I have returned to Dungiven in Co Derry / Londonderry, on my bikeand headed north to Musenden Temple. This is a long section with no civilisation inbetween. It was a long ride prominently off road with forest & trails and an epic hike a bike. Beautyful warm day with blue skys.
Contact: – greg@adventureireland.com
So, I stopped off in Dun Given for a cup of coffee and then decided I’ve gone far enough. So, I’m back in Dungiven today. Just had another cup of coffee. Stopped off at the church. There’s a very nice backdrop here. And I’ve uh changed my bike since I was last here. So, I’ve got this guy a bit more serious mountain bike with a 1×12 gears, which so far working quite well and a dropper post. Not very good when you got a saddle bag on the back, but [Music] uh hopefully I won’t need that too much today, but there could be a lot of hiking. Uh we’re going from the southern spurs to the northern spurs. I’m just looking at the quite high hills up ahead there. Uh so it’ll be quite noble to see what’s in store. I know there’s a bit of hikabike, but uh the plan today is to head up to the north coast. Uh today is the warmest day in April so far. It’s early April and we got a a bit of a heat wave this week and today is the warmest day. So, I took the day off work and came down here to make the most of it. So, as usual, uh time to get going. Oh, the usual trying to turn in a busy road. Whether this town has a castle on up ahead, don’t have the time to take the detour. [Music] So, one of the interesting things when you think about the fact that this is the after all called the international Appalachian Trail and its connection to the Appalachian Mountains. It’s not just a geological connection. If you look at the history of Ireland with plantations and the great famine, there were a lot of people who left Ireland and went to the east coast of America and settled in the Appalachian Mountains. You go to somewhere like port isn’t historically recorded as necessarily why the village was abandoned, but there are plenty of villages in Ireland where there it’s quite well known why the locals left and generally it was to immigrate. Now that strong connection with the Appalachian Mountains is that a lot of Irish and also a lot of ScotsIrish who had settled during the plantations initially then had to leave if you brush up on the history and they went to the Americas and also settled in the Appalachian Mountains. There’s a a lot of culture, Irish culture that’s still there, playing songs and music. [Music] One of the interesting things, if you believe in everything you read, is that other Europeans who settled in the Appalachian Mountains when they’re setting up their homesteads, they would quickly establish a church. But the Irish and the Scotsrish quickly establish distilleries, which is quite amusing. [Music] There was uh also did a video on Iron Moore Island and there’s a strong connection there. It’s an [Music] island in America, but they they both settle and they still keep connections with the island. So I think as most people know there’s a strong connection with American history, Indian history and Ireland and quite a bit of the rest of the world for that [Music] matter but particularly strong in the Appalachian Mountains which makes it all the more appropriate that there’s a trail in Ireland. And that makes such connection. Excuse all the heavy breathing, but this is a long hill. [Music] [Music] [Music] Obviously, you can just see the time below. Come on, try. It’s peace and [Music] quiet. Okay. So, according to the signpost, we go this way. Always fascinating. A glimpse of where we’re going next. [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Uhhuh. This is good. Oh, an awful lot of trees down in there. You do appreciate forestry service clearing forests after a storm because when they don’t, boy, that was a battleing season. No little arms. Yeah. Always good to get off the busier roads onto the quiet stuff. Oh, it smells bad. Silange. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] Are [Music] you the one? Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Dong. Hey. Hey. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] I do feel like Jimmy Andrew should be up here singing to me. That was the toughest hike yet with the bicycle. Certainly worth it to dance. Really feeling it in the middle of now. Well, let’s go a [Music] bit. [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. That hell back there. It’s tough getting over on this part of that trail and the rough [Music] stuff. Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Legend. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] Wow. Okay. [Music] We’re turning off just to the right here into the [Music] forest somewhere I’ve been a few times before. as you head on down that road. So, if you come down that hill, there’s a little coffee shop over there on this rather marvelous beach. If your feet were weary and you needed a bit of refreshing in the cold [Music] water. And that’s where we’re going [Music] next. There’s some peacocks live around this house here. You often hear them if you don’t see them. [Music] Absolutely. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Now, if there’s a split in the path here, If I go left and go out that gate and turn left, which is the same road that I just keep was on whenever we passed the peacocks. There’s a waterfall there which is worth a little look and tour worth taking. That would be back down there and turn off. We just go straight on past the house for the peacocks. So here we are. at Musleton. And I’m going to do here the uh way mark goes right along this busy road. Uh but I’m going to take a detour. Going to go in through that archway. There’s another opening further down called uh Lion’s Gate, which gives you access into both of them. But I’m going to park the bike and then go in through that archway opposite. So I’ve ditched the bike just over there where that car is parked is where I I came out on the bike. I’ve come back in another day because of the lack of daylight and I couldn’t have picked a better day. This is quite a scenic walk at the best of times and when you get a bit of sunshine it makes all the difference. Now I don’t know why the International Appalachian Trail does not go out to Muselen Temple. It just comes out in the road there and turns right. Perhaps it’s a thing with the National Trust who own this property that they don’t like to encourage people who are doing the trail to cut through their land. And I suppose strictly speaking, you pay an entrance fee to get in here, I think. But it’s not always there’s not always staffed, so there’s not always somebody to give money to. So, we came out of Bishop’s Gate, got Lion’s Gate, which is a coffee shop down there in the National Trust car park and a wall garden and marvelous view to County Donny Gaul in the background. Of course, if you look in the opposite direction, there’s an equally stunning beach just beside the town of Downhill. Day like today, it looks very inviting. Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] N. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. N. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Well, that was 52k of a cycle with a lot of hiker bike Uh it took me about 7 and 1/2 hours nearly to do that stretch. But uh absolute a blast. Uh the interesting thing is that Dungiven was the last bit of civilization until basically I hit the north coast and then there’s a few bits of towns about the place and places you can get some food and drink. I had to stop at a river. Uh, normally I would only drink water from mountain streams that way really high up. Uh, but needs must. Uh, and I could have done with carrying a lot more chocolate, but it was fine. I made it. Ran out of daylight. So, I’m shooting this the this last couple of frames of finishing uh on another day when the sun is shining again and the scenery is uh quite rewarding. So, uh, that’s it from this section. Funny enough, when you hit the road there, I think that’s around about the 300 kilometer mark. So, it’s been uh it would have been interesting to have done all this all in one go. Uh, maybe someday have to work for a living. So, uh, I’ll sign off for now and, uh, start the next video basically here where I’ve left off at Muscle Temple. [Music] [Music] Hey, hey, hey.