Day 10: Cushendall to Larne
First sight of Scotland - Kintyre Peninsula
Distance: 27.3 miles (216.5 total)
Total ascent: 2,037 ft (16,006 total)
Time: 10 hrs 37 mins
Today: Larne to Belfast (est 25.1 miles)
(A note on yesterday, today and tomorrow. Usually I write these posts at the end of each leg. At the end of this leg to Larne I was just flat out tired and sore. I went out, got a bit of supper and went to bed. What this means is that usually when I talk about 'today' I'm talking about the leg I've just done and when I talk about 'tomorrow' it's about the next day's leg. In this post the completed Day 10 leg is 'yesterday' and the upcoming leg to Belfast is 'today'. Actually, I think I might just have added to the confusion. Imagine that!)
The monks had a name for it, they called it acedia. Its been described as a form of listlessness, restlessness, a kind of depression even. When it stalks me, my acedia usually creeps in any time between eleven and two, depending on the length of the leg and what the walking's like. One of the tell-tale signs that it's creeping in is the amount of fidgeting about I start doing with the straps on my rucksack. I tighten up my waist strap, then I loosen it again. I do up my chest strap, then I undo it again. The fidgeting begins to become almost compulsive. Even as it's happening I know that I'm beginning to lose focus on the walk.
Acedia is also known as the Noonday Demon. I can't remember the Noonday Demon's name, but I know where she works.
The night before I started this pilgrimage proper, I decided I'd treat myself to a good meal. That afternoon I popped into a restaurant in Letterkenny to see if I could book a table. The waitress asked me what time I'd like the table for and then how many of us would be dining. I replied that I just needed a table for one, and joked that I was 'Billy-no-mates'. "That's grand", said the waitress, "I'll pop your name down as 'Billy'". Sure enough, when I walked into the restaurant that evening she called across to me, "Billy, come here, I've got your table ready for you!" The waitress was a lot of fun and the food was great, but at one point she asked what I was doing in Letterkenny and so I told her about my pilgrimage and how far I was walking. She looked at me incredulously and exclaimed, "Sure, but what would you want to be doing a thing like that for?"
This is what the Noonday Demon asks me when the moments of acedia strike: what are you doing this for? Carnlough has a pretty little harbour and the sun was just about shining through. Having started yesterday morning at half-seven, it was now half-eleven and there was still a lot walking to do; what's more, my rucksack straps were seeing a lot of action. I stopped and bought a chocolate bar and a drink from the Spar and stood looking at the boats in the harbour. Quite suddenly, I just wanted to stop. I wanted to spend the day by that harbour, go and get lunch in the coffee shop across the road, enjoy the day, get a bus to Larne. I don't suppose it was a completely remarkable feeling; I was on one of the longest legs of the pilgrimage, there'd been a few ups and downs over the past week or so, at times it had felt like I was carrying a lot more than a rucksack.
I pulled that pack back on, fiddled with the straps and set off again. Some of the walking that followed (off-road!) was the best of the pilgrimage so far. Following The Ulster Way up amongst the North Antrim hills and with relatively little bogginess to contend with. Dinner was good. I'd recommend 'Carriages' if you're visiting Larne. Oh, and the 'Yellow Pepper' in Letterkenny is a great place too.
What do you think? In the original 2010 'Pilgrim's Cairn', on one of the rest days, I invited people to share their thoughts, reflections, questions about this pilgrimage. Tomorrow, Monday, I've got a ferry day, from Belfast to Stranraer. If you'd like to post any thoughts, reflections and/or questions, then that will save me having to write anything! Plus, I'd really like to hear what you, my fellow pilgrims, are thinking.
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Thanksgiving: for Orli's Bat Mitzvah yesterday. Really sorry to have missed it, but glad that this important step in her pilgrimage went so well.
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