Hiking in Ireland

Sometimes hiking can be like walking through a river. When it is pouring down on you the wind makes sure the raindrops creep into every single inch of your clothes. The fields are flooded and so are you. After some time, you reach a point where you care less about the drizzle. You are soaked anyhow. Who is troubled by a little stream when you are floating in you hiking boots? Who thinks about the mud when you are sliding down on it anyway? By the way, the label waterproof on your boots can be very useful. It keeps you from loosing any of your careful collected natural water. Waterproof jackets and pants turn out to be “temporarily waterproof”.

The Burren, Couty Clare, Foto: Tanja Golbecher

You want to be fond of the rain. You just don’t understand why there has to bee so much of it at once. When you dare to look up from your hood you see the green hills covered with mosses and tiny mountain plants. Black faced sheep jump over fences made out of rocks and on the west coast a glimpse of the ocean is easy to catch. Only fog may keep you looking at the ground for confident steps.

There are some lovely sunny days up in the Irish mountains.  Well, there are properly more rainy and cloudy days. All of that doesn’t really matter when you are at home resting on your couch. You are tired but still feel very good. It has been a day in the countryside, an alternative to your daily work, a day with many deep breaths. The exhaustion becomes a relief and a way to experience the limits of your body. Plus, you can be surprised how flexible those limits are when you need to get back to civilization and to a hot drink in the closest pub.