A Day at Tollymore Forest Park

Yesterday I went to Tollymore with my family and friends for a picnic and a walk. It was a fairly average picnic, but the walk was anything but average. We got lost, met a vampire, a poisonous dog and a mugger…

Entrance to Tollymore Forest Park

Livi's Smiley Jam Yoghurt

The walk would have been a lot less eventful, I suppose, if we hadn’t of gotten lost. The forest full of tall trees and giant boulders had a river flowing through middle, so we thought it best to follow that. With me on the walk was my little sister, my cousin and my friend Livi. Little did we know, we were following a track that would lead us to a world of strange happenings.

The first unusual event was the dog that approached us. As my little sister bent down to stroke it, I realised the dog looked identical to the Poison Dart Dog of the Amazon. 

“Don’t touch it! It could be poisonous!” I warned my sister, loudly enough that the dogs
owners glared at me with confusion.

After a close escape with the Dart Dog we travelled further into the forest. Still lost, we had no idea of the path to lead us back to the car park we came from. My little cousin, the most sensible one, urged us to ask for directions – a tactic we did not carry out for at least another hour.

We continued down the path, suddenly, a fully grown man lurched down the hill in our direction. He was dressed in ragged clothes and wore a pull-over face mask. Instinctively Livi clutched my arm in fear. Was this a forest bandit rocketing towards us? Apparently not. The guy obviously realised the misunderstanding and after removing the face mask he apologised for any fear inflicted.

The shadows of the trees became darker as we followed the river even deeper. We realised the most interesting occurrence. Perched high in the tree was what seemed to be a vampire: pale white, stone cold and he didn’t go out in sunlight. He smiled as he texted on his mobile phone, which amplified the whiteness of his blood-ridden face. “It’s a vampire. Vampire. Keep walking, there’s a vampire in that tree. A vampire!” I warned the others. After me saying this he grinned, further proving his vampiristic dwellings.

Finally, we took my little cousins advice and asked for directions.
“Are we going the right direction for the car park?” Livi asked hopefully.
“No, I think it’s that way” A passer-by replied, pointing in the opposite direction.
Great, we had been travelling in the complete wrong direction! So, we turned and began to travel back the way we came.

To our delight we had to pass the vampire in the tree again. “That’s a vampire, don’t look at the vampire. Walk away from the vampire” I once again warned the others, loudly enough to remind the vampire who he was.

Luckily, we did not pass the Poison Dart Dog on the way back to the car park. I hear, if you touch them, with-in one minute your hand falls off and after exactly one-hundred and thirteen minutes you turn bright green – Unbelievable the creatures they let into this country.

We eventually found the right path that led us back to the car park. It had been a fun and 

interesting walk. It was just slightly longer than we expected.