parked at the beginning of the track to Glen Astle and walked past the Old Manse and Lower Coillabus towards Ballychatrigan. Here, at a silhouetted ruin, we carried straight on towards the coast instead of following the path towards the farm and Stremnishmore. We followed the burn and an old, grass-covered wall instead.
They day was delightful - no sun yet but not cold and no rain. The ground was wet but not as wet as I had feared. I felt very excited to be exploring new territory and we all gasped and ahhed at each new vista that opened up before us as we made our way west. Plenty of small beaches, each with the usual medly of flotsam and jetsam.
At Stremnishmore we stopped for a snack (with the tantalising promise of home made soup to keep us going!) We climbed Beinn Mhor and so closed another gap of coastline. The sun came out and shone over the weirdly shaped Dun Athad. We made out the distinctive shape of a pair of Golden Eagles hovering with carefree ease over its summit.
Rather than go back the way we came, we continued to Upper Killeyan and followed our noses to the smell of very welcome soup! Next time i'll follow the same route to ballychatrigan and then turn left instead of right. Then i'll only have the Glen Astle stretch to do. Yippee!!!
