May marks our annual fundraiser for the local RNLI station that we depend on for so much- Dunmore East RNLI. This is our 4th year to participate and this time round we plan to do at least a mile a day for the month of May – 31 miles. My wife Deena and I will travel about the locality and try build up the miles as we go. Below is our record of the month. Please drop back to see how we go.
It’s all about raising those necessary funds to keep the vital service that is our local RNLI. So if you would like to make a contribution you can do so, by visiting our donation page here. You might also prefer to give directly to the team page – or some of the other team members. The page for the Team Dunmore East is here. It all goes to the one brilliant cause.
May 1st happened on a Wednesday this year. It was also, sadly, the date of the funeral of our neighbour Elizabeth Kavanagh nee Doherty. Lizzy is the last of her siblings to die, the children of Mary Kate Power and Captain Andrew Doherty who was pilot master at Dunmore East for many years and served aboard the Lily Doreen. Our Mayday Mile kicked off with a walk home from the graveyard after Lizzy’s funeral.
May 3rd – a long walk this evening from home to a family gathering in Faithlegg via the Minaun, Glen, Faithlegg House and the Kennels. Then home the main road after dinner.
May 6th – Deena working again, I had planned a walk in Kilmacow along the River Blackwater but the weather didn’t cooperate. Later I drove over the Woodstown and did a gentle walk along the strand around Knockavelish and back via Bothar an mBan Gorm.
May 7th – Deena did the necessary today as I spent the day researching, writing and a bit of gardening.
May 8th – A lovely walk this morning from Dunmore to Portally by road and then back by the coastal path to the village. Met Patrick Glody on the way and had a catch up, and me oul school mate from Faithlegg Brendan Foley at Ladies Cove. Always love the chat with Brendan, reminds me of our childhood and early days of fishing. Deena cooled off with a swim, while I recovered from the shock of turning on the wi fi to discover I had been asked to speak to the Canadian Ambassador to Ireland at an event in Waterford about Canada Street. Apparently, a recent blog of mine had piqued her interest.
May 9th – Up at dawn this morning and as Deena is in work again I set off myself before she woke. Got a stunning pre-sunrise at Moran’s Poles before heading to the village, up Power’s Hill, the Old Road, Deerpark, the Car Rd, and then home via the main road. Deena was just up making tea as I came back – another 5km to the total. We are now up to 27 miles of the 31 target…so as expected we will shoot past it. The total raised at this point is €121. Thank you to those who have donated so generously.
May 10th – St Johns Pill walk – my first organised walk of the year and I though I may as well combine the two in terms of adding the distance. Deena did a separate walk today so combined it added up to 3 miles
May 11th – Deena did the duties today, as I had some work to do. The Lifeboats of Dunmore, Fethard and Kilmore welcomed the dawn this morning off Hook Head, while ashore thousands participated on Darkness into Light walks and Deena’s swimming buddies entered the water to welcome sunrise.
May 12th – a beautiful sunrise start for me, and later the visit of a cruise ship – Seabourne Ovation on a stroll along the local strand. A lovely way to build up the appetite for us both. Later we hiked the Hurthill where we waited for the outbound ship to pass almost 300 feet beneath. A lovely sight in the gathering gloom of dusk Just over 1/3 of the way there with terrific weather recently, but the forecast is set to change. Hopefully we can keep it going.
May 13th was a wet and windy start so rather than walk I sat down to write…forgot to stop, but Deena clocked up another 1.5 miles. We had set a target of 31 miles initially, or rather the website did it for us…but we managed to work out how to change this today so we have now doubled it to 64 miles. 1.5 is the lowest on any day so certainly doable.
May 14th, we split up today, but not intentionally. I had to go to the bank and was so disheartened when I left I needed a walk. While Deena did the village, I went along the King’s Channel towards Glenville…it’s a walk I had hoped to do many times and also wanted to research for another project, and despite the rain, it did not disappoint.
May15th – Another day with two separate walks – I was up early as usual, and as it was fine, but threatening, I decided to head away at 6am and completed a loop of the local stand via Coolbunnia. Just me and the seabirds this morning, didn’t even meet a car on the High Rd.
May 17th and Deena was to the fore today with two walks including an evening stroll along Woodstown with our daughter Hannah – meanwhile I was watching a Woodstown native Jack O’Donoghue with his Munster rugby comrades achieve a bonus point win, and home draw in the URC against Edinburgh…How did they even win that game!
May 18th – another busy day, shopping this morning and then a committee meeting. This afternoon we headed to Passage East for a looped walk from the Barrack Sq, up onto the hill, into Crooke, the old graveyard, and then back down to the church and back to the village. Only 2 miles but completed in pleasant sunshine.
Sunday 19th dawned bright and sunny, but a yellow thunder warning caused a bit of concern with a number of people contacting me to say they may not travel. The Waterford hurling match was also throwing in at 2pm, so we had a number of things going against this…despite this we had a lovey group join us for a gentle stroll around the heart of the village where we looked at the fishing/maritime history of the village and raised €135. And although we did have a light shower, it didn’t spoil the day…although Waterford did lose to Clare by a point 🙁
Monday 20th May – another beautiful morning and an early hike around the Minaun to add the miles – another 2 in the bag and over the 50 mile mark at this point. Might achieve the 64 at this stage.
Tuesday 21st dawned bright and calm and got some stunning images on the morning walk of over 6km – mapped below. Later we went to Leave no Trace training in Dunhill and another walk this evening along the strand – Deena had a long walk with the dog, while I did a litter pick to Ryan’s Quay. We added the mileage up to 4 miles, which was an underestimate nut we are well on track for our target – 64 miles, and 56 reached thus far.
Wednesday 22nd saw me struggling under work but Deena came through with a wonderful hike along the Faithlegg Marsh, into Faithlegg and then back via the glazing woods to home. We also had a hectic time getting work completed on the strand in preparation for the following day.
Friday 24th…a big day for me but also as I woke at 5 am i managed a glorious dawn walk to Faithlegg and back to the village. Later Deena had a walk along the strand and I did a shorter walk along the John’s Pill. Another 5 miles added to the total. Unfortunately, the money isn’t flowing in however. 🙁
Saturday 25th was another bright and beautiful start but with Deena heading to work and me with several jobs to do I only had time for a quick walk around the block and strand, but it still added 1.5miles to the tally
Sunday brought us to Dunmore, but as Deena had another engagement Ellen came with me to help with the guided walk. As it happened we weren’t too overwhelmed, as we had four join us, but the craic was good, the interactions flowed and they were the best of company. Only a little over a mile today but we got €70 in donations for the walk and a further €53 online so we have finally cleared the €500 this year.
Monday 27th May – After some terrific thunder and lightning showers and longer spells of rain yesterday evening it was a cloudy but dry start today…a busy day ahead for me but I clocked up 4km exactly (2.4 miles) on a walk to Faithlegg and back the Old Road to home. Heading to Wexford later for potentially new work. We had a walk around Ferns before my interview, and when we got home, Deena completed a loop of the Marsh and Glazing wood. Brings us to another 5 miles +.
Tuesday 28th brought me to the city for a meeting, but I had a good walk from Millers Marsh into town and back, Deena also did the local strand. An underestimate probably but we chalked it down as 3 miles today.
Wednesday 29th and we journeyed to Tramore. I have some guiding work coming up and wanted to scope out a gentle walk with ten stops of a maritime history nature. It added up to about 2 miles but the ten points were easily achieved.
Thursday 30th – the penultimate day…an early morning walk and then another along the strand clocked up at least 2 miles before breakfast, also captured the cruise ship Maud coming into port and did a litter pick. Later I had a few meetings in the city and got another mile in along the John’s Pill. Deena clocked up her own 2 miles separately today.
Friday 31st – the final day, and to mark it a special guest blog by David Carroll – a story I wanted to get for some time now, a biographical sketch of the vessels that served on the Dunmore East lifeboat station. The next piece would be a biographical sketch of the crew and also those who have done the behind-the-scenes work – the fundraisers, tea makers, those who make it all tick. A challenge for future years perhaps. We didn’t forget to get a few miles in today either, so another two brought us to 86 miles in total for the month and a final figure of €512. More modest than in previous years, but given that it looked like I might not be able to do it at all, it was very satisfying to get the support for this tremendous and essential charity.
As I said it’s all about raising those necessary funds to keep the vital service that is our local RNLI. So if you would like to make a contribution you can do so by visiting our donation page here. You might also prefer to give directly to the team page – or some of the other team members. The page for the Team Dunmore East is here.
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Excellent blog
A cousin of my mother Amy Strath was national secretary of the RNLI in the 1960’s and 1970’s
So like you I am very aware of the valuable and wonderful work they do
Great effort Andrew
Thanks Jim, its a small effort on our part compared to being available at all hours and all weathers to repond to the call
Well done folks ,lovely mornings for the job at hand
All in all its been a good May Jimi, many thanks
Brilliantly written stories within a story.
Thanks Andrew
Thanks Kev