Devizes to Westminster 24hr kayak challenge (22 hr 40 min)

 

If you asked me now how long I’ve been at Killary it would probably take me around a minute to check the number of weeks since the 28th of February. I guess that’s one of the hints of the transition of newcomer to regular taking place. Since leaving school and coming to work properly for the longest time so far in my life, I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the little things. I think that if I told my friends to come and live here, especially those used to the bustle of London. The first objection they would put up would be that Connemara was so isolated. That if you wanted to take a bus around here you’d have to wait for a few days rather than a few minutes, that there’d be nothing to do. 

 

My mum used to say to me when I would complain to her (quite unfairly) that I was bored with the statement that “Only boring people manage to stay bored because the inventive, interesting ones would find a way to amuse themselves”. What I’m trying to say is that no matter how isolated you are in a place like Killary you will always find an opportunity to do something if you can put your mind to it. That places like Killary attract those interesting, inventive people in a sort of cultural Darwinian fashion. I just find it quite an interesting observation to make.

 

by Philip Willoughby

 

The first few weeks have been going pretty well, Killary quickly put me onto a 2 day first aid course and I can now run 5 activities and am currently shadowing 2 others. Unfortunately the day before Paddy’s day I was running along a mountain track called the Western Way, slipped and lacerated my knee to the bone. It’s amazing how the human body works because I couldn’t

feel a thing until I’d been in A&E for a couple of hours. Probably the worst part was at 4am when the doctors were pulling out bits of grass and dirt with tweezers going at least an inch into my knee. After spending Paddy’s day in a hospital bed watching England comfortably beat Ireland in the 6 Nations. 

 

I was let out and spent the first week studying and generally trying to be as helpful as I could be with one working leg. The next weekend we had a load of American students over which was quite fun, I ended up in drag, and performed a rather limp catwalk.  Sunday evening was spent at a staff beach party in 30 degree heat which was great fun. We played a few games on this lovely little remote beach called Glassilaun, had a barbeque, and concluded the evening in a rather chilled fashion sat round a huge fire with a guitar in the background and someone practicing their poi. I played some tag rugby towards the end which meant that I would hop viciously around the field diving at any opponent that dared come near me!. This week my knee’s well on the mend and I’m back on activities which is brilliant because I get paid again!.

 

Saludos

Philip