After my aborted walk in Inishowen on Sunday I was quite pissed off with the lack of fitness and tiredness I had felt. I got it into my head that my lack of exercise over the last couple of months was to blame and that the struggle was down to lack of leg strength. Somehow I managed to convince myself that starting a weekly kettlebell routine had been put off for too long and I got up half an hour early on Monday morning to complete this routine:
I manged the warmup, getting “warmer” than I expected and just about managed one rep of the actual routine. I’m pretty sure it’s listed as a beginner routine but it knocked me for six!
I’m sure the previous day’s hill was partly to blame but my legs were complaining all day and once the DOMS kicked in on Tuesday morning I was limping for the next few days! Humbling would be the most generous phrase I could use…..
Feeling sorry for myself all week and a busy week at work, with hassles I wasn’t in the mood to deal with, left me feeling pretty shit and mentally I had a tough few days trying to keep myself from sliding too far. By the time I got to the end of the week I was more than ready for a spin on the bike. It had been 3.5 weeks since my last spin and it had reached the stage where I was really missing it. We had a good group out on the Saturday morning and a good mix that were definitely leaning towards a leisure ride. We settled for a 40km loop to Raphoe via Liscooley which suited me perfectly as I didn’t want to shock the legs too much.
It turned out that this spin was exactly what I needed for both body and mind with a much needed reset for both!
With the evenings drawing in quickly now the Club Tuesday and Thursday evening spins are getting into that dodgy land where the light is poor and we’re finishing in the dark. I don’t like cycling in those conditions, even with lights and reflective gear, so I planned to get out solo at about 5:30pm each evening instead. Unfortunately, work intervened on both Tuesday and Thursday leaving me home after 6pm each evening. The weather has turned autumnal again very quickly too which definitely didn’t help.
As always, at this time of the year, my mind has turned towards the possibility of indoor training but I’ve tried that and I can’t seem to get into the groove. The boredom factor is usually too strong for me! I’m also toying with the idea of trying running again but I am definitely leaning more towards “rucking”. You can find out here exactly what it is but it’s basically walking with a weighted bag for strength building. I have a feeling that that might be more effective for me for hillwalking and cycling, maintaining strength during the week and also be less liable to create an injury like running has done for me before. We’ll see how that goes as the lure of the sofa is also strong at the minute!
On Saturday Catriona and myself did something very different and went to a local music festival called Oakfest. It’s been on for a number of years now but this year it was headlined by Bob Geldof and The Boomtown Rats with The Stunning on as the main backup. It’s astounding to think that the actual Bob Geldof was in Raphoe playing to a crowd of 2000 max especially having opened the previous week for Bon Jovi at Croke Park! I’m not in any way a Rats fan but the show was brilliant. At 74 he was full of energy and really engaging with the crowd. The finisher in particular was fab!
The Stunning were also excellent. I only knew a few of their songs but the rest were good enough to go along with and they finished with the excellent “Brewing Up a Storm” that is their biggest hit.
Ruaile Buaile were on stage and pretty good when we arrived but SuperCeili played in between The Stunning and The Bootown Rats and they were fantastic. Full of energy and really got the crowd going.
The whole night wrapped up at 11pm and with a willing son to collect us, less than 20min from home it wasn’t long before we were back home and in bed shortly after midnight like all good Cinderellas! My knees though….they were definitely protesting the 6 hours on my feet lepping around like a young one! They were throbbing so much I had a hard time getting off to sleep! Thankfully, they were much better the following morning…
Today’s original plan was to complete a Club Hike to the highest point of the Bluestacks at 674m. However, with thunderstorms and heavy rain in the forecast the decision was made yesterday afternoon to call it off.
Looking at the forecast this morning I thought that was a bit over-cautious and decided I had a decent weather window to tackle a walk I had downloaded a few months ago to take in Slieve Snaght and Slieve Main. At 615m Slieve Snaght is the highest point of Inishowen, an Arderin, the only Vandeleur-Lynam in Inishowen and one of the 50 highest summits in Ulster. Slieve Main (514m) is also an Arderin, one of only 3 in Inishowen, meaning I’d get two of the three in this route.
I also decided to take Cooper with me. I have a decent waist belt now and the adjusted lead is at a good length to let him wander without being too far away from me. I had some concerns about sheep grazing but decided it was worth the gamble that I’d be able to keep him under control.
The route starts with a climb to the top of Damph. At 420m it’s too low to appear on any significant lists but I figured it would be a nice loop and would add a bit of variety.
Starting from the road it’s straight up a steep track for a few hundred metres. No time here for much of a warmup! The track mostly follows a small stream and when the track eventually peters out the stream is a handy guide.
There were a few sheep on this section that wrecked Cooper’s head. It’s like a chip switches on that just makes him want to run. However, I was reasonably pleased how he mostly came when I called and didn’t haul much on the lead.
The ground from the get-go was hard going. Lots of holes, wet spots and humps of grass and rushes. It’s a terrain that’s hard to describe but it is really difficult going. My calves were soon burning. Crossing the stream I angled across the hill before meeting and crossing a fence. This one was tricky with Cooper as it had barbed wire on top. I was wary of him pulling the lead at an inappropriate time leaving me snagged. I tied him off to a fence post with the lead, chucked him over and then crossed nearby, with just my own clumsiness to deal with.
I was still angling WSW but with a change of terrain it was now straight up. The ground became increasingly rough with lots of little gulleys and humps that drained my legs and left them feeling like concrete.
A second, easier, fence and a couple of false summits and I finally reached the top. Or did I? Damph is a featureless summit with 3 or 4 small mounds, any of which could be the highest point. With no clear marker I tramped over them all just to make sure!
It’s hard to get Cooper to sit still for photos but somehow I managed to get a few shots of him with Slieve Main and Slieve Snaght in the background.
At this stage I could see the full route ahead of me. It was a steep descent into a coll before a steep climb up to Slieve Main, followed by another descent and climb up Slieve Snaght and then descending back to the start. The coll before Slieve Main looked horrible, lots of boggy bits, more gulleys and rough as hell. Judging how tired I felt with just this first hill I knew I was way out of my league today and decided to cut it short. My legs were suffering badly and I knew the climbs ahead would be slow and painful and basically I wasn’t going to enjoy it.
I’ve read some of the route and summit descriptions on Mountainviews.ie and they describe Damph as easy enough but with difficult ground. Maybe those guys are fitter than me but I struggled today. Maybe it’s tiredness? I had a long week at work that left me pretty worn out this week and I don’t think I recovered enough since Friday.
Whatever the reason, I reluctantly decided that was enough for today and after a circuit of the summit I headed back to the car, eventually picking up my route out and following the earlier stream and track.
Cooper got quite muddy on the track so I decided he needed a dip in the stream. I found a little pool with about a 20cm drop into it. He wouldn’t go in! A shove got him mostly in but he managed to get his front paws on the bank and fought like hell to avoid going in any further. He was getting distressed so I hauled him fully out and I got the dirtiest looks once he’d shaken himself off. Trust was gone now as he wouldn’t even paddle in the shallower bits, even when I stood in them myself! Funny how he has no problem running through muddy drains though!
Walk Stats:
Total Distance: 3.7km
Elevation Gained: 260m
Total Time: 1hr 35min
Moving Time: 56min
Damph in Irish is An Damh, meaning ‘the stag’ or ‘the ox’. Today felt more like an ox day!
Sawel or in Irish Samhail Phite Méabha. This translates to ‘the likeness of Méabh’s vulva’ proving once again that Irish men have always been obsessed with female body parts!
Sawel at 678m is the highest summit in the Sperrin Mountains, the 8th tallest in Northern Ireland, the tallest in Northern Ireland outside of the Mournes but, more importantly, it’s the County High Point for both Derry and Tyrone as the summit sits on the traditional border between the two.
I have been up here before. It was 2007 with my friend Jim. It’s strange how the mind works as it feels much longer ago than 2007 but also feels nothing like almost 20 years ago!
Much younger versions of both of us!
That day we walked a pretty long 17km route with a big section of road that straddled the start and finish.
From my offline logbook I was keeping at the time
This time I wanted something shorter with less road walking and found a good route on Mountainviews.ie Predicted at 9.5km and only 1km on road.
I parked in a small layby right where the route pops back out on to the road at the finish. This gave me a 1km walk to the start of the off-road section. There’s a bigger parking spot here but it would have meant walking the road at the end and I felt that would have reduced the enjoyment. Better out of the way when I’m fresh and use it as a warm up.
Sawel from the road. Steeper than it looks! I assumed this was a reference to the contentious gold mining that is happening in The Sperrins?
Once you leave the road there’s a pretty steep climb up the first shoulder. It evens out after about 1km for a short stretch and then you gain approximately 250m elevation in the next 2km. The usual false summit and then you are rewarded with a nice trigpoint surrounded by a rocky collar. The views were excellent despite the overcast sky. I think you can see the full Sperrin range from up here and I could even make out a hazy Errigal and Muckish in the distance.
Terrain on the way up was squelchy at times but much better than I expected. There were some dodgy patches but a clear track helped avoid those. This is a well trodden summit with easy access and the lure of the County High Point. One boggy stream required a big jump to cross and also a bit of a leap of faith but I made it without getting wet or embarrassing myself!
The track follows a fence line all the way right across to the second summit of Dart so navigation is easy. The fence has been upgraded over the years and as is the habit in The Sperrins the old rolls are left on the hillside. I’ve seen this in other locations and find them strangely fascinating as the bog slowly reclaims them.
As I started the climb to Sawel I could see a group about an hour ahead of me on the track. When I got to the summit they were a little way off sheltering out of the wind and having lunch. I went over for a chat. They seemed to be a group that met online or possibly on a guided walk with a local. One of them was a 75 year old lady up from Limerick ticking off her County Highpoints. Only 5 more to go!
I left the group and headed on over to Dart (An Dairt ‘the lump’). This is more mountainous looking with quite a craggy top from the Sawel side. After a steep descent from Sawel it was a very nice walk across the coll between the two with nice views to the North and South.
Dart from halfway down Sawel
A shorter and not quite as steep a climb brought me to the fairly large summit cairn at 619m.
Sawel from the Dart cairn
Historically there have been access issues in this area of the Sperrins and unfortunately, 20 years after my previous visit there is still a sign warning walkers away from the adjacent ground and the fence on this section of the hill is much higher and topped with barbed wire 😔
Friendly bunch!
After some photos I retraced my steps partway back across the coll towards Sawel. At a fence junction my route diverged down but first, a handy rocky outcrop provided a good seat and a windbreak from the cool breeze that was blowing through. Time for my lunch.
Crossing the fence I was heading in more of a Southerly direction. This is off the usual track so I was having to pick my own best route across the rough ground overgrown with waist high rushes. I came out of this after a few hundred metres on to more grassy terrain and I veered off East towards the gulley that the hill is named for.
I crossed another fence into a more active grazing area that covers both sides of the gulley. A large flock of sheep was in this area and they definitely didn’t like me coming through. Lots of bleating and they marched off across the hill in lines to stare accusingly at me from the other side.
Sheep on the march
Dropping down into the gulley I was aiming for the waterfalls marked on the map. However, I had low expectations as the stream was fast but less than a metre wide. Multiple small falls gave me the impression that I would be disappointed.
Walking along the stream that eventually becomes Oughtmame Burn was hard work. More waist high rushes, lots of holes, some boggy bits and smaller hidden streams flowing into the burn. Unsurprisingly, the burn once again confirms the male obsession with female body parts…
I was seriously doubting the effort was going to be justified when suddenly this appeared:
The photos don’t really do it justice and if you’re into wild swimming I’d say the pool is deep and good to explore. Probably freezing cold too!
Leaving the waterfall was a steep climb up out of the gulley across ground that was a mix of grassy clumps and heather before topping out to an area that seemed to have been burned in the last couple of years.
Navigation from here was easy as I could see the car on the road across the hill. In poor visibility though, this would require a lot of care and a compass bearing as the hillside is pretty featureless and it would be easy to get turned around. Not today though as I was clearly able to see the stream confluence and fenceline that was my next target.
To get there I had to drop down into yet another gulley, cross a low fence and then pick up the fenceline for one last steep climb back to the car.
Walk Stats:
Distance: 10.3km
Elevation Gain: 615m
Total Time: 4hrs
Moving Time: 2.5hrs
This was a walk I’d been looking forward to for a while and one I really enjoyed. It reminded me why I like the Sperrins so much.
Finally got the pleasure of meeting Declan aka The Unironedman for a few drinks and a lot of blather at his local. Great night made even better by meeting his lovely wife Saoirse ❤️
As an extra bonus I also had the honour of meeting Bonnie and Odi although I think Odi remained very underwhelmed 🤣
This week was an unplanned experiment to see how I can cope with about 60% of my normal sleep. Official results are still pending but I can say for sure, it wasn’t pretty!
I started the week with about 5 hours sleep, getting up at 4:30am on Monday morning to leave the boys to Belfast airport to get a 7am flight to Manchester and meet up with Catriona and the others. The original plan was that all of them would go together on the Sunday but the scheduling of the first (and unfortunately, disappointing) Championship game on Sunday afternoon required a change of plans for the two boys.
I had scheduled myself to work in and around Belfast that day but the early flight meant I still had two hours to fill before I would be welcome in any shop. I managed to fill part of the time with a giant sausage and bacon bap that almost made up for the early start.
Not my photo. Mine didn’t survive long enough!
I got through the day surprisingly well but it was a very long drive home from Belfast that afternoon that required more than one short power nap to avoid the noddies! No surprise, I was in bed early that night.
Tuesday evening I somehow managed to get out for the Club Spin. The longer spin was also the fastest group and way out of my league so I was happy to go with the shorter 40km group. Still a good bit of climbing involved.
Catriona and the boys were due back that night. When their flight was delayed by 30-40min I offered to go collect them from Lifford, saving my sister in law at least half an hour on the journey home. I figured I wouldn’t sleep until they got home anyway.
Getting to bed at 1am my brain went into overdrive and it was about 3am by the time I was asleep and back up again at 7am. Unfortunately, my scheduling wasn’t as good this time and Wednesday was my long day of the month with visits in Ardee, Drogheda and Dundalk!
By the time Thursday rolled around I was mostly recovered but was wary of the Club spin. The radar was showing thunderstorms and I just didn’t fancy it. Turned out the five guys that did go out got caught in a huge thunder plump and were absolutely drenched. No actual thunder but they said the rain was at dangerous levels for cycling.
Saturday morning there were no bikes as we instead had our Club day out with a hike to Slieve League, dinner in the Rusty Mackerel and drinking and dancing for the evening in Donegal Town. 14 of us made the walk and 5 more joined us for dinner or dancing later in the day. A great day and night with perfect weather for the walk. It was another late one though, not getting home until 2am.
There wasn’t much of a lie in on Sunday morning as Catriona was up and away about 7am to join a group of friends from her gym for a morning hike. I stayed in bed until about 9am but I didn’t really sleep after she left. Sunday became a very lazy day, trying to recharge severely depleted batteries. It was mostly spent reading and watching TV as well as Star Wars: Rogue One having just finished S2 of Andor. A 1.5hr late afternoon snooze almost derailed my sleep last night but I went to bed happy to have booked Monday off on Annual Leave. Every now and again I manage to get it bang on!
While the whole of Ireland is under a hosepipe ban and the South and East of the country are concerned about soil moisture contents and crop growth, it’s Summer as usual in Donegal! It’s warmer and probably drier than during the Winter but for some reason it feels harder to get out when we’ve been used to the dry and warm weather.
Monday was a Bank Holiday with us and as I’d booked the previous Friday off, it was the end of a four day weekend for me. I’d planned to cycle with the Club that morning but it was raining heavy at 8am and only one other guy had ticked the poll to say he was going out. I dropped him a message and went back to sleep. My legs were still quite achy and stiff from my Sliabh League walk on Sunday so I did manage a short, easy leg loosener later that evening. I’m not sure it had the desired effect!
Tuesday, I was working from home for the day, catching up from the couple of days off and planning my week ahead. The upside of this meant no rush to get home in time for the evening Club spin. Again I opted for a shorter ride as my legs still felt heavy and tired. I really need to work on my hill fitness! Despite a dry forecast we had persistent heavy drizzle for much of the ride. It wasn’t cold but it was definitely damp!
Wednesday saw the next instalment in Conor’s summer of fun with his Leaving Cert Prom. The last of his secondary school events, just the exam results to go now!
Thursday I was working a bit further from home in Ballymoney, Larne and Belfast meaning I didn’t get home until well after 6pm and too late to get out on the Club spin.
I was reasonably close to home on Friday and had planned to get out for an evening solo spin but there’s something about Friday evenings that really bring out the lazy side of me and I wasn’t arsed in the end.
Saturday I planned to go hillwalking. I fancied climbing a mountain that I was last up in 2012 and one I drive past quite often. It’s an impressive hill sitting above Lough Finn. I got away in good time but as I got closer the drizzle started and eventually turned to quite heavy rain. The radar showed more coming in for most of the morning and the summit was mostly obscured by cloud. I missed the views back in 2012 and didn’t fancy repeating this again so I decided to abandon those plans.
Rosie at the Summit in 2012. She loved the hills but hated stopping for photos.
On the way home I did a recce for another walk. It’s shorter and further east so I had a vague hope this would be an alternative. However, the rain and low cloud followed me. Not a wasted journey though as this could be a handy one for me on short notice.
The rain threatened at home all afternoon but eventually cleared without showing up so I managed a 4.7km walk around the local roads with Cooper. I also finally worked out the ideal lead length that allows him to sniff and explore without him running off or pulling the arms off me on a short lead.
I went to bed on Saturday night with vague hopes of getting back to Aghla and with a Plan B to head to the Sperrins instead. Catriona was up and away to Liverpool at 4:30am on the Sunday morning. When she woke me to say goodbye I could hear rain on the roof and when I woke later at 6am it was heavy and forecast to last until well after lunch. I eventually got up about 9am and spent a very lazy morning watching TV, reading and a very average film called “Shelter”.
It eventually dried up about 2pm which made watching the boys play their first Senior Championship game at 4pm a lot more enjoyable. Unfortunately, they played very poorly and were well beaten in a game they expected to win.
On the way home I decided it was too good an evening to waste and went straight from the car, into my gear and on to the bike for a 30km loop to Raphoe. Plenty of climbing for a short route and the stiffness seems to finally be gone!
I know we say it all the time but this year is flying. It seems like no time at all since my last post which was just over three months ago, or to put it another way, one quarter of the year.
It’s been an eventful 3 months for me but it’s taken me a long time to be able to put it in words.
What Happened?
My last post was at the end of April, just a few days before I had planned to complete my second Audax of the year. That didn’t go at all according to plan. The event was scheduled for Sunday 26th April but on the Saturday I had a massive panic attack about being able to do it and I ended up pulling out at 6am on the Sunday morning after a night of broken sleep and bad dreams. During the Sunday itself I had a complete meltdown! It was as bad a mental health experience as I’ve ever had and unfortunately, Catriona bore the brunt of it. I’m just thankful that she was so understanding and supportive as it was pretty ugly and I said and did things that I am far from proud of. Ever since I have been grateful every day for the love and support she gave me that weekend and in the months since.
Counselling
That weekend gave me a real scare. It shocked me how far I’d let myself go and it shocked me that I came very close to destroying my relationship with Catriona. My mental health had deteriorated gradually over a long period of time and it took that weekend to also shock me into action. Over the years I have tried a couple of different counsellors but a combination of lack of effort on my part and an inability to connect with the counsellor meant it never worked. However, this time was different. I found a counselling service online that is sponsored by the HSE (Ireland’s Health Service) called turn2me. This company provide 6 free counselling sessions with an online counsellor. I was dubious about how successful online, rather than in-person, counselling could be but at this point I was desperate and ready to try anything. The best part though was that I was able to start that same week.
They put me in touch with a guy called Paul and every Monday at 7pm we had an hour together over video. Paul was great and we connected very quickly on the first appointment. I felt very comfortable with him and pretty much vomited out all my issues in that first session which was pretty draining. Over the next 5 weeks Paul worked with me to identify how I was feeling, why I was feeling and behaving the way I was and gave me a lot of skills and techniques to finally begin to cope better and build myself back to where I want to be.
It hasn’t been all plain sailing. I had a bit of a wobble at the beginning of June and I’ve found the last couple of weeks a bit difficult but the key now is that I have ways of recognising and accepting how I feel and ways of coping and dealing with the feelings that don’t make me happy. I have a lot of work still to do but I’m confident that I can make progress and feeling better than I have for quite a long time.
That first week was pretty difficult. The amount of mental energy I had was severely limited and the weekend previous had left me feeling completely drained. I quickly realised that I was trying to juggle way too many things and that something(s) had to give. The priorities had to be my own mental health, my relationship with my family and work. I cut everything else. Cycling can and has been, a valuable tool to help my mental health but I’d somehow transformed it into another metric to measure myself against. I went from the 100km Audax Challenge to the Festive 500 and back to riding 200km events and setting personal challenges that I just wasn’t ready for. Cycling was no longer a relaxing and enjoyable hobby, it had become another stress point in my life that I had created and was beating myself up over.
Cycling
In the end I think I took nearly two weeks off the bike. I needed the time to reset and change my attitude towards cycling. I needed to get back to it being something I did for fun rather than to hit an arbitrary number or challenge. I also decided that Audax is no longer the thing for me (for now at least) and left all the Audax WhatsApp Groups. I also temporarily stepped back from PRO duties with my home Club. As well as resetting my attitude towards cycling I also didn’t have the mental energy to be dealing with people. This is no reflection on the friends I have within the Club, it was all about how I was feeling and I felt that I needed that break from people to reset. Through work I have to put so much energy into relationships with shop owners, sales staff and my own colleagues that I had nothing left at the end of a working day. I did share what I was going through with some of my friends from the Club and got messages of support that meant a lot and really did help, especially when I felt it was time to get back out again.
The first couple of rides took a fair bit of effort to get out and I think that’s part of the reason why I ended up with two weeks off instead of the one I had planned. Once the awkwardness (all in my own head as usual) was out of the way cycling definitely had changed, or rather I had changed. It was back to being more about the fun again. I dropped all my challenges and made it all about getting out again. Now my only aim is to try and get out twice a week where possible and not beat myself up about it when I don’t. I’m cycling regularly with the Club again and especially over the last 6 weeks I’m feeling good, feeling fit and enjoying myself. I’ve also taken back on my PRO duties in the last week or so which is good as someone else was having to cover for me and I didn’t want that going on for much longer.
Hillwalking
The Hiking Club helped too. I hadn’t been out for a Club walk since the middle of November when I’d completed the first phase of the Navigation Training in The Bluestacks. I had a solo hike to Silver Hill in December but until May I hadn’t been in the hills all year.
With Paul’s encouragement I reconnected with the Club and joined them for a hugely enjoyable trip out to Tory Island. I’d never been before and had a great day. It really helped that I knew all the other members pretty well that were out that day and enjoyed their company. A couple of others were also back after a bit of a gap so there was a real sense of welcome for everyone that was out that day. The scenery was amazing, the weather near perfect and we got to see an elusive corncrake, much to the annoyance of the “proper” birdwatchers who were visiting the island and were tortured by their multiple calls but no sightings.
The Hiking Club was a real tonic. I have a very different relationship with these people, much more superficial but supportive in a different way. They barely know me so I was able to relax and enjoy myself a little easier. The welcome back I received was really nice and in addition Joe was encouraging me to attend the second phase of the Navigation Training he was holding the following weekend. I did want to do this but felt awkward as I hadn’t been active in the Club for nearly 6 months but he was adamant that I should attend and I did. Again I enjoyed it a lot and as it was a small group I spent a lot of time talking to Joe. He was clearly lining me up and encouraging me to become a walk leader. This had been at the back of my mind but I didn’t feel that I had the skills for it. Joe’s encouragement and support from Paul at the counselling sessions saw me putting my name forward a few weeks later and when the new calendar came out my name was on it to lead a walk in July along with Joe.
I completed a solo recce walk at the end of May and on 19th July lead the walk with assistance from Joe. It turned out to be a larger than average group of 16 which was a bit daunting but we got everyone up and down safely. I got a real buzz from leading and I’ll definitely be putting my name forward for another one in the Winter calendar. Joe was very complimentary and everyone was full of praise for the route which made me feel really good.
Since then I’ve only had one hike which was at the weekend on a solo recce of the Sliabh League cliff walk. We’re planning a Cycling Club day out on the 15th. We climbed Errigal last year and Sliabh League was suggested for this year. I wanted to walk the route in advance to see how suitable it would be for occasional walkers. Again, it was hugely enjoyable but I can still feel the aches 3 days later! I need to work on my hill fitness!
In a similar fashion to my new approach to cycling I’m not setting any big challenges or targets but I have committed to myself to get out at least once every month on either a Club or solo hike. I miss the hills but only really realise this when I’m in them.
Family News
It has been a pretty eventful few months for our family too. Conor turned 18 in March and did his Leaving Cert in June. He worked hard, didn’t get too stressed about it and although we didn’t have a mad exam-stressed house it was there at the back of everyone’s mind since Easter and the topic of far too many conversations to not have an effect. He finally finished on Friday 19th June and after a weekend of celebrating we headed off on a family holiday to Malta on Monday 22nd.
We went Monday to Monday and stayed in fantastic apartments in a small fishing village called Marsascala on the South West coast. On our first night we had a bit of a panic that it was very quiet but we didn’t arrive until just before 11pm and all the restaurants also close at 11pm! We managed food and a couple of drinks in a takeaway place and did a basic food and drink run in the local Asian shop that stayed open late. Over the next week of consistently hot and sunny days (28-33°C) we totally unwound and relaxed while enjoying trips to Valetta and a few other towns as well as a full day trip cruise along the Maltese coast to Gozo and a stop at the Blue Lagoon on our way back. We ate in a different place every night and had a fantastic time together. It was exactly what all of us needed!
I had hoped to get a hike on Malta, just as I have on the last two holidays, but it was simply too hot. I had planned a 14km coastal walk that started just around the corner from our apartment but when I tried it out with 6km on the Wednesday I realised it wasn’t feasible. I arrived home a sweaty mess with a banging headache that was probably the start of heat stroke and decided to scratch it and just relax. That was a lot easier…
On Tuesday 28th July Catriona and myself celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. It feels weird hitting that milestone as both of us remember our own parents celebrating the same and at the time they felt so old and we felt so young! No party or anything but we did go out on Sunday night for a lovely meal and a few drinks to spend a voucher bought for us by Catriona’s sister. It was for Jacksons Hotel in Ballybofey where we had our wedding reception so full circle back to where it all started.
The weekend past also marked 21 years since we moved into our house. The first few years we had been living in Letterkenny but we decided we wanted to move out of the town to somewhere quieter to start a family. Our home here meant we would be close to my Mum and Dad, still close to Letterkenny and Catriona’s Mum and Dad and gave us a choice of a number of playschool and National School options for any kids we would have. Catriona was heavily pregnant when we moved in and Owen was born just 6 weeks later on the 14th of September. Of course this means we have a 2nd significant birthday coming up in a few weeks. An 18th, 21st and 25th all in the one year.
Body Issues
Over the last few years I’ve been having progressively worse issues with sleep. I’ve been getting less quality sleep, waking most nights at least once and feeling less and less restored as time went on. This became even more noticeable with my change of job when I started needing a 10min afternoon nap more and more often to avoid falling asleep while driving!
I had put a lot of it down to being generally unsettled and a level of anxiety that wasn’t allowing me to switch off properly. However, back before Xmas I decided to start tracking my sleep and with a month’s worth of data I was able to identify that my overnight stress levels were far too high. Dr Google suggested that this was a significant indicator of sleep apnoea. Combined with my persistent snoring, afternoon sleepiness and a few other symptoms it was pretty clear and my GP agreed. He referred me to the respiratory clinic and back in May I was called for a sleep study. This means wearing a suite of sensors that monitor various body metrics overnight from 11pm to 7am. These were then forwarded to a consultant and in mid-June I was called to the clinic. The consultant informed me that I definitely had sleep apnoea with a score of 16 (<5 is normal, 5-15 is mild, 15-29 is moderate and 30+ is severe) which was significant but not worrying. However, the only way to treat it is with a hugely attractive CPAP machine which I’ve now had for about 3 weeks.
What it reminds me of… What I sound like… What it’s actually like…
The machine is taking quite a bit of getting used to and I have two versions of the mask as I found the first one a bit annoying. I’m alternating between them and some nights I’m taking it off in my sleep! However, I’m gradually getting used to it. My brother also has one and he said it took him about 6 months to get used to it but he wouldn’t sleep without it now. He had similar scores to me and described it as a life changer! The nights that I do wear it all the way through my score hasn’t been above 2 so it’s definitely having an impact.
Incidentally that score I initially thought was apnoea events during the night. At the mask fitting the nurse informed me that it’s the number of events per hour which I found pretty shocking!
On a much more positive note last Friday, after a 26 year break I finally got another tattoo! This one has been in the mix for at least 5 years and possibly longer. I’ve been ruminating on different designs off and on but in the last few months the idea started to gain a bit more momentum and then I eventually found a design that I really liked.
The exploded compass design grabbed me as it’s very different to almost all other compass tattoos that I’ve seen and the outdoor theme really suits me I feel. I then added the designs below which are Catriona and the boys’ names in ogham which is an ancient celtic script in which old Irish was first written. It’s purposely done quite rough to mimic the ogham examples that have survived from ancient time as they are mostly carved in rock.
Altogether, it took just over an hour and hurt far less than I remembered from my earlier tattoos. A combination of modern needles and guns and the fact that it is mostly fine linework with very little shading. Overall I’m absolutely delighted with it and have one or two more ideas rattling around in my head.
What’s Ahead?
Despite a couple of wobbles and a bit of a struggle to get back in a steady groove since the holidays I’m feeling in a pretty good place and in fact, writing this post has helped me a lot. I’ve missed blogging and want to get back to regular posting again. I’m going to aim for a minimum of two posts per month and see how that goes. I really like the weekly style that Unironedman and OMIL produce but that might just be a wee bit adventurous for now. I also really like the monthly recaps that Rootchopper produces so I figure that every two weeks would be a good compromise.
As part of my counselling Paul suggested keeping a journal. Not a digital one, but a pen and paper one. Over the last few weeks I’ve been looking at the various different systems out there and I quite like the Bullet Journal approach. I’ve adopted most of the principles of that but have tweaked it to be more like the Life Tracker system (basically a Bullet Journal rip-off). I’m still trying to get into the habit of using it but I’m getting there, trying not to force it too much and let it grow on me. It’s definitely very useful for tracking stuff though like To-Do lists, important dates and events and activities such as cycling, walking, books, TV shows and any recommendations I get. It’s very easy to get distracted by the phone and the idea behind pen and paper is that everything is in the one place. Writing forces you to slow down and think more and it removes the temptation to doom scroll and waste time on useless shit. I’m also hoping that journaling will help stimulate me to blog more often and more easily.
If you’re curious about the post title it’s a track by Bonnie Tyler. She passed away a short time ago and this was her follow-up to the massive hit “Total Eclipse of the Heart” . I like it as it fits my post but it was also featured on “Heaven and Hell” which was a compilation album with Meatloaf. I had that on a pirate knock-off cassette and pretty much wore it out. Back in the days when I had 15-20 cassette albums and thought I was made for life!
Staying away from home for work for a few nights so I brought my bike and kit planning to get in a 40km spin this evening 🚴 Finished up nice and early, checked in to the hotel and getting ready I discover I’ve forgotten my shorts 🙈 I was really looking forward to it too 😔
The second of four Audax 200 routes I’d picked for this year is Round The Lough 200 in Larne. It’s on April 18th and ticks the Ulster box for the 4 Provinces Challenge.
However, I have a problem. First of all it’s only 4 weeks after my trip to Ballinasloe. Secondly, we have a work trade show starting on Sunday 19th and running for 3 days. That’s 3 days of long hours, lots of talking to customers and lots of time on my feet. Not ideal recovery. It took at least 3 days to recover after the last 200 and I was still tired later that week.
Second problem, unrelated to the first, is that I’ve done very little cycling (or activity of any sort) since Ballinasloe. I’ve only been out twice.
March 28th (one week after the Audax) I got out with the Club for 63km. I cycled up to Ballybofey, did 40km with the Club Stabiliser Group and cycled home again. It was quite a windy day and wasn’t easy but I was shocked how tired I was during and after the ride!
I had originally planned to go out again on Sunday but the weather was crap with wind and rain and still feeling tired from Saturday it was easy to make the choice to lie on in bed on Sunday morning. I also ended up driving the Dad Taxi at 2am which helped seal the deal. In fairness barely anyone from the Club made it out either!
I did get back out on Tuesday evening. Once again I cycled up from home, did part of the Club ride and cycled home again. I’ve had enough of riding in the dark at this stage so the plan was to get home just as darkness fell. With the hour change at the weekend this was now achievable but two mechanicals with clubmates delayed the start and I ended up riding the last 10min in the dark. It was grand though and a short bit like that wasn’t a hassle as I had good lights and reflectives just in case.
Thursday evening I was unable to get any motivation to go out. I think it was cold and windy again but it’s hard to blame the weather completely as I was out in far worse over Winter!
I had hoped to ride on Easter Saturday and Monday but Storm Dave* blew in on Friday and cancelled all cycling plans for Saturday.
*I think if the Met Office had a proper sense of humour they would have called it Storm Rodney in their follow up reports….
I still had hopes of riding Easter Monday but I woke up with rotten sinus congestion and a banging headache that lasted all day and didn’t really go away until Tuesday. Put me in a stinker of a mood.
The most constructive thing I did last week was to decide to change my Audax plans. With the clash with work the 18th just isn’t feasible. Looking at the Calendar though I’m limited with options. There are only three 200km events in the year for Ulster. The one in September has way too much climbing taking in Torr Head in Co. Antrim. This leaves me with one other option which is on 26th April. It’s the Dark Hedges 200. This is a route I’ve ridden as an event before and one I’ve done as a Permanent a few times. At 1800m of climbing it’s more than I’d like to be doing but beggars can’t be choosers and it’s only(!) 600m more than Larne. I’m hoping that familiarity will compensate for the climbing.
There’s a stinker of a climb to Feeney just after 150km that worries me the most!
The other advantage I had in mind was that it would give me an extra week to train and get ready. In effect it’s simply been an extra week to waste!
I said earlier that I can’t blame the weather but I think I will. The end of March and start of April have been horrible, consistently cold, wet and windy. We’ve even had a number of days with sleet, hail storms and some snow. I really enjoyed riding in Ballinasloe on a day that properly felt like Spring. Now with the time changed and Easter over it just feels like we should be getting some heat, or at at least less cold. It’s dragging me down and I can’t get any motivation to go out and get cold!
I’m loathe to finish on a downer so in the style of Unironedman, here are some things that made me laugh in the last few weeks…
niall harran 