September 21st, Day 100. Long days and getting tired but I’m really appreciating this weather so I’m pushing 20+ miles day after day which is a fair bit for me. Woke up with a very wet tent, just the condensation sometimes really soaks everything but I left it long enough to dry. Finally getting my drone in the air more to use it, just can't believe that I have carried the thing around for months are barely used it. Nice one Ariel. Made wraps for on the water and walked around the old monastery which was nice to see. Some amazing light coming through the old windows of the ruins there.
Back on the water and it just was one of those days where I had to have some hard "conversations" with myself. It's not like I'm going through any mad crisis in my life but we all have things going on, so being on the water in great for me to think and have my own space to process things. Such an incredible crossing towards Slieve Tooey, the sun was shining through the clouds in such dramatic rays of light through the clouds and everything was this gorgeous deep blue, the sea and sky alike. I lived in Norway for a winter and it reminded me of being there. I played my playlist while crossing from when I lived there. Very soft and glassy, moody day. When I got to the cliffs themselves, it was so beautiful to see them towering overhead. I saw some paddlers and wanted to keep my distance so I didnt have to chat in my meditative state, but when I saw one point towards and paddle to me, I thought aw man, theyre gonna do the thing where someone sees me and says "are you okay out here?? Do you need any help??" which I'm pretty tired of. As she got closer, she said "are you Ariel?" and we chatted for a bit. Turns out she has been following my whole trip as well which is happening more and more, and she gave me some twix and was off again. I wove through the cliffs and arches then and was amazed to see so many tiny little starfish that were the size of my finger, so I put a couple on my spray deck and they were just the size of the rockpool starfish printed on my deck which was cute. At one point when I was paused I could watch the seals swim underneath me and theyre colors bright and then their heads pop up to look at me. Rounded the corner further to a pier I had been to years ago when hiking some of Donegals mountains. It was a cool feeling to paddle up and think ah wow I've been here before. Finally still paddling as the sun set with my body aching and in pain from long days, I got to the most gorgous beach which was in a cove type area with white sand in a horse shoe shape and high cliffs behind it. Which was beautiful but also the thought of trying to get more water here started to dissipate. There is a way up from a stair case but its quite long and then I have to walk to the houses somewhere up there to ask for water. It got dark fast so I really didnt fancy that but when I pulled all my water bottles out, I did realize that I was out of water. Shoot. I saw a stream coming down the side of the cliff on my way in so Ill try that tomorrow. I had a meal replacement shake and tin of chicken meatballs for dinner because I was not about to get my stove out nor did I have water to cook anything with. I just took my joint supplement with the tomato sauce that came in the tin. Nice.
