county tops challenge

mr spuckler

where slieve beagh, monaghan, 380m, county top no 24, 08 dec 2013
distance 5.78km
ascent 173m
weather still more misery!!
how it went after the pointlessly elongated drive above, we headed out for what we knew wouldn't be a highlight of this challenge...i had originally thought of leaving a short one for last at the end of the year but decided that i really didn't want to finish on one as meh as this...hence my sketchy plan to do mweelrea and benbaun at the start of next week!! there really isn't much to say about this walk other than the fact that it's a fairly bland, boggy open expanse. i'm fairly sure that i didn't hit the exact spot that marks the county top but i'm also fairly sure that i don't care! an hour and a half of mainly boggy ground after the effort on cuilcagh earlier had me well and truly whacked and relieved to be down to the last 2 climbs!

the photographic highlight below!

mr spuckler

where mweelrea, mayo, 814m, county top no 25, 29 dec 2013
distance 9.18km
ascent 784m
weather very windy, lot of rain, snow at peak
how it went i have to say that i'm relieved to have this one done! it's one i'd been a bit concerned about all along because from what i've read it's a mountain that has a reputation for being tough, i guess a big part of this is the weather associated with being right on the atlantic and from this point of view it didn't disappoint! we got well & truly battered by the wind for the 4+ hours that we were out.

taking the 'easy' western route, we started the hike from dadreen after a drive out from westport. fine country roads take you to this point and with it being a sunday morning, people were parking up outside the local church in tractors as we passed!!
the initial stages of the climb were relatively easy, with cloud cover hiding the col that we were aiming for we followed the prescribed route and headed E/SE to hit the col between ben bury and mweelrea. from here it was a sharp right up the side of mweelrea to the peak through increasing levels of snow. i did manage to veer a bit left and end up at a 'peak' which was a mound! this was at 806M, thankfully someone smarter than me (and who wasn't wearing waterlogged glasses) pointed out our mistake and we made our way to the right spot.

as we reached the peak a lone figure emerged from the gloom ahead of us, one of a party of 4, it turned out that 2 of his group knew 2 of our group independently of each other! i love when things like this happen on the mountains!! they were hiking a loop from delphi but one of them had what looked like fairly sketchy footwear for the conditions. they headed off before us and as we started back down they passed us again having apparently decided to retrace their steps. hopefully they made it back safe & sound.

the wind at the peak was incredibly strong, nearly blowing us over a few times and as it carried so much moisture, we were barely even able to take photos while there the descent was fairly unremarkable, mainly thanks to my GPS simplifying navigation in the poor conditions! one goal for next year is to do the mountain skills courses and learn how to navigate properly. the GPS is great but there really is so much to be said for reducing the dependence on technology as i currently really would be stuck without it.

that aside, the most remarkable thing about the descent was my repeated falls on my arse! the ground was sodden and the grips in my boots filled with mud, meaning that any time i lost concentration for a second i slipped! another lesson learned, pay attention...
a hot drink and dry clothes in the car made everything better!

couple of pics that i did manage to take...

good visibility from the starting point!


snowy at the peak...

mr spuckler

where ben baun, galway, 729m, county top no 26, 30 dec 2013
distance 9.98km
ascent 712m
weather gorgeous, what a way to finish!
how it went aw yeah! what a glorious day that was thrown up for the final hike of my county tops challenge! having suffered quite a bit in the snow, hail, rain and high winds on mweelrea the previous day the opposite presented itself as i drove from westport to the start point. given that i've had a bit of a recurring theme wrt impressive drives linked in with the county tops, i must say that the drive from westport to leenane was really spectacular. it had been a number of years since i'd done this drive and i'd forgotten just how impressive it is. stretches of this drive reminded me of new zealand and served as another reminder of just how beautiful our country can be, especially when the sun shines!

the hike itself started up a stoney track which leads to a fallen bridge across the kylemore river. having read that the river should be crossed asap, we couldn't find anywhere that would allow us to cross without getting absolutely soaked. as a result we ended up tracking the river as far as the point where we kinda had to cross as our route was disappearing up the hill across from us! the only option left to us at this stage was to remove boots & socks, roll pants & thermals up past the knees and hit off across the river at what looked like the most shallow point! using my spare fleece to dry our frozen & soaked feet, we then proceeded to the challenging part of the hike! as you start uphill towards the right hand side of the ridge below ben baun it becomes tough going. it's a long, steep climb to the ridge across boggy ground and the cairn which we were expecting to see as a reference never materialised! nonetheless we headed on up the rocky lower slopes of ben baun, the rockiness then gave way to loose scree, reminding me of the top of croagh patrick as we approached the peak. we did pass a couple of cairns along this stretch, with the final one being just short of the peak, which is marked by a broken trig pillar.

given the day that was in it, the views as we climbed higher continued to take the breath away (as did the climbing tbf!) but as we reached the peak and could see to the west of the mountain, we were really blown away the the panorama. continuing with the poor double entendres, we were also struggling to stand up with the wind at the peak and got to feel cold pretty quickly thanks to the cold wind and gathering clouds which hid the sun. having soaked up the views for a few minutes, we retraced our steps towards the ridge, stopping for a lunch break when out of the wind. it was here that i think we really got to fully appreciate where we were as the only sound to be heard was from the river over 550m below us! we could also see across to mweelrea which was entirely snow free at the peak, quite a surprise given the conditions the previous day. having located the previously missed cairn on the way down, the descent from the ridge was almost tougher than the climb as the boggy ground kept giving way under our feet. i won't lie and claim that i didn't end up on my arse more than once! when looking to cross the kylemore again on the way back we met a local farmer out checking on his sheep. he reckoned with a half smile that sure we were definitely best to cross the river just down past the fallen bridge at the point where tractors now cross through the river. we removed our boots and socks again and he then kindly walked across the river with the future mrs spuckler, providing support to make sure she didn't fall in. strangely he didn't provide the same service for me!

a short walk back to the car saw us finish the hike in about 4 1/2 hours and the county tops challenge within the year of 2013!!!

pics:
a fallen soldier at the river crossing


existential sheep


at the summit

fifilarue

mr spuckler-just wanted to say fair play to you, though am sorry you have finished as i'll miss your entertaining and really well-written posts!!! they were informative too. sigh.

whats_my_name

Well done, no easy feat! Was something I had set about doing myself completing kippure, lugnaquilla & cupidstownhill in May but ended up tearing my cruciate in June & complications from that have put an end to that for the time being! Well done again!

mr spuckler

fifilarue wrote: »

mr spuckler-just wanted to say fair play to you, though am sorry you have finished as i'll miss your entertaining and really well-written posts!!! they were informative too. sigh.

whats_my_name wrote: »

Well done, no easy feat! Was something I had set about doing myself completing kippure, lugnaquilla & cupidstownhill in May but ended up tearing my cruciate in June & complications from that have put an end to that for the time being! Well done again!

thanks guys in a way it's a massive relief to get it done and in another way i'll miss the challenge / obvious reason to travel the country nearly every weekend! i'll figure out something for this year

what's_my_name - that's terrible, hope the recovery is going well. most of the climbs would fairly test the knee, i hope when it's recovered you might get another chance to give the challenge a shot!