An early night meant an early start today due to having a longer journey. We were heading to Cuilcagh Mountain, 10 miles or so from Enniskillen, about 63 miles from Derry. We had left by 8:45am, and roads were fairly quiet once we had left Derry. Our journey took us through County Tyrone, skimming the outskirts of Strabane on the A5 on the way south. The car’s satnav then decided to take us on a scenic route via some B roads but this gave us opportunity to enjoy the beautiful pine forests of Castle Archdale Country Park in County Fermanagh.

We arrived at Cuilcagh Boardwalk Car Park, 10 miles from Enniskillen, at about 11am. It cost £5 to park, which was worth it as it’s the only car park in the area with toilets. There are two other car parks which are closer but with no facilities. The Irish lady who took our payment told us that the Boardwalk is a difficult climb, but so worth it once you reach the top.

Cuilcagh Mountain walk, County Fermanagh, consists of gravel tracks and boardwalk. The boardwalk was built at a cost of £250,000 in order to protect the blanket bog that covers the area. You will see in the video that it winds across the blanket bog towards the mountain. The walk approximately 5km before there is a steep ascent of 488 steps to the summit of Cuilcagh Mountain. There were a lot of people of all ages and fitness levels who got to the top! There are some absolutely spectacular views when we got there and we understood why it is known as the Stairway to Heaven. We rested for about fifteen minutes, then began our descent which was fairly easy compared to our ascent.

When we finally arrived back at the car park, the same Irish lady was there and told us “well done”. All was well in the world….

So we drove to Blackwell House, a beautiful family run home in Scarva, County Armagh, near Banbridge. We were greeted by our host, Joyce, who was very pleasant, explaining about how important social distancing is to them, wearing masks and sanitising. She took us to our room, “Lily’s Room”, named after her grandmother, which was beautiful. Everything that would normally be touched…such as drinking glasses, hairdryer, toiletries etc were sealed in plastic to show that it had been sanitised. The room was spacious with plenty of facilities including towelling robes, slippers, shower gel, tea and coffee making facilities and even Joyce’s freshly baked home made butter shortbread. It was divine!

Nothing was too much trouble for Joyce. She ensured that we had done our breakfast order for Wednesday morning, and even got some chilled wine ready for us to enjoy in the garden room. We became well acquainted there with Murphy, a schnauzer who was just so friendly and placid.

Joyce also arranged a taxi for us to get to a pizza restaurant in nearby Banbridge, called The Vault. It was a fifteen minute drive and cost just under £12. The restaurant booking was arranged by Blackwell House because they don’t cook any evening meals Sunday-Wednesday. The Vault, which was a former bank, was buzzing with people. The staff were very attentive and made sure we were well looked after. Plenty of food passed our lips as we were hungry from our ten miles of walking. We finished the meal off with a Jawbox gin that we’d previously sampled in Belfast.

A return taxi back to Blackwell House picked us up at 9:30 and we pretty much went straight to sleep in the very sumptuous four poster bed.