Chris Worfolk's Blog

Bala is a town located in the middle of North Wales, at at the north end of Bala Lake. Importantly, they have a parkun and it is one of the four required to complete The Full Ponty challenge. I ticked off Pontefract in June, so this is the second one I needed.

The course is an out-and-back along the river with a turnaround point at the lake. You do this twice before finishing. I had had surgery a few days before so no running for me, but I had a delightful stroll along the course with the hills in the background and the lake at the end.

I free soloed the Little Sugar Loaf. Technically, there is no climbing involved and you just walk up. Also, some would say a hill that is 342 metres high isn’t much of an achievement. Especially when the car park is like half way up. But I wouldn’ be great with heights and this one just turns into a scramble at the top.

I didn’t actually fancy the scramble. There are a few false summits that way and by the second one I decided there was too much scrambling. So I went around the other way and took the more gentle path. You get a lovely view from the top.

You might be surprised to learn that it is fairly near the Great Sugar Loaf.

The viva is an oral examination also known as a thesis defence. In Latin it means “living voice” with the idea that you give voice to your research while being examined by a panel made up of an internal examiner from the university, an external examiner from another university, and a chair who is there to ensure smooth running of the examination.

I completed mine last week for my research on mental health in ultra-endurance athletes. I am delighted to say that I passed with minor corrections!

Another S for my snakes challenge!

Sligo parkrun has an out-and-back section before opening up to two loops of a bigger park. There is a slight hill here, but nothing compared to Temple Newsam or Cabinteely. And on the plus side, you get a beautiful view of the hills in the distance.

Sligo is a picturesque place and I stopped on the way back to take a few pictures.

Leaving the Inishowen peninsula, we arrived in Letterkenny. With over 20,000 people it is by far the biggest town in Donegal and feels like a big place. It has a Dunnes and everything. Fantastic food, as well. We ate at The Yellow Pepper on the first day and I had the hot seafood platter with haddock, muscles, chowder, and a bunch of other stuff. On the second day we ate at Sister Sara’s gastro pub.

We also paid a visit to Tropical World. Obviously, it is not quite as good as Tropical World in Leeds (because, again, everything is better in Yorkshire), it has a lovely range of bugs, birds, mammals and non-real dinosaurs to explore. We also got to stroke a snake, and they have a play area, too.

Glenveagh is a national park in Donegal containing Lough Veagh and a Derryveagh mountains. It is free to visit and offers some beautiful walks and views.

West of Glenveagh you will find the coast. We stopped at Narin Beach to build another sandcastle. I am writing this two or three weeks later and my hands are still blistered from all of the digging.

Ireland has a series of folk parks which are open-air musums with traditional buildings and often have people in character doing traditional activities. In Belfast, you will find Ulster Folk Musum and in Clare you will find Bunratty. In Donegal, you will find Doagh Famine Village, which had been on my bucket list for a while.

Unfortunately, they recently had a fire and some of it was closed. But they were still offering visits and a large part of it is a tour in which a former resident of one of the houses presents some living history, demonstrating the food and traditions of the area. You also get some seaweed and a shot of potcheen to try. There are a few buildings to explore after that.

Inishowen is a peninsula north of Derry featuring a load of cool stuff, including Malin Head, which is the most northerly point of Ireland. It’s fantastic. I loved Donegal and Inishowen was probably my favourite part. We drove up the east coast and stayed in the village of Greencastle where our bedroom had a view of Lough Foyle.

The good was great, too. We ate at the Redcastle Hotel on the first night. My rule is that hotels don’t do food good, but I will grudging admit that their food was good. Was also ate at Rosato’s in Moville, which is a pub and restaurant serving good food. God was smiling on me because there was only one slice of mint aero cheesecake left and the table just ahead of us foolishly passed on it.

Inishowen is also home to several beautiful beaches including Stroove, where we built another sandcastle.

And Doagh Strand which is an incredible place to watch the waves come crashing in. There are other beaches, too, that we did not get time to visit. Add to that a lot of beautiful hills and not too much traffic and it is a wonderful place to spend some time.

When Storm Floris rolled in, we decided to head to Derry to seek a bit of shelter. After some lunch at the Terra Bakery, we headed to the Museum of Free Derry in Bogside to learn about The Troubles. It is a small but well put-together museum telling the story of Battle of the Bogside and the surrounding events during The Troubles.

Dunluce is a ruined castle sitting between Portballintrae and Portrush. It is built on a rocky outcrop of land that is connected to the mainland by a bridge. Excellent for defending if a little intimidating to cross. A good place to defend and you get some fantastic views down the coast while you are there.