We came to Lahinch on a warm evening, with gentle waves and a long beach. Setting up our tent at the campsite outside of town, we went swimming to wash the stress of the Mid Clare Way off.
The camping section of the campsite was extremely picturesque as it was a field on the side of the cliff. It was also just a field on the side of a cliff, so we'd set up about half way through the field - still getting the wonderful view from the tent, but not wanting to accidentally slip off the edge when we're half asleep.
That night it started raining and the wind was a bit blustery, but nothing that we hadn't gone through before.
The rain continued for the following day, and we hopped around a couple of cafés to hide from the weather. It wasn't until late in the day that we started getting storm warnings for the coming night. During a short rain-break we watched newcomers unfurling pop-up tents and erecting monster-sized car-camping abodes all along the cliff edge. I didn't even care that they ruined our view. At least I wasn't going to blow away into the sea while sleeping.
The rain became torrential and our tent was lit up as lightening danced across the bay. Sleeping in a small space that was held up with metal poles was not all that exciting. Or maybe too exciting? Either way, it was great once the new day arrived. Looking out at the other campers I was slightly surprised that all the tens were still there, if not standing up exactly the way they were supposed to.
At that point we had just gone though roughly 30hrs of rain none of our stuff was fully dry any more. The forecast was for more of the same, and I felt like there were only so many nights that we could sleep through a lightning storm on a cliff edge and come away unscathed. We packed up wet bags and went to stay with my family in Tipperary.
Having another "defeat" just as we were hoping to have an intense walking month definitely knocked some vitality from us. We were more than just internally questioning ourselves, but questioning each other, wondering if this project was just doomed to drift off into nothing, where we just quietly fail.
Thankfully, there was one more trail to walk near my family home. Maybe this one could remind us why we started all this.
It did.