St Patrick’s Pilgrim Walk - Day 1 - Sat, 19 September 2020
Updated: Sep 20, 2020
Our awareness walk, to help end the dog meat trade has started.
Day 1
Day 1
Today we had beautiful weather which was a good thing since the first leg of the walk from the Navan information Centre 5k outside Armagh to Scarva. The total length was 30km or 18miles.
Since we walk around 3miles per hour, this walk would take us around 6 hours.
The morning started at home feeding dog after which all 8 were loaded into the car. The drive to Armagh is about 1 hour and 30 minutes. We left at 7.30am intending to start the walk at 10am
As it was Saturday, the traffic was not heavy, and we arrived right on time. After parking the car, I put on my backpack, filled with dog snacks, a bottle of water a thermos of herbal tea, my lunch, my raincoat, plasters, maps and many other little things which could be handy in emergencies.
The dogs were ready to jump out of the car and start their long walk. The first bit of the walk was through the city of Armagh, but as soon as we left, we could see the range of mountains ahead, and we got a vivid sense of the challenges to come in the following days.
The walk is signposted but not well enough to do without a map. Yes, we did take some wrong turns. Asking locals any advice is of no use. Believe it or not, the Northern Irish have never heard of the St Patrick’s Pilgrim Walk even though they might even live or run a café or other business on the actual route. I do not understand this at all! But asking any of them if they know about this walk one draws blank faces!
The route today was very much along small roads, so we had to make way for tractors and cars passing. Sadly, I could not let the dogs off the lead as the risk of an accident would be too high.
When reaching Scarva, I can proudly report that the dogs did not look tired at all. They were happy to see our car though, and they could not wait to jump into the back.
Tomorrow will be a shorter walk, just 20km/12.5miles and the weather forecast is good..