While the whole of Ireland is under a hosepipe ban and the South and East of the country are concerned about soil moisture contents and crop growth, it’s Summer as usual in Donegal! It’s warmer and probably drier than during the Winter but for some reason it feels harder to get out when we’ve been used to the dry and warm weather.

Monday was a Bank Holiday with us and as I’d booked the previous Friday off, it was the end of a four day weekend for me. I’d planned to cycle with the Club that morning but it was raining heavy at 8am and only one other guy had ticked the poll to say he was going out. I dropped him a message and went back to sleep. My legs were still quite achy and stiff from my Sliabh League walk on Sunday so I did manage a short, easy leg loosener later that evening. I’m not sure it had the desired effect!

Tuesday, I was working from home for the day, catching up from the couple of days off and planning my week ahead. The upside of this meant no rush to get home in time for the evening Club spin. Again I opted for a shorter ride as my legs still felt heavy and tired. I really need to work on my hill fitness! Despite a dry forecast we had persistent heavy drizzle for much of the ride. It wasn’t cold but it was definitely damp!

Wednesday saw the next instalment in Conor’s summer of fun with his Leaving Cert Prom. The last of his secondary school events, just the exam results to go now!

View this post on Instagram

Thursday I was working a bit further from home in Ballymoney, Larne and Belfast meaning I didn’t get home until well after 6pm and too late to get out on the Club spin.

I was reasonably close to home on Friday and had planned to get out for an evening solo spin but there’s something about Friday evenings that really bring out the lazy side of me and I wasn’t arsed in the end.

Saturday I planned to go hillwalking. I fancied climbing a mountain that I was last up in 2012 and one I drive past quite often. It’s an impressive hill sitting above Lough Finn. I got away in good time but as I got closer the drizzle started and eventually turned to quite heavy rain. The radar showed more coming in for most of the morning and the summit was mostly obscured by cloud. I missed the views back in 2012 and didn’t fancy repeating this again so I decided to abandon those plans.

On the way home I did a recce for another walk. It’s shorter and further east so I had a vague hope this would be an alternative. However, the rain and low cloud followed me. Not a wasted journey though as this could be a handy one for me on short notice.

The rain threatened at home all afternoon but eventually cleared without showing up so I managed a 4.7km walk around the local roads with Cooper. I also finally worked out the ideal lead length that allows him to sniff and explore without him running off or pulling the arms off me on a short lead.

I went to bed on Saturday night with vague hopes of getting back to Aghla and with a Plan B to head to the Sperrins instead. Catriona was up and away to Liverpool at 4:30am on the Sunday morning. When she woke me to say goodbye I could hear rain on the roof and when I woke later at 6am it was heavy and forecast to last until well after lunch. I eventually got up about 9am and spent a very lazy morning watching TV, reading and a very average film called “Shelter”.

It eventually dried up about 2pm which made watching the boys play their first Senior Championship game at 4pm a lot more enjoyable. Unfortunately, they played very poorly and were well beaten in a game they expected to win.

On the way home I decided it was too good an evening to waste and went straight from the car, into my gear and on to the bike for a 30km loop to Raphoe. Plenty of climbing for a short route and the stiffness seems to finally be gone!