Oh my God, the stunning beauty of Ireland from the top of our high places (as Adrian Hendroff, author and photographer, would say).

Myself and Concern/Uganda buddy Vera Baker are heading off to Kerry tomorrow evening to climb with the extraordinary adventurer Pat Falvey on his beloved mountains.

Vera and I have been building up our hours on the hills in preperation for climbing Mount Elgon as part of our tri-adventure in Uganda for Concern next month.   Two weeks ago we climbed Carrauntoohil, Ireland’s highest mountain – and that was the plan for this weekend too.  But Pat might have something slightly different planned.  He mentioned Purple Mountain and Tomies – a beautiful hike through gorgeous Killarney, with stunning misty views of the Gap, and the purple-hued shaly rock, after which the mountain gets it’s name.

Looking at the magical view of the Gap from the top of Purple, here, I feel my breath catch in my throat with excitement and emotion.  Only some of us feel this way about mountains.  You either love them or hate them.  Sometimes I hate the way they make my body feel…. but I’ll always love them.

The first time I climbed a hill – Spink Mountain in Wicklow with Rosaleen from the Hope Foundation, I stood at the summit and told myself with complete certainty that I’d be back when I was 80…. I weighed 19 stone at the time, and getting to the summit had been excruciating.  Then Rosaleen turned me around to look down across the lakes of Glendalough and said in a soft Dublin/Scottish burr “look how far you’ve come girl”.  It meant so much more than that as I looked off across the lakes….   and there were tears.

There will always be tears, and there will always be fears, but thank God – there will always be mountains.  x