I can go the distance...

Challenge: To hike from Dublin to Galway in a week... 207km...

Difficulty: It's hiking from Dublin to Galway... how hard could it be?

Overview: While sitting over a delicious Indian meal with Conor Sweetman (above) I mentioned the whole 52 weeks - 52 challenges thing... I then let slip about the idea of hiking from Dublin to Galway. Conor, for reasons only known to himself, thought this sounded like a brilliant idea and asked if he could tag along. I was initially skeptical- surely I should attempt this challenges alone? Like a hermit? Or kermit? But then loneliness is tough, the toughest role I ever played, Hollywood created a superstar... sorry- got sidetracked...

So the night before we were due to set out me and Conor met in his to discuss the route ('root' according to Conor- 'rowt' according to me... this would be a continuous disagreement throughout the trip) we'd be taking... I could discuss the ridiculousness of this route (root) but it would take too long to describe... suffice to say it was stupid as f**k.

Day 1 - The Spire to Kilcock (giggle)

Early morning train to Dublin Connelly. The hike was to begin at the Spire and finish at Eyre Square in Galway. Todays desitination was Kilcock (giggle) - which didn't get old at any point during the journey. We hiked through an old dilapidated part of Dublin I'd never seen before- we watched the markets getting set up by the scariest Dublin folk in existence. We then hiked through Phoenix Park where there was a 5mile run on- we also passed the house of the president and felt extremely patriotic...

We hiked out of Dublin, through Lucan and then onto the canal walk. 7 hours of hiking later we arrived in Kilcock (giggle).

We stayed in Ashford House B&B where there was a mistake in the booking and there wasn't a twin room available. So instead we got UPGRADED to a room each with ensuite and our own tea making facilities! After a chat with the lovely owner (whose sons names were also Conor and Steve) and a nap we decided to order in a sexy chinese (food- not an actual person). Our muscles were in a lot of pain and we were fairly wrecked- although we did stay up and watch The Fantastic Four... mmm... Jessica Alba...

Day 2 - Kilcock (giggle) to Kinnegad

"IT'S CLOBBERING TIME!"

Up early for breakfast, the lovely owner Angela offered to make us sandwiches for our hike (we love this woman). So we began our hike from Kilcock (giggle) to Kinnegan- the sleep had cured our weary muscles and everything seemed grand. The canal offered a treasure trove of wonders- most importantly it gave us a boat...

After about 4 hours of hiking along the canal- and becoming truly sick of it- we stopped at Furey's Bar for a pot of tea and a break...

Back on the road- our intention to hike the N4 from Moyvalley to Kinnegad... at this point it began to rain... heavily... and it was ascertained that there was a serious flaw with my waterproofs...

This was one of the most miserable parts of the journey in my mind. Chaffing became a serious issue as the wet clothes stuck to my legs as I walked. I found that singing "I can go the distance" from Hercules was really the only thing that could lighten my mood. Eventually we arrived in Kinnegad and the irony of the poster upon our arrival was not lost...

We stayed with the O'Rourkes that night who provided us with shelter, food and a nice comfy bed where me and Conor slept head to tail... naughty bits still in the middle though... they also provided me with sexy new WORKING waterproofs... thanks guys...

Day 3 - Kinnegad to Kilbeggan

This was just roads and fields... but the weather was good... and so we took photos...

Arrived in Kilbeggan... sunburnt... had another chinese- delish...

Day 4 - Kilbeggan to Athlone

Left Kilbeggan nice and early. Weather today wasn't too bad except both myself and Conor were sun burnt from the day before. The hike today wasn't half as interesting as the night we had. We arrived in Mary's gaff in Athlone (friend of the fanily) We decided that we'd walk 65km the next day. In order to celebrate this massive undertaking we decided to have a glass of wine...

Three bottles of wine later we decided to walk to Aughrim the next day instead...  

Day 5 - Athlone to Aughrim

Hungover and feeling pretty rough we left the at about 2pm... we arrived in Aughrim at about 9pm. Not much to report except that our legs were definetly screwed up. Also we were hitting double digits, each, when it came to blisters (at the time of writing this- 2 weeks late [as usual] I still have 2 blisters remaining).

Day 6 - Aughrim to Galway

Today was the toughest and stupidest day of all. We got up at 3am, I made eggs and beans, and we left the lovely hostel around 4am. We then hiked, in agony, for kilometres... and kilometres... a cute dog came to greet us along the way... but he proved to be both annoying and stupid. He followed us for about 5km then we called his owner (it was now 8am) to come and collect him. We took a few Difene (best drug ever) and continued on our way.

Misery is the word than only begins to describe how we felt... we found a garden to sleep in around noon for an hour. We also realised a very funny dynamic to our duo; when we were walking I was miserable and unhappy, but Conor was grand. When we stopped though- Conor became miserable because he got the feeling that "oh dear god we have to start again"... thus Conor spent the time 'walking' cheering me up and I spent the time 'resting' cheering Conor up... also- these geese cheered us both up...

We decided to avoid moaning or complaining on the last day so instead we had to turn everything into a postitive statement... this lead to statements like: "Stephen- I have a blister on my right little toe that feels so f**king good..." and "Conor- Mmmhmm... gotta love this stabbing sensation in my leg..."

We walked a minor section on the motorway... and got stopped by the guards where he explained to us that 'blue' signs are for motorways... to which Conor responded: "Well- next time we hike from Dublin to Galway we'll keep that in mind..."

15 hours later- a couple of kilometers outside Galway city- well over 200km of hiking we realized the following... we hadn't drank anything in the last 5 hours, we were in agony and we were walking so slowly that by the time we'd arrive in Galway (only about 4km at this stage) it'd be getting dark. We mutually agreed that we'd walked the distance from Dublin to Galway and proceeded to dial a taxi to take us the remainder of the journey. 

I would go into the epicness of Galway and how it was legendary... but what happens in Galway stays in Galway....

And yeah... we got the bus home... screw walking...

Conclusion: One of the hardest, yet rewarding, things I've ever done. If you ever need to 'find yourself' or 'get in touch with your inner chi' then I recommend hiking from Dublin to Galway. I also recommend that you hike with someone who is a legend as it will make the journey that much more worthwhile. I recommend bringing vaseline (for chaffing), waterproofs and GPS. Also- make sure you're bag doesn't weight 18kg like mine did... that was just stupid.

Special Thanks: Brendan O'Rourke and family for their hospitality. All the hostels and B&B's where we stayed- the service was brilliant. Thanks to Mary in Athlone for putting us up and making us breakfast! Thanks to Conor for being a fucking legend.

And most importantly... thanks to these guys who always kept a lookout for us along the way...

Finally something to moan about...

Challenge: To avoid 'moaning' for a week...

Difficulty: To avoid moaning - 3/5... to avoid complaining - 5/5...

Skills developed: An increased sense of self awareness... also- an increased ability at lying to myself...

Overview/Rant: Right- this may seem like a weird challenge to undertake... avoid 'moaning' for a week... BUT I ask you (the sexy reader) to consider the implications of this endeavor... to NOT moan, about anything, for an entire week... Sentences like: "God I'm tired," "Ugh, I have to go to work..." or "I feel real crappy" are exempt from your vocabulary.

Now- to say I epically failed this challenge would be the understatement of the century. (I actually moaned about how hard this challenge was... thus failing it drastically... then proceeded to moan about how I'd failed it by moaning.) You may ask yourself, "Well that sounds like a stupid challenge..." and you'd be perfectly entitled to your opinion (and a smack in the face) BUT the reasoning behind my undertaking of the challenge was to establish if I could AVOID moaning for a week. Could I become more self aware of how I portray myself to other people? Do I (we) moan at times when actually I (we) realistically have nothing to moan about? How does moaning affect my (our) friends and loved ones?

So in essence I decided that I would take a step towards being a positive person by avoiding to moan at all costs for the entire week... and like I said... I failed... miserably. BUT- I did keep track of how my moaning can really bug other people- and I think I've concluded that there is a very small, but VERY IMPORTANT (hence the capital letters) difference between 'moaning' and 'complaining.'

I feel, and I invite arguments here, that moaning and complaining are two very different things. Basically it comes down to 'why' you say something. The difference, I think,  between the two is that complaining 'should' be a constructive exercise- you vocalize your problem or issue in the hope of finding a resolution. The aim being that the other person can choose to assist in solving your problem or listening to you come up with possible solutions. The tone and manner in which it is spoken is highly relevant- it must be said with a positive outlook, i.e. that you know there is a solution to the thing that is troubling you... and so on and so forth... (what a great sentence for tying up an argument when you know you're running in circles...)

Moaning, on the other hand, is where you vocalize your problem with the hope of getting sympathy and/or attention. For example: "I'm exhausted..." Like- I'm sorry- but WHAT THE HELL is anybody supposed to do with that?! "Oh- you're tired... okay- here's an idea- GO TO SLEEP!" While this may seem a teeny bit insensitive... part of me says - well- is the insensitivity coming from the person who moaned or the person who had to listen to the moan? Moaning is in effect a negative thing- moaning begets moaning (so glad I finally got to use 'beget' in a sentence) While my definition for complaining may seem like a cop-out and a way of saying that "I wasn't moaning, I was complaining... it's constructive..." I do think its an important difference to note and I think its the crucial difference between portraying a negative or positive attitude. At the end of the day you have to ask yourself- am I moaning for the sake of moaning? Does my moaning actually make me feel better? Does my moaning 'effect' ('affect'- someone help me out there) the people around me?

So- that's my moaning about the issue... done.

May not seem like much of a challenge- but hey- you can moan about that in the comments section...

Fun Things: Through the week though- and the contemplation of moaning- I feel I've come up with the most common reoccurring types of moan...

DIRECT MOANING - this is where you directly moan to somebody about whatever is bothering you... examples include "I'm tired," "I'm hungry" and "My foot is killing me from kicking that kid in the crotch." It is the basic of all moans. 

SOLO MOANING - this is where you moan to yourself about something, realize that there's no one around to listen and immediately set out to find someone to listen to your moaning...

INDIRECT MOANING - this is where you moan about something unrelated to what's bothering you... like waiting at a bus stop and moaning about the weather, when really its the fact you have to get the bus that is bothering you.

ORGASMIC MOANING - obviously an acceptable type of moan...

THE "MAKING CONVERSATION" MOAN - a strange device used during awkward silences... examples include "Isn't the weather awful?" and "Don't you hate Mondays?"

THE TRYING TO GET OUT OF DOING SOMETHING MOAN - this is where you moan to try get out of doing something. This moan can actually turn into complaining as it sometimes is followed by a solution to said problem. For example: "I don't wanna go to lectures... let's go eat ice cream instead!" Now- this is a mix of moaning and complaining. I let it slide because there's ice cream involved.

THE "RHETORICAL QUESTION" MOAN - this is where the moaner hits the moanee (the person who is forced to listen to a moan) with a rhetorical moaning question to introduce the topic they're about to moan about... the moanee is left powerless to avoid the upcoming moan... "Don't you just hate it when the guy of your dreams asks you on a date and you say yes and then realize that you've got nothing sexy to wear and you haven't shaved your legs in days and then you're worried that he might already be eying up a younger fitter.... blah blah blah"

THE "SIGH" MOAN - this is a louder than usual 'sigh' followed by a large exhale of air... this moan says "No seriously- I'm not moaning, I'm just breathing out air... it can be tiring at times... I'm grand... don't worry about me... I'm just going to ride a tandem bike by myself now..."

THE "IT'S TOUGH BEING AWESOME" MOAN - this is where someone moans about how hard it is being the person 'their friends always rely on' or how they're exhausted from hours of charity work or how their legs hurt after running 15 miles in 7 minutes... they moan but secretly love having a one-up on you for being a much better human being. This moan says "Oh me- when I'm not busy saving someones life or doing a million sit-ups I'm usually teaching blind kids how to see... but you haven't commented on how awesome I am recently so I'm going to pretend to complain to remind you of how awesome I am. I am awesome... and humble... which only makes me that much more awesome"

THE 'MOANING ABOUT MOANING' MOAN - this is usually done by someone in blog format who has way too much time on his hands...

Recommendation: Try it- seriously try to avoid moaning for a week. I found that once I accepted the fact that it wasn't beneficial in any way I actually started to feel a lot better about the whole thing. If you're not going to try it then at least try keep count at the number of times you moan in a day. You may be surprised...

Conclusion: Definitely a challenge. 

Special Thanks: Rebecca who listened to me moan relentlessly while I was sick on Monday. To Mum and Dad for their support, and mocking, of my attempt at not moaning.

Next Challenge: It's still mystery March- so I can't divulge BUT I will tell you that the next challenge is going to involve everybody I meet so it should be quite interesting.  May the games begin...

Random Thoughts: Try google image searching "moaning" or youtube-ing it... seriously... it's ridiculous...

But aside from that- it lead me to this song... which I'm liking- it's also ANIME-tastic...