dublin wicklow mountain rescue

Highest Swim in Ireland 

I love mountains and I love to swim, but I rarely get to combine the two – until now.

I don’t consider myself a great swimmer, but when I start thinking about my watery moments, I’m suprised to see how much a part of me they are.

  I’m not a great swimmer but I swim a great deal.

The Eastern Bay Swimming Club take to the sea at High Rock Malahide every Sunday at noon, and I join them when I can. This year I’ve been feeling Continue reading

Walking The Line From Donegal…

Erigal

Knee Deep in Pressies, Boots, Sunscreen and Midge Spray….

Tomorrow I’m in the gym at 0730 before catching a lift to Donegal for a special birthday celebration for a really good friend.  A bunch of mates are marking the occasion with a meal tomorrow night, followed by climbing the iconic, volcanic, and mysterious looking Mount Errigal. What a way to celebrate a friendship, which for me covers 4 years of extraordinary change. My friend and I both discovered hills and walking around the same time, and this weekend will be really special.

Will You Walk The Line?

The annual fundraiser for Dublin Wicklow Mountain Rescue.  It’ll be tight getting to the start in time, but I’ve a fireman driving me, so hopefully we’ll make it 😉

The 25k hike kicks off at 9pm and continues through the longest day/night of the year, to finish well after dawn on Sunday morning. This is a chance for the hiking and climbing community to give something back to the volunteers who are on call 24/7, 365 days a year – ready to pull us out of trouble when we discover our map-reading skills aren’t as good as we thought they were! If you fancy it, the starting point is the Brockagh Centre in Glendalough. Registration opens at 6pm and you can be join a group with a navigator or navigate yourself. Click on the picture below for details.

Walk The Line 2

Presuming I finish up in time, it’s another dash – over to Swords this time, to meet up with my buddies from Get Off The Couch, the TV show we recorded last year. This bunch of adventurers from all over the country got out there and got active, and inspired a whole load of other people to do the same thing. They kept up their adventures, even when the cameras stopped rolling – and we also kept up our friendship, which is wonderful.  They’re having a get-together in Dublin this weekend and I’m dropping in for breakfast to survey the damage….

From Swords it’s back to Lucan for another friendly get together with a mate who’s planned a bit of a spa-break to help me recover from all of the above. It’s certainly going to be a busy weekend – but it all counts as training too; because my trip to Mount Elbrus looms ever closer.  I picked up my Russian Visa earlier this week, and it’s all looking very real..

Soul Food in the Snow…

Today kind’ve hurt the body, but fed the soul.  But I knew in advance it would be like that, and it was a glorious day in the snowy Wicklow hills.  I’d been sick and my fitness left a lot to be desired, but the snow was here and that was just too good an opportunity to miss.

A group of hardy hikers, we set off from the Glendalough Visitors’ Centre, trekking through the parkland then across the carpark and back out to cross the road, and then simply headed up into the woods in the direction of the snowline and the Camaderry summit.

The first incline through the trees was pretty steep and pretty slippy, and I danced over my boots, carefully picking where I placed my feet to avoid an unexpected slide. My breathing was pretty rough, a witness to my lack of presence of the hills lately.  My dodgy knees felt well though, although I was using sticks to help them and I could feel the tension in my shoulders from the poles and my rucksack.  But as we found our rhythm, old muscle memories came back and the skills picked up in the hills in the last couple of years kicked in.  I shortened my stride, relaxed my shoulders and lifted my head a little to help the air to reach my lungs.  I’d forgotten how good this felt, when your body lines up with your mind and works as a team, at one with yourself and the mountain around you.

As we reached the snowline,  the chance of slipping eased and the new challenge was to step over the deep snow and into the footprint of the climber ahead.  The snow was 9 inches deep in places and the joke was who would come looking for me, 5″foot tot that I am, if I completely disappeared in the snow.  Such sympathy and empathy from my climbing buddies!

We got the ‘science’ along the way from Everest Summiteer Ian Taylor and Dublin Wicklow Mountain Rescue buddy Ronan Friel.  As we got higher, our boots crunched through hard-crusted snow to sink deeply to the ground below.  The height and cold was freezing the top layer of snow,  and the lads explained how layers of soft and frozen snow can build, become unstable, and depending on the incline and what lies below, can cause an avalanche.  But not today in 9 inches of snow in Wicklow.  Thankfully.

As we left the treeline the mist cleared and gave spectacular views across Glendalough.  I always think views like these are the reward for the hard slog, but you don’t always get them, and that makes them extra special when you do.

Within moments the snow had descended again and we pushed on towards the summit in a white-out. I’m always hugely impressed at the skills of people like Ian and Ronan, who can unerringly find their way to a chosen point regardless of the weather and visibility.  I’ve got my MS1 and should be able to navigate, but I’m not; mainly because I’ve been too lazy to practice.  That’s something I must tackle this year.

On cue, the stones that mark the summit, pushed up through the snow covering them and the mist surrounding them.  Time for snow angels and lunch, as we grab fleeces and layer up.  So quickly the chill sets in when you’re not moving and before long we were striding out again, back towards the treeline.

Today wasn’t a long hike and it wasn’t a particularly hard one, but it was hard for me.  I wasn’t panicking about that though.  I haven’t been able to exercise properly for nearly a month, and  I realise that it’s natural to expect a lack of energy after surgery, a fever, and weeks of drips and pills.  The main thing is that the mountains haven’t gone away and there’s a whole year ahead to get fit and strong again and enjoy these hills and others.

Today was a very good day.

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