Interfaith Peace Walk Towards a Nuclear Free Future
Dublin to London, April-June - 2007
Day 3 - May 15th, 2007: Balbriggan to Drogheda
|
Memories Home Day Log Index |
A morning of Balbriggan in eastern Ireland in the town's scout hall with the usual tea, white bread, peanut butter and jam. We rose stiff on our third day, ready for the trek before us, which would turn into the unexpected. At 9 AM we met Trevor Sargent outside the town hall, the leader of Ireland's Green Party, for a congenial send-off, and as the sun continued to rise, peering through the clouds, a crisp walk warmed us and led us onward.
Northward along the Irish Sea, we hit the coast, moving steadily with cramping feet and slowly roasting blisters. For lunch, we rested at SONAIRTE Ecology Centre: an organic information garden as verdant as an Irish spring after months of winter rain. The clouds remained ominous, cooling our swift pace, but after refueling, a wrong turn would eventually run us empty.
As we reached the beach-town of Julianstown, the group chose the "scenic route" and a 3 kilometer road straight along an unending stretch soon sapped our legs, yet we were in on the final haul to Drogheda. As we neared our destination, the group separated along an inlet road and the smoke stacks of the industrial center of Drogheda with its stench of the waning tide flats filled our senses. 
Drogheda is directly across the Irish Sea from Sellafield, with a 20% higher cancer rate than Ireland's national average. Our image of the town was bleak as we entered its outskirts, passing the Scotch Hall shopping centre, as well as the groups of young Irish lads calling out "Hippies! Hippies!" With a wrong turn and an unexpected, extended distance to cover, our 4 o'clock meeting with the Lord Mayor was an hour late. However, the tea and coffee were still hot and the snacks fresh in their wrappers. But another surprise was to finish off our day.
As we sat in the town's chambers, stinking, sweating out our exhaustion, and bleeding our soar feet with fresh air, the Mayor informed us of our 6 o'clock dinner meeting at the Bru restaurant lounge. We were blind with the surprise. 
Bru restaurant lounge on the riverside of Drogheda was empty, waiting for us with personalized menus entitled "Footprints of Peace". We had our selections of fresh sea bass (from the Irish Sea?), steak baguette sandwiches, fish & chips and penne pasta with an endless supply of fresh juices-pineapple, cranberry and grapefruit. We feasted like kings, toasted a 23rd birthday in the party, and continued to feast under our hot meals.
That night, stuffed, a warm welcome at the community's Bahai Centre brought us our first showers on the walk, as well as a Lidl's frozen cake for dessert. Clean, dry and full-not a bad way to say goodnight after a long day with friends and family on a Peace Walk for a Nuclear Free Future. |
|
|
|
|
PeacehqHome |
|
|
FootPrints For Peace Home |
Feedback |
|
Help |
 Jeff |
 Tyler |
 Larry |
 Jim |
 Marcus |
 Jason |
 K-A |
 Ray |
|
|