June 10th
Waking up this morning was less than desirable. As I was lounging around, I remembered that we were supposed to join a webinar at eight. And it was already past eight. I dashed into Outi’s room to find an adapter (I needed power for my laptop), then I scrambled to find the email with the meeting link. It was embarrassing to join late. Luckily, this particular meeting wasn’t very important for us. The more crucial one is on Wednesday. I will probably be online by six to make sure I’m on time for that one! Of course, it might be a bit challenging to find a campsite with reliable internet. Will we need to book a hotel for one night because of this? We’ll see!
We had breakfast with Outi and Jette. The last breakfast with this group for now! It felt a bit sad….
We all set off in Tellu. Our first destination was a town called Ballina. It has a well-known fly-fishing area right in the middle of town, which I definitely wanted to see. By the river, there was a grand hotel that had evidently reserved fishing rights for its guests in the river area. A local fishing club manages the fishing rights for the river, and I suspect their meeting rooms are somewhere in the depths of the hotel. The income level of the club members is probably above average! The common folk likely don’t have many opportunities to cast their lines into these waters! Ordinary people like us had no business walking on the hotel’s side of the river. On the opposite bank, we were free to wander and watch as the more fortunate learned the secrets of fly-fishing! It seems that certain traditions are still held in high regard here!
In Ballina, we had coffee and said our goodbyes to Outi. It had been a great session with her. Our discussions had some fascinating dimensions. Hopefully, we will be able to revisit some of these topics in the future.
The journey continued towards the northeast. Our destination was Dungannon and a campsite there. On the way, we took a detour from the main roads to drive along small coastal roads. Driving there, we stumbled upon some quite magnificent coastal scenery (Aughris Head). A brisk wind adorned the shores with foamy waves. The bright sunny weather made the waves breaking on the shore shine a brilliant white! The rugged, mountain-like cliffs by the shore added their own charm to the stunning landscape. As a counterbalance to all this grandeur, we decided to have a takeaway Chinese lunch in a shopping center parking lot. Not too much of a good thing at once!
On the way, we also stumbled upon another impressive urban waterfall. There too, a fishing club managed the fishing rights to the waterfall. That seems to be quite the custom here! Well, if that’s what the people want. I would find it strange if someone started claiming ownership of the fishing rights on, say, the Vantaa River and excluded ordinary citizens from accessing the water.
We arrived at the Dungannon campsite just before dusk. The clean area with good facilities is perfect for us. The shower and toilet facilities are heated and clean. It will be a pleasant place for morning routines!
Setting up the tent is now routine for our group. Within a couple of minutes, my little one-person tent was ready to welcome a weary traveler. Good job, us!