For some people the compass comes into the same category as algebra, foreign languages and computer programming – hard stuff! This is unfair as it is a wonderfully simple (and useful) device – all it does is point North. However, it does it in the dark, in the rain, when you are stressed, when you have no batteries (or signal) and, in particular, when you are lost!
Picture the scene – Clint Eastwood walks slowly into a small Northern Ireland rural town. The main street is deserted – it looks lifeless. As his tightly squinting eyes scan the dark voids of doors and windows an empty packet of Tayto Cheese and Onion Crisps blows by, tumbling down the street; ragged pieces of cheap cloth flap fitfully from lamp posts; he feels unseen eyes on his back. Ahead on the right a bar door lies open – indeterminate sounds emit from the dark interior. On the left is a barbershop – a man inside looks out and watches.
The question he might well reasonably ask himself is “Do I feel Welcome”?
The sad fact is that many of our rural towns and villages don’t exactly welcome the stranger from out of town in. Indeed they don’t particularly welcome anyone in. By the speed limit you may find a busy ‘convenience store / petrol pumps’ where take-away coffee, filled sodas, daily papers and basic foods and sweet snacks can be grabbed efficiently by the time-poor passer by. They are not places to linger – they may serve to sustain body, but not soul. And this is sad – not just for the passing traveller trying to visit and gain a sense of place, but for the local people young and old, who have lost the village pump, the general merchant, the place to meet, exchange the news of the day and put the world to rights.
So look for the bright spots – the friendly cafe, the rural coffee house, the country pub with welcoming blackboard food menu outside, and give these places your custom whenever you can afford it. Why should country folk be happy to see visitors from the big smoke if they contribute nothing to their local economy, but litter and badly parked cars? The local commerce which is good for visitors is also good for locals, to build community focus and friendly meeting places. So make it a virtuous circle and always try to give something back as you walk by.
You will find many opinions on this blog from everything about what constitutes a ‘grand day out’ to the advisability of carrying a simple compass (and knowing how to tell where North is with it)! Some of these opinions will relate to commercial enterprises – for example flagging the presence of a cafe, a public transport option or suggesting a source of suitable maps. These opinions are exactly that – personal views based on limited experience at a particular point in time and should be treated as such. They are not ‘personal endorsements’ and most certainly they are not ‘paid endorsements’ – this blog does and will not contain any form of advertising or paid promotion.
Why include mentions of commercial offerings then? Simply because they enhance the way for the traveller and, the traveller, by using them, can give something back to the people who live and work in the places they visit. See the blog post “Do I Feel Welcome” for some more reflections on this issue.
We have finally got our blog up to the point where we feel it might be of interest to aspiring explorers and have therefore made it live.
It is still very much a work in progress and there is much learning required in how routes are mapped, described and embellished with comment!
It is maintained on a best effort basis (see disclaimer) and the inclusion of a path or track is definitely not evidence of a public right of way. Indeed, in Northern Ireland actual ‘right of way’ paths outside public forests and parks are rare. Many ways are likely to be permissive paths where access is conditional on the owner’s consent. Please respect the rights and livelihoods of landowners and local residents and do nothing to jeopardise future access.
Feedback is welcome (via the contacts page), but most of all we would encourage you to travel some of these ways, whether they are new to you or you are revisiting old paths, perhaps with some new perspectives.
Enjoy the ways
Charlie and Rachel Reid