DAY 4 - OUGHTERARD TO MAAM

Our first day on the mainland took us along the side of Lough Corrib, a favourite fishing spot.  Lough Corrib is the largest lake in  the Republic of Ireland and covers 176 sq km.  It is reputed to have 365 islands but is more likely to have 1200.  The first canal in Ireland was cut from Lough Corrib to the sea at Galway.

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The start of the day

The end of day

Our walk had been classified as Gentle.  The other options were Moderate and Challenging.  Gentle meant we did less walking per day and were sometimes helped along the way.  Today was such a day and we were taken by taxi along the road beside Lough Corrib to the right hand red circle marked on the upper map.  In actual fact the driver made a slight mistake and took just a little further than that, at the Parking Spot on the map which cut just over 2 km off the potential walk that day.  We didn't complain.  While we were taking our taxi ride another car was taking the larger back pack to the next B and B in Maam.  The Western Way actually starts in Oughterard and the Challenging hikers start there adding quite a bit to the day's walk.

We set off down a forest track along the lake side.

The start of our days on the Western Way which was very well signposted the whole way

Beautiful Lough Corrib

A Fuschia hedge along the way

Initially we were on a lane, then a rough track and then, as we entered a forest, we were on a sturdy board walk.  This board walk took us across boggy land and was 5 kilometers in length.

The studded boardwalk across boggy land

We found a seat along the way and had a spot of lunch.  As were taking a break another walker came by, a rare event as we said earlier.  This wiry fellow was from Alberta and he was carrying everything on his back and was camping along the route.  He took off at a speed rather greater than we were achieving and, we found out later, covered exactly twice the distance we were covering that day as he stayed at the same B and B where we would arrive the next day.  We had news of him on other occasions as well.

The view at our lunch stop

We reached the end of the board walk and made our way out of the forest and onto the road marked with the left hand red circle on the upper map.  Our route notes had suggested we phone the B and B as we left Oughterard to give the owner a rough time of arrival at the road so that she could drive down from the B and B to take us the remaining distance  - a "gentle" benefit.  The notes also suggested we could order a meal for the evening as there was no other place to eat at the destination. Because we had been dropped of further down the road at the start than the route notes indicated and because we arrived at the road early and we decided to walk the final section along the road adding about 4 kilometres to the day's walking.  As a result of all this we arrived at the time we were due to be picked up so it all worked out well.  A nice cup of tea and a biscuit awaited us at the B and B which was also a working farm, plenty of sheep around to prove it.

We enjoyed a full meal in the company of two other people, a girl from Austria and an older lady from the USA who were on a horse riding vacation.