Saturday July 11
"Four strong winds that blow lonely..."  Well, I don't know how lonely they could be when all four of them were on the Sauce Creek trail blowing together.  If not for my hiking poles, I may have been blown a few miles away.

Today's walk was in part an endurance test.  Because of inclement weather, Christopher resorted to Plan B and chose a trail that would be safer given the conditions.  We drove over the Connor Pass, getting occasional glimpses of spectacular views when there was a break in the fog.  This drive is not for the faint of heart.  It's a corkscrew ride, sheer dropoffs on one side, one lane traffic on many sections with lay-bys for oncoming cars to pull into.

Within 20 minutes of starting out on the hike, my boots and socks were wet.  It wasn't cold, however, so this was not a big hardship and since it is sadly our final day of walking, I wasn't worried about having dry boots for the morrow.

The wind was terrific and wearing glasses in driving rain is not convenient, to put it mildly!

At some point in the walk, we had a "family meeting" as our team confabs were called.  Four of us opted to turn back and the rest pressed on for another kilometer to reach a higher trailmarker.  The mist cleared long enough for them to be rewarded with a view.  As for Shirley, Kate, Deirdre and myself, we feasted our eyes on this view on the way back down.  With what was mostly a tail wind (and sometimes a side wind!) and the rain less constant, I was able to actually look around me and enjoy the sights.

If I recall correctly (no guarantees on that!), one of the first things Katherine Hepburn's character says in "The Philadelphia Story" film is: The calla lilies are in bloom.  There's a riot of them growing in this front yard on the way back to the van's parking spot, along with multi-coloured hydrangeas.  Stick it in the ground in Ireland and it grows, with a vengeance!!  Beautiful.

Back at Murphy's B&B, we dried out and got ready for our final dinner together.  We went to Lord Baker's and Christopher surprised three of the group with a birthday cake.  Betsy, Laura and Jane have been friends since high school and planned this trip to celebrate their 50th birthday year.

Here's the whole gang with Christopher on the left and the "three amigas" next to him.  The team also included mother-daughter duo Tracy and Kate from Acton, Ontario; David and Shirley from Toronto (wow, half the team came from within an hour's drive of us!), Sixta and Paulina from Argentina; and William from Iowa.  What a great group of people.  No whining about the weather, just good nature and good humour all around.  So here's to another wonderful trip with Footfalls in beautiful Ireland!  Slainte!