Hiking in Northern Ireland

On Saturday, I went to the lovely little house of Corrymeela at the foot of Knocklayd (hill) on the north coast. I went with a small group from Whitehouse Pres. where my flatmate, Phen, works. It was a lovely spot, and I was excited about my first venture out of the city since I arrived. It was a quiet retreat, a time to do some personal reflection, clear our heads, come before God honestly and openly. Phen and I decided the best way to do this was to hike to the top of Knocklayd. It didn't look that far and it was sure to have a great view. Bring it on!

So, imagine, if you will, that you are hiking Roan Mountain, starting at Carver's Gap and going up to Jane Bald. (If you've never done this particular hike, I'm sorry; imagine a very large hill covered in scrub grass and small bushes. Everyone else...got it in your head? Good.) The hill isn't nearly as high as Jane Bald, and it doen't take nearly as long to get to the summit, but the environment is exactly the same: windy, steep, no trees. And there's no trail, but that's not a problem because you can clearly see the summit from the base. Or not. Knocklayd is just as deceptive as Roan. You reach the "summit" four times before you actually reach the summit. ("Seriously?! There's more? What the...!") And you remember somewhere along the way that Northern Ireland is a very wet country known, in part, for its peat bogs. You become keenly aware of this when you realize that Knocklayd, is, in fact, one of these said peat bogs, which means that the ground beneath your feet may or may not be solid. And those rocks that look like they've been there for a thousand years? They may or may not be precariously perched on the edge of the aforementioned peat bog. So now you're hiking Roan with no trail, a deceptive horizon, Jell-O for footing and loose rocks on a 45-degree slope. And, oh yeah; this whole hillside is also pasture land for sheep. Who leave presents everywhere. Great fun. Add in the occasional sinkhole and jumping the odd barbed-wire fence and you've pretty much got our morning.

As with most hikes that I undertake, somewhere between sinking to my knees in a sinkhole and stepping in my ump-teenth pile of sheep droppings, I began to wonder what in the world I was doing. "This isn't a race! Why am I here? What am I doing?" And, as always, the answer came back two-fold. "One: you know the view will totally be worth it when you really do reach the top. And two: Phen's a good 10 minutes ahead of you and if you stop now he'll think you died." Right. Keep going. And, as always, my reasons were spot on. The view was 360 degrees of awesome panorama. The sea to the north, the Causeway Coast to the west, mountains and farmland to the south and east. The wind whipped our hair and our coats and stung our eyes, but it was also all I could hear, besides the beating of my own heart. God was definitely present. Totally worth it.

For more pics, go here: http://picasaweb.google.com/lynnea.hunter/7DayAtKnocklayd?authkey=Gv1sRgCMmWkvPOrbTeFA&feat=directlink