“All great deeds and all great thoughts have a ridiculous beginning.” Albert Camus
Author: Gerry O’Boyle Date:11th February 2017
Stage One: Omeath (Co. Louth) to Rostrevor (Co. Down)
(Approx 26.5k or 16.5 miles)
Helen, Sean and I started our grand adventure today in the village of Omeath. Looking across the river/sea from Omeath, we could already see today’s finish line on the other side at Rostrevor, Co. Down.
It was an early start and a nice spring morning (I’m going by the old Celtic calendar that says spring starts on 1st Feb) as we headed first for Rostrevor (our finish point today). Unbelievably, Helen and Sean decide to run the Rostrevor parkrun first! I declined, saving my energy and feigning my back injury as an excuse. Well after all, I am the elder on this adventure.
After the parkrun with Helen and Sean barely out of breath, I drive the three of us the 16 miles to Omeath, leaving Sean’s car in Rostrevor.
………and so at last, our adventure began in Omeath, Co. Louth at exactly 11.05 on Sat 11 Feb 2017 ……and this mad idea isn’t just an idea anymore. It’s now really happening!
The snow started to come down as we started our run but it soon faded away, although still very cold. As we run along the road from Omeath to Newry looking across at the beautiful Mournes (the area which inspired CS Lewis’s and the Chronicles of Narnia), I can’t help thinking about a horrific incident that took place in 1979. (The same day Lord Mountbatten was murdered by IRA) On that August day 18 soldiers were killed by the IRA at Warrenpoint, just across the narrow river from where our run started at Omeath. Another victim of that day was a curious English tourist (on the Omeath side of the river) who was shot dead by British soldiers in the mistaken belief he was one of the bombers who detonated the bomb.
Back in a much more peaceful 2017, we continue running along towards Newry, and eventually cross over from Co. Louth to Co. Down. (the border). All the talk in the news recently after the Brexit vote is what kind of border we will have. Well, there’s definitely no sign of a hard border here! In fact there’s no real sign of any kind of a border as we cross over from the Republic into N.Ireland.
As we arrive at the quays in Newry, we decide to stop off for a takeaway coffee before heading towards Warrenpoint. Just outside Newry we find a nice grassy path overlooking the river and really enjoy running along this traffic-free ridge for a few miles. Eventually however the path comes to an end and we have to join the Newry-Warrenpoint dual carriageway. It’s a busy road here but quite safe on the footpath.
After a while, I suggest (bad idea in hindsight!) that there is another easier path closer to the river and it would be much nicer to run along this path. We jump over a fence and run along a muddy path by the shore of the river, but then the path disappears completely. Now we’re struggling through fields and find ourselves trapped between the river and a wee stream. We see a man, and we start to worry that it’s his field we’re trampling on. We ask him for directions. He suggests we carry on through the field (it wasn’t his land anyway). ‘’Keep going’’ he says, ‘’until you reach thon house’’ as he pointed in the distance. Eventually we somehow find our way back out onto the dual carriageway, at the aforementioned ‘thon house’ (I had to look the word ‘thon’ up in my Ulster-Scots dictionary when I got home)
I was glad to see that Castle just outside Warrenpoint and anyway, reaching another town was a good excuse for us to stop. We strolled through Warrenpoint and we picked up speed again as we got on the Rostrevor road. This was a much nicer and quieter stretch with the river widening on our right hand side and a lovely feeling that we were now definitely in the Mournes. There was also a nice footpath all the way to Rostrevor.
As we get closer to Rostrevor, Helen is pulling away leaving a wide gap between her and Sean and I. To slow her down we suggest we stop at the big monument erected in memory of General Robert Ross. We climb up the path and steep steps to the top of the monument (with lovely view across the bay) and read all about the famous General Ross. He will forever be remembered as the man who burned down the White House! The ‘Burning of Washington’ took place in 1814, during the War between British forces and the USA. One eyewitness testified that General Ross was personally involved in the piling up of furniture and kindling for the White House, preparing to destroy the landmark. It was the only time that a foreign power captured and occupied Washington. I’m not sure if President Trump will visit this famous landmark, if he ever visits Ireland!
The rain is coming down now but we don’t care! Now it’s just a short run to our finish point in Rostrevor. It’s such a great feeling, completing that first leg of our journey and we couldn’t really have picked a nicer place to end our first run than Rostrevor, nestling in the Mournes. CS Lewis wasn’t the only one who was impressed with this area. The famous English writer, Thackeray also wrote ’were such a bay lying upon an English shores, it would be a world’s wonder and travellers would flock to it’.
We don’t delay too long in Rostrevor. Sean drives us back to Omeath to pick up my car, but on the way to Omeath we decide to stop in Warrenpoint for something to eat. In Warrenpoint, we were lucky to find a pub (The Lock and Quay) that had everything we needed. It was the cozy fire in the pub that attracted us first; they also had a TV showing Ireland v Italy rugby match (Ireland winning easily), good beer too (alcohol and no-alcoholic) good food (although we were so hungry, we would have eaten anything!) and best of all, the three of us seemed to have the pub to ourselves. Not a bad way to end the day in the best of company!
Next leg: Saturday 11 March, Rostrevor to Kilkeel (via Cranfield)
If you’d like to Donate to Clifton Special School, please see below. https://mydonate.bt.com/events/cliftoncoastalrun/381290