05-Sep-2017 -- This is the 5th out of 9 reports reaching confluence points during a one-week cycling trip around Ireland. The story starts at 54°N 7°W and continues from 54°N 10°W.
In the morning I started cycling from Headford, a small town located 25 km north of Galway. I bypassed the city of Galway and came through the coastal town Kinvarra with its famous Dunguaire Castle. Another 15 km later I reached the Burren National Park with its famous karst landscape where this confluence point is located. The location is very special – with the highest peak of the park just 500 m to the north. Several park trails can be used to approach the confluence.
At the gate of the National Park at a distance of 2.3 km north-east from the confluence point I parked my bicycle and hiked over an abandoned rocky track up to a distance of 350 m (this is not the same route that Ross Finlayson took. My starting point was 53.016796°N, 8.981412°W. Even though the distance was longer, I believe that my decision was a good one. After climbing an old stone wall and passing through a little canyon, I found the confluence on a rocky surface which has partially a thin layer of grass on it. From the confluence, there are great views into the lowlands, but also to the highest hill to the north.
I backtracked the same route to reach my bicycle about an hour after I had left it. In the afternoon I cycled to Limerick.
CP Visit Details:
- Distance of bicycle parking: 2300 m
- Time to reach the CP from the road: 30 minutes
- Time at the CP: 2:34 PM
- Measured height: 29 m
- Minimal distance according to GPS: 0 m
- Position accuracy: 3 m
- Topography: hilly, on a mountain slope
- Vegetation: grass, ferns, little flowers
- Weather: cloudy, 14° C (felt temperature)
- Given Name: The Stone Surface Confluence
The story continues at 52°N 9°W.