That’s the first ride done and off to a great start.
It also counts as my Audax RRTY 100 for December so a two for one deal.
Weather was just about as perfect as could be hoped for. It was cool but not cold, dry and bright after the first 30km. There was a slight breeze (about 10km/hr) coming from the East that put an edge to the day. I could feel it setting off but soon warmed up enough to counteract the chill.
I was joined by two club mates for the first 20km. They went as far as Lifford before swinging off to Raphoe. They weren’t as lucky as me to have so much available time on Xmas Eve so had to settle for 55km.
I was feeling punchy at the start and this lasted for a good 30km. I think I was a little bit excited! Coming out of St Johnston and heading for Carrigans I had about 5km of exposed roads with a strengthened breeze as it came off the river and straight into my face. This sucked the excitement out of me pretty smart.
This section is then followed by the nicest of the route as I joined the Foyle Valley Greenway and cycled traffic free into Derry with the river on my right and the sun shining over my right shoulder. The going was still harder than I expected and I was pushing harder than expected to maintain 23km/hr.
A quick break and photo op at the Quays in Derry and I took a hard left to head up the Buncrana Road. Despite the traffic I was smiling, now the breeze was on my back….
I flew across the border through Bridgend and on to Newtowncunningham for lunch at Kernans at 65km. I didn’t hang around long as I was sitting outside and getting cold quite quickly. Scoffing a sandwich and tea and filling my bottle with Energise I was away less than 30min after pulling in.
The next section was the toughest and for no good reason. I still had a tailwind but my legs were moaning something serious. A series of rolling hills out of Newtowncunningham and across the Galdonagh Road became hard work, much harder than expected.
Passing through Raphoe and down into Convoy at 85km I decided I needed a pick-me-up before tackling the long 5km drag up The Broadpath. I wasn’t really hungry so forgo my usual kit kat snack for a smaller fudge bar.
I’m not sure if it was the tea, the fudge or just the short break but I was up The Broadpath drag with no further issues and soon dropping back down into Stranorlar with the smell of home in my nose. I passed the 100km mark on the last climb of the route at 4hrs 2min so I was pretty happy with that. Another 3km closed the loop to where I started this morning and then it was just the final 1.6km soul destroying climb back to the house. I definitely didn’t set any records on that climb today!
Ride #1 done, rest and enjoy Xmas Day tomorrow and then it’s a shorter 65km route on Boxing Day. Starting time is uncertain as it will depend on the road conditions in the morning and how quickly they clear up.
The Festive 500 is the world’s longest running Strava Challenge and is run in conjunction with premium cycling clothing brand Rapha.
The challenge is to ride 500km in 8 days between Xmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. This is the blurb from Rapha’s website:
The festive season is meant to be the moment to take a breath before life resets. But it often ends up being the most hectic part of the year. That is why we challenge ourselves every December – from the 24th to the 31st. Not just physically, but to remind ourselves that the holidays grant you permission to waste some time exactly how you want. We choose to waste ours over eight days, and 500 kilometres. Time is precious. Waste it wisely.
I particularly like that last bit.
I think I first heard of the challenge from Tempocyclist’s blog back in 2014. At the time I was working in retail and the thought of getting that much time off over Xmas and New Year seemed like a pipedream. Add to that the fact that I was only really just getting into cycling. The thought of anyone doing that kind of distance in a week was mindblowing.
Once I started cycling longer distances the Festive 500 has sat out there as the one challenge I thought I’d never be able to get the time to complete. Working retail just made it impossible and the thought of completing it indoors was totally unattractive! I even thought about doing a Summer version but it didn’t have the same appeal…
Last year I changed jobs and one piece of the puzzle was solved. With extended holidays over Xmas and New Year I now had the time. The issue now was that I had only returned to cycling in October. With less than 900km for the year and only a handful of rides over 50km I had nowhere near the fitness level required. To be honest it never even occurred to me!
This year it’s different. I still have the time off work (December 24th – January 2nd), I have almost 4,500km ridden for the year and multiple rides of 100km+ with most of that in the second half of the year.
The final piece of the puzzle is the weather. It’s hard enough at this time of year with reduced daylight so decent weather is key. For the last couple of weeks Carlow Weather has been teasing the possibility of a settled, cold, dry and bright period for Xmas and into the New Year.
It looks like he was right!
As guided by Tempocyclist I also have a plan, probably for the first time in my life! I’m going to start the challenge with a 100km cycle tomorrow. This will get me off to a great start and will also fulfill my Audax 100 ride for RRTY 100. For the sake of my marriage, I won’t be riding on Xmas Day. I aim to finish on New Year’s Eve with a second 100km so that leaves me 5 days in between for rides of 60km each. This is my plan:
Xmas Eve: East Donegal 100 Audax Permanent [RWGPS Link]
Apart from repeating the 100km route I’ve deliberately chosen different routes for each day. These are all long time favourites and some I haven’t ridden for a while. They’re challenging enough to be interesting but not hard enough to kill my legs each day.
Rapha have a nice “Brevet Card” for recording the challenge. Ties in nicely with the Audax theme.
I’m feeling excited about this challenge which I didn’t expect. Usually I get more nervous and anxious but this time I feel different. It should be a bit of fun and it feels like this could be my year 🤞
Following a theme from my last post the title of this one can’t help but remind me of this song from my misspent youth…
I wrote that post on the 15th of October and alluded to a big event that I was planning for the following weekend. I apologise to all of you that have been waiting patiently for an update ever since 🤣
It’s been such a big gap that I wasn’t going to bother but if Unironedman can write a post and publish a video in November about an event in April I wasn’t yet past my sell by date for this post…
Connemarathon by Declan Kenny. Go watch it, it’s very good 👌
Back in September I DNF’d our Club Sportive event. I made it to just under 90km in atrocious weather conditions and scratched at the main food stop. That was my first and only DNF at an event. It felt wrong to me at the time (it was still the right decision on the day) and it was bugging me ever since.
On 18th October I managed to get that monkey off my back. I was joined by Grainne, who has been a steady cycling companion throughout the Summer. She was under a bit of time pressure for the evening so started in Castlefinn and met me at the bottom of my road to save her at least 30min at the finish.
We headed off through Ballybofey, Barnes Gap and on to Ballyshannon. The going was pretty good, we had a dry day and although there was a bit of a breeze it was slightly in our favour for most of the way to Ballyshannon.
A 90° turn in Ballyshannon for Beleek brought us into the wind. The work became harder and this is a deceptively difficult stretch of road with lots of small, steep climbs that sap the energy from legs with over 50km done.
Rolling into Beleek we decided to take our main lunch stop at the roadside service station. Small, covered, outdoor pods provided a welcome relief from the wind and allowed us to keep our bikes close and relax.
This stop is what I was missing on the day of the scheduled event. Not just the food at this point but the opportunity to relax, go at my own pace and not feel under pressure. It was also an important stop as the hardest section was just ahead.
Crossing from Beleek to Kesh across the top of Lower Lough Erne and Boa Island is where everything went wrong in September. That day we had heavy rain and strong winds averaging 30km/h with gusts even stronger. The wind was coming from the SW straight across the water and there is very little shelter on that stretch of road. Today we still had the wind to contend with. At an approximate average of 25km/h it was far from easy but not having the rain or stronger gusts to deal with made it much more manageable. Arriving into Kesh we felt a bit battered but a quick stop for a drink and some sweets soon had us feeling much better again.
A few kilometres up the road we reached Ederney and the spot where I scratched in September. I had to get a photo to completely dislodge the monkey and give him a final boot up the arse.
Grainne decided to keep rolling and despite only being stopped for a few minutes she proved damn hard to catch! I could see her bright yellow gillet in the distance but it took a long time to reel her in.
We were now into one of the long climbs in the last third of the route as the road winds and climbs from Ederney to the quarry at the high point of Scraghey. A long, tiring section but finally we had the wind mostly behind us and it really is just a matter of getting the head down and grinding on.
At the top of Scraghey Grainne was feeling tired and felt it better if I just pushed on and left her to follow at her own pace. She was quite determined about this and I know too well what it feels like to be riding even just slightly harder than is your own comfortable pace so I clipped back in and rolled off having said our goodbyes.
About 15min up the road I hopped off the bike to have a wee in a farmer’s field. I was only just off the bike when I heard a cheery hello as Grainne sailed past! Once I was sorted and back on the bike her yellow gillet was once again fading into the distance and I was once again working hard to reel her in! It was Castlederg before I caught her. Apparently with the pressure off she discovered her second wind and was sitting a steady couple of 100m or so behind since we parted earlier.
Rolling into Castlederg together we decided we had earned a final tea break and stopped at a shop on the way out of town.
My favourite spin snack.
While stopped for tea one of the other guys messaged to see how we were doing and this was Grainne’s response….
After tea we did say our final goodbyes and I headed on solo up the final long climb out of Castlederg and the long, sweeping descent into Castlefinn. A short section along the back road towards home, the final inevitable 1.6km climb back to the house and it was done. Just before I turned on to our road I was passed by Grainne in her car so I got home knowing she was safely finished also.
Back in September I was absolutely gutted about my DNF. A large part of this was the knowledge that I knew I was capable of doing it. I was sure that better clothing and a chance to ride my own ride would be successful so it was immensely satisfying to prove that right and to prove myself too.
What surprised me most was how good I felt finishing. I felt like I had at least another 15km left in my legs. That night I made plans to ride 160km the following weekend to get my first 100mile century done. However, during the week the weather turned a bit nasty and I had to scratch that idea. Through the rest of October and November I’ve been a bit hit and miss but doing enough to keep my legs in good shape. I also managed to get my November Audax ticked off with a solo ride on a new route.
Heading into December I’m feeling pretty good on the bike. I have my December Audax to get done and I’m heading for a decent mileage finish to the year.
I’ve been joking with some of my Club friends about the Festive 500 and while unlikely to happen it definitely feels like it would be a great way to finish out the year if the weather plays ball over Xmas….
I know that’s not the song title but I can’t say it without singing it in my head!
As September rolled over into October it appears that I am on a bit of a roll too…
Those three spikes are 3 rides of 100km+ in the last 4 weeks. It would have been 3 weeks in a row but Storm Amy blew in last week and spoiled that! We lost power on Friday shortly after 4pm at the height of the red warning and it stayed off until well into Saturday evening. We lost water on Saturday morning and it was Sunday afternoon before that returned to normal (our supply comes from a reservoir on the side of the valley that requires pumps to fill from the main supply lower down).
Having booked a long, 4 day weekend off some months ago, it turned out to be a bit of a wasted weekend but I was finally able to get out on the bike on Monday for a nice, social spin with two clubmates to Raphoe for tea and back home via Ballybofey.
This was followed by night rides with the Club on Tuesday and Thursday evening, both around 30km but on the MTB on hilly back roads so decent workouts over 2 hours each. Saturday morning I went out with the Stabiliser group for a short, easy recovery ride before the main 100km ride on Sunday.
5 rides and 240km in the one week is very rare for me, even when I was at my most active, but it should be noted I only got one ride in the previous week…
Sunday morning it was back to Audax and time to get in the October RRTY 100 ride. This time we had decided to ride a route recently published by another Audax Ireland member just a week or two ago.
I’ve no idea of the significance of the name!
Myself and Grainne had managed to talk two other clubmates into joining us. Paul will do a few but Brian may give the full RRTY Challenge a go. We publicised our intent on the Club WhatsApp group and as we coordinated our start with the Sunday morning Club ride we ended up with 7 in total!
Official starting point where we picked up the route*
Overall it was a really good route. I’ve ridden all of it before but not always in the same direction as Sunday and definitely not all together. The 1000m elevation is edging towards hard for a 100km ride but it was surprisingly tough on the legs. There aren’t a big number of climbs but they’re all hard climbs. For many routes around here the majority of the elevation is gained on long, gradual climbs but Sunday we earned them on some pretty steep ground. Returning to the MTB on Tuesday night I could still feel the lingering effects!
Sandwiches, bars and sugary drinks were devoured at the much needed lunch stop at Victoria Bridge*Big squad out on Tuesday evening enjoying the unseasonably mild and settled weather*
Sunday also marked my one year anniversary of rejoining the Club via the Stabiliser Group. A fitting way to mark it and not something I was expecting just 12 months ago!
October 12th 2024*
We’re experiencing a very unusual spell of mild and settled weather for the last two weeks (calm after the storm?) but that is due to break down this weekend to something more typical. I’m keeping a close eye and hoping that Saturday stays good as I have a plan to rectify some unfinished business that will hopefully be the subject of my next post…. 🤞
*all photos of Club activities courtesy of Brian McElhinney 📸
With my increasing mileage I’ve been getting a real taste for long distance cycling again. 200km Audax still seems like a big stretch in terms of fitness but I came across the RRTY 100 Challenge recently that was introduced by Audax Ireland this year.
A standard RRTY (Randonneur Round The Year) involves completing a 200km Audax Ireland approved route each month for 12 months in a row. This year they have started adding 100km routes as a taster and introduction to Audax. In tandem they have created the RRTY 100 for the shorter distance ie ride a 100km Audax Ireland approved route 12 months in a row.
Checking out the Audax Ireland site it quickly became clear that the closest route was in Sligo! A discussion on the Audax WhatsApp group turned up a more local 106km route that is in the planning stages but it has a mental 1600m of climbing and I’m not sure I’m ready for that!
It was clear I was going to have to come up with at least one route of my own. I have a few 100km+ routes I’ve done in the past but one in particular that I’ve been thinking about for a while.
It was originally developed by one of the guys in the Club as a charity event a few years ago. Our Club is the Finn Wheelers and we live in the Finn Valley area which is named after the river Finn. The Finn is 64km long and rises from Lough Finn, close to Fintown (are you getting the theme yet!). It flows East to Lifford where it joins with the Mourne coming out of Tyrone to form the Foyle which flows to Derry and out to sea at Lough Foyle.
The aim of the route is to cycle the length of the river on both sides crossing only at the two end points. As a play on the well known Lap The Lough event in Northern Ireland we named it Lap The Finn.
As its been 5 years since the original event I arranged to ride the route as an organiser ride recce and get credit from Audax Ireland for having done it even though it hadn’t been published as an official route just yet. I’d no idea what condition the roads would be in and didn’t want to have to change the route post publication.
Fit enough back then to add on extra mileage from home!
I was hoping for company but ended up doing it solo on a blustery Sunday, just one week after the DNF at the Club Sportive. It was a cool enough day with blustery showers but I’d learned my lesson from the week before and was kitted out in my winter tights, long finger gloves, rear mudguard and overshoes.
It turned out to be a challenging but enjoyable ride and apart from one section, descending from Lough Muck to Fintown, was pretty good surfaces the whole way. There’s a fantastic variety of scenery with the section above Ballybofey getting up into the edge of the Bluestacks and quite remote.
Photos from the day make it look like I had sunshine the whole time!
“Muc” is Irish for pig and I particularly like this sculpture looking down over “Loch Muc”
It felt really good to get this ride done and it was huge boost to my confidence that had taken a bit of hammering after the previous weekend.
A little bit slower this time…
That evening Grainne (one of my clubmates and fairly regular cycling companion) contacted me about the route. She’s completed the Cycle Against Suicide Mizen to Malin ride a couple of weeks ago and thinks the RRTY 100 would be a good challenge to keep her on the bike. I wanted another long spin for the weekend so we arranged to ride it on the Sunday.
So glad we did as it was about as perfect a cycling day as could be hoped for. It was chilly, but not cold, sunny and dry for the whole day and barely a breath of wind. It was already an enjoyable route but it’s always better to have company.
Since then the route has been officially posted on the Audax Ireland website. A bunch of others have also gone live and we’re hoping to ride one of them this weekend…
I was going to start this blog update by saying I’ve neglected it quite a bit this year but to be honest I’ve found myself stepping away from all forms of social media and at the risk of sounding very pretentious, all forms of creativity. I’ve thought about blogging and YouTube quite a bit but the drive to put something in words or on film just hasn’t been there. I’ve also been less inclined to take and post photos this year which is a big change for me. The majority of photos that I have taken have stayed on my phone only.
Last year that would have worried me as over the last couple of years I’d been struggling mentally to get the motivation to get anything done. A large part of that was that I was desperately unhappy at work and that was affecting me mentally and bleeding into my daily life. The main symptom was an increasing lethargy and lack of drive to do anything.
Having changed jobs back in August last year I’ve now had a significant turnaround. 3 years of negativity will take some work to reverse completely but I’m definitely feeling much better than I did this time last year. I’m putting the lack of social media interaction down to the fact that I’m too busy enjoying the moment to be able to document it or even feel the need to.
Cycling
One of the very first changes was a renewed interest in cycling. I hadn’t turned a pedal in over 12 months when I started back briefly in April 2024 with a spurt of 5 short rides over a 3 week period.
Self motivation was desperately lacking though and I stopped again until September following a good start to my new job. I had a few solo short spins again before reconnecting with the Club and joining the Saturday morning Stabiliser Group in mid-October for my first Club spin since February 2023!
Very quickly this became a regular Saturday fixture and I was hitting the 50km marker by the end of October having originally thought that it would be a good aim for the end of the year!
This year, despite a week here and there off the bike, I’ve made cycling a regular activity again and I’m enjoying it too. I’ve increased my distance to completing at least 100km most weeks and hitting the 100km marker at the really enjoyable Donegal Bay Sportive at Easter when a big group from the Club did various routes with many of the Stabiliser beginners completing 50km for the first time also.
For the May Bank Holiday there was an organised group spin from Ballybofey to Buncrana with the option to join depending on the distance you wanted to cycle. I joined in Raphoe for just shy of 90km.
The Club then rounded off the Summer with a fun day on Saturday last week. We bussed to Errigal and did a summit walk followed by dinner and drinks in Lettermacaward before returning to Ballybofey and more drinks before heading home at a very late (for me!) 1am. A great day of fun and laughter and a good physical challenge that was highly enjoyable.
In the last couple of years I’ve struggled to gel with the Club. It’s been mostly my own fault, being in a bad mindset and finding it difficult to connect with the other members, despite knowing some of them for a few years. Thankfully this year has been very different.
I’m not setting any massive records for the year but so far I’ve managed to clock up 2,650km for the year. It’s not a huge amount but considering 4-4,500km is average for me, that my biggest year was 8,000km and the combined total of 2022,2023 and 2024 was slightly over 2,400km I’m doing pretty well for 2025!
On Sunday the Club is running a Sportive again. There are two routes, 62km and 135km, and I’m planning for the longer route. I’ve been doing steady mileage over the last few weeks including two longer rides of 90km and 110km. I’m feeling in a good place for 135km but I’m currently in Spain for a very lazy family holiday and not sure how that will affect my fitness. We’re back home on Friday so I’ll take a short leg loosening spin on Saturday to see if that helps.
Increasing my distance like this and the subsequent increased fitness, has brought back a hunger for Audax. I’ve stayed in all the Audax Ireland WhatsApp groups so I haven’t really lost touch but it’s taken until now to really consider the daunting 200km distance once again.
The RRTY challenge (1 x 200km Audax event per month for 12 consecutive months) has had a new version launched for 2025 called RRTY 100. Basically it’s an introductory challenge for those looking to get into full-on Audax and consists of 1 x 100km Audax event per month for 12 months. I’m thinking of using that as a pathway back to Audax similar to how I used the Club Stabiliser Group to get me back cycling regularly. I’m not setting any great targets for next year but seeing as 2015 was my first ever Audax I’d quite like to get one done before the end of the year and I’m seriously considering giving the Four Provinces Challenge (see the link above) a go in 2026 as I did it previously in 2016.
To get the RRTY 100 completed I’m going to have to get at least one route published for Donegal. The nearest is currently in Sligo and the only one I’m currently aware of in development is a massive 1600m of climbing in 106km!
Hillwalking & Camping
My last solo hillwalk was in The Sperrins at Banagher Glen in the last of the Winter snow on 11th January. I’d earmarked that route for a period of snow and just managed to time it right although I did have a mild panic at the car park, deep in the Glen, when I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to get the car back back out in the compacted snow!
I haven’t given up on hillwalking though as I’ve been active with the Bluestack Ramblers Walking Club this year, completing 8 group walks from January to June with 3 in June alone. There were some great walks in there with Knockalla and the Aghlas definitely being my favourites.
I didn’t get out at all during July or August as the walks weren’t as interesting and I was busy with jobs around the house and cycling. As my cycling mileage increased my free time for hillwalking decreased and, if I’m being honest, I struggled to get enough fitness for cycling and hillwalking in the same weekend! However, I have two of interest in September that I’d like to do. They’re on the 7th and 14th which will hopefully allow me a chance to get an Audax 100 completed later in September to get the RRTY 100 started.
Another victim of cycling and the lack of solo hiking has been camping. Despite buying two new tents in the last 12 months my last wild camp was in April 2024 ! I simply haven’t had the time to give up two days for an overnighter and have had too many other things I wanted to do instead. I would like to get out and do something in the Bluestacks before the end of the year though, preferably in September or October. If nothing else I need to try out my new 2 person tent I bought specifically for Spring and Autumn camping! It was my Xmas present last year but I haven’t even managed to get it out of the box for a test pitch…
Of all my social media posting it’s YouTube that has taken the biggest hit this year. My last video release was in November last year. I did record my hike in Banagher Glen that I mentioned above, but somehow haven’t had the time or drive to get it edited and published. I’ve given it a go a couple of times and have it about 50% done so I probably will finish it eventually. However, I wasn’t really in a filming mood that day and it’s a bit disjointed. It could be a feeling that it’s not that great that’s as much to blame as lack of time for not getting it finished. I do enjoy filming and editing for YouTube though so I do see myself getting back to it, possibly with a return to solo hiking and camping but I’d like to start adding some cycling content also. That will involve some solo cycling as I don’t like to film with groups so might kick in if I start into Audax preparation…
More to come…
This is already too long so I’ll add the rest in the next couple of days.
Friday evening was spent meeting Martin and a few others from the Galtee Walking Club I’d met before. We went for something to eat in a pub up the street having missed the cutoff in the South Pole. Long story but it was Martin’s fault 😉
Turned out well anyway as I had one of the best fish and chips I’ve had for a long time as well as a lovely pint of local golden ale Béal Bán
Friday night we spent in the car park at the starting point of the challenge hike. It’s the first time I slept in Catriona’s car and it was surprisingly roomy and comfortable. Only problem is dawn comes early just after 4am and there’s no escaping it in a car.
Our plan was to skip the bus transfer from Annascaul and start at 6am and be approx 1hr ahead of the crowds. Also giving us an extra hour on the cutoff, just in case…
Wakening up it was obvious that the weather forecast was accurate. Low cloud was hanging over the tops and partway down into the valleys. We still had a great view out to sea but only had partial views of what I think was Great Blasket Island.
Starting from the car park we followed a rough track before turning off onto the grassy and sometimes rocky path that heads straight up to the summit of Mount Brandon. At 952m Brandon is the 3rd highest mountain in Ireland. It’s named after St. Brendan and on the summit there is a stone building (Sáipéilín Bréanainn) believed to have been used by him. The route we followed to the summit is part of a Pilgrimage Route (Cosán na Naomh – The Saint’s Road) and is clearly marked by small white posts and large metal crosses marked with numbers that I think denoted stations of the cross.
The weather forecast was for low cloud which was correct. It also predicted pretty windy conditions on the tops (30km/h or 19mph) and light rain for most of the day with more prolonged rain for the late afternoon. Well it was worse than that. We were getting rain spots from the car park and at 1km in the rain coat came out and stayed on for the rest of the day. After a further 0.5km we crossed 400m and into the clouds and the rain started properly. We weren’t to escape the clouds for the rest of the hike.
As you can see the first 4km is pretty full on. From the car park at 170m you climb almost 800m to the summit of Mount Brandon at 952m. This was the part of the hike that I was most concerned about. My fitness is far off what I would have liked for this event, I’m carrying about 13kg in excess weight and I had Covid about 4 weeks ago that left me breathless up until about a week ago. Climbing Brandon definitely challenged me, I struggled with my breathing but kept it steady and managed to keep my heart rate relatively steady without red-lining.
The last couple of hundred metres to the summit was pretty rough. The rain was pretty constant and by now the wind had really picked up driving the rain hard. The rain stopped briefly just before the summit but the wind was very strong and it definitely wasn’t a place to hang around. We got some shelter in the lee of the summit cross before a couple of summit photos, a very quick chat with a couple of other early starters and headed on. It was shocking how cold it was in that wind and my hands were painful as we headed off along the ridge.
i think that’s sáipéilín bréanainn behind the trig but it wasn’t a day for sightseeing!
Leaving the summit we had a long and soggy drop down that was a relief for the legs before picking up a track. Cloud cover reduced visibility to 30-50m and the wind was blowing very strong, once again driving the rain into us. At times I could see Martin ahead of me walking at an angle as he leaned into the wind to stay upright
This was a lonely section with no possibility to talk, no views and just your own voice in your head. On days like this it’s hard to stay positive.
come for the views they said!
In a brief stop Martin warned me that we were approaching the ridge proper. This is a section called An Géarán and is a rocky, sharp and exposed ridge. Apparently the views down into both valleys are amazing but not today!
Crossing the ridge there was a real sense of a steep drop to both sides even with the thick cloud cover. Thankfully we were able to cross on the leeward side and stayed out of the wind. I’m not sure we would have been able to cross safely otherwise.
look at those contour lines!
On the approach to Brandon summit and heading across this ridge there was the very real feeling that there were a world of fantastic views that were hidden by the clouds. For this reason alone I’m very sure I’ll be back to walk this route again.
Leaving An Géarán we steadily dropped elevation along a fenceline and across boggy terrain that was oozing water everywhere. There were a number of tricky areas that were very boggy and verging on small streams that required a bit of thought. However, as we dropped down here the rain and wind eased a bit and we were finally able to have a proper conversation for the first time in over an hour.
I think it was around here (possibly earlier?) that Martin first mentioned the possibility of finishing early at the halfway point on The Connor Pass. I was glad to hear him voice what I’d been thinking in my head already. What was always going to be a tough walk was becoming even more difficult due to the weather. Although we were in a sheltered area now we would soon be a lot more exposed again as we climbed higher. I was pretty sure that I wouldn’t be finishing today.
Coming down the fenceline we came to a junction and crossed over. The little marker flags that had marked the way were gone and we soon realised we had lost the proper route. It just shows you how easily it is to get off track in poor visibility as Martin has walked this exact route 4 times before! A few others had made the same error as ourselves and within 5min we realised what we had done wrong and how to swing around back to where we needed to be. You can see clearly on the two maps below where we went wrong.
official route my recorded track
Having gained some height on this loop around the 623m point we dropped back again and reached the unmanned water station at Mullaghveal and 10.5km where we filled both ourselves and our bottles for the next big push.
Along the route so far I’d found it difficult to get food into me. The rain and wind just made it too much work but I took the opportunity here to scoff two bars.
Shortly after leaving Mullaghveal the climbing starts again. Martin told me that this is the last big climb before Connor Pass but that it was a long one. Later we were informed that the summit is called Ballysitteragh but is known on this route as Bally-fucking-sitteragh. It is well named!
I really struggled on this climb. It goes from 400m to 620m in just over 1km and the terrain is pretty boggy and rough. My brain was tired, I was soaked from the waist down and my legs were feeling it by now. However, I really struggled with my breathing. I was very breathless and struggled to get a proper breath at times. I have to say mentally I gave up too!
With many stops I eventually reached the top but once again we couldn’t hang around. We were back in the rain and the wind was really strong again. We pushed on towards Connor Pass for 4km gradually descending but getting absolutely battered by the wind. This was definitely the worst weather I’d ever been out in and the fun was definitely gone today.
Connor Pass came on me unexpectedly at the end. I was expecting a significant drop into a lower altitude level but didn’t realise that the pass sits quite high at 410m. Because I wasn’t expecting it so suddenly the final km to the pass seemed to be never ending but the car park and checkpoint appeared magically out of the clouds.
I have to give a huge amount of credit to the volunteers at this checkpoint. They were waiting here with fruit, cake and water with a smile for everyone, full of positivity in terrible conditions. They were getting battered by the same wind and rain that we had been getting on the hike.
Martin spoke to some of the ladies and we were soon hooked up with a guy (Seamus I think?) that was taking people back to town in his car. We felt pretty shit about having to cut it short, despite knowing it was the sensible thing to do but our guy soon made us feel better when he told us a number of people turned back at the summit of Brandon and quite a lot more came off at the 10km water station. They were expecting a high drop out rate at Connor Pass so he was expecting to be kept busy all day.
We seemed to be taking a long time to get to Annascaul when I suddenly realised that he was taking us to the car park at the very start of the walk! I was really pleased and Seamus really went out of his way to look after us so well. I was expecting to have to get a taxi from Annascaul!
Once back at the cars we wasted no time getting changed into dry clothes and getting some much needed food down our necks. There is a free BBQ in the evening after the walk but we were at least 5-6hrs too early. After a good chat we decided not to wait around and to head for home. Another 7hrs and 480km in the car for me but I felt it was worth it to get back home and sleep in my own bed that night….
Overall I enjoyed my trip to Kerry but I really did feel that it could have been so much more. On the drive home I made the decision to give it another go in 2025 and hopefully get the real experience. I also hope to be at least 10kg lighter and in a lot better shape now that I know what is ahead of me!
I’m finishing this post on Monday afternoon in offline mode somewhere over The Bay of Biscay as we head for Faro and the start of the second part of my holiday break with a family holiday near Albufeira. The forecast for the next few days is 28-30°C and wall-to-wall sunshine ☀
As part of the holiday I hope to be able to complete a hike approximately 30min drive from our accommodation that I found on Outdooractive but seems to be well described in a number of places as it’s part of an official group of waymarked routes.
So to kick off my holiday break I’m currently sitting in Co. Kerry. Tomorrow I take part in The Tom Crean Endurance Walk.
This is a 30km mountain hike in the Dingle Peninsula that takes place every year in memory of the Irish Polar explorer. It’s a long drive down from Donegal so I’m here the night before and hopefully will be a great but enjoyable challenge 🤞
short diversion to harvey norman in limerick
I left about 10am and arrived shortly after 5:30pm so I had plenty of short breaks and didn’t rush myself. Check in started at 5:30pm anyway so no point being much earlier!
named in memory of tom crean
I’m walking with a friend Martin and he’s not due until 7:30pm so I’ve been having a wee wander around and visited the Tom Crean Memorial Garden.
There’s a second memorial just beside it to the many, many people from Annascaul that died in the Irish War of Independence and the Irish Civil War. It’s very sobering, obviously an area proud of their Republican roots….
I didn’t feel it was appropriate to be taking photos but the local historical society have some online already.
Over the last 12 months I’ve had a number of failures in terms of reaching goals I’ve set myself. Each time I’ve set myself a challenging target, worked hard for a period of time, had some kind of knockback and given up. This last few months I’ve given up on a number of things and it had become worrying to me that giving up and admitting failure was becoming too easy. Not that giving up is always bad but it was having a significantly negative effect on me mentally that I wasn’t happy about. My badly organised trip to the Mournes is a perfect example of that trend and the negative effect it had on me.
Then I had a lightbulb moment last week when listening to a podcast and coming across the 25% Rule for the first time….
The bigger our goal is the harder it is for our brain to get on board with doing it. So, the 25% rule is take anything that you want to accomplish, cut it in half and then cut it in half again. This should be your first goal at a minimum, you can even cut it in half again.
For example if I want to ride a 200km Audax event then my goal is not to ride 200km, not even to ride 100km but is to ride 50km. Once I have that done then I can set a new goal. My approach last year was to target a 600km Audax event! Any wonder I failed, any wonder I gave up in April, tanked my motivation and haven’t ridden a bike again until recently!
Last year was the culmination of a number of years of spiralling goal failures that totally destroyed my enjoyment of cycling. Each time I would set a big goal, run out of steam during the process, give up and leave myself totally demotivated. Eventually I would get myself remotivated and set a new goal. Learning nothing from my previous failure this would be an even bigger goal, I would “fail” even earlier and leave myself feeling even more shit than before, take a longer break from cycling and eventually I end up not cycling for almost a full year.
I’ve done this with multiple things, cycling and weight loss being the two most obvious and closely linked but I’ve done it again this year with hiking. Earlier this year I decided that I wanted to do some multi-day hiking. Two YouTube friends (Andrew and Ian) did two big adventures last year that were pretty inspiring. Andrew hiked a large section of the GR221 in Mallorca while Ian hiked The Fisherman’s Trail in Portugal.
Both trips inspired me to do some multi-day hiking myself. Some kind of divine intervention must have occurred as it did dawn on me that heading to a foreign country with little to no backpacking experience was probably not the best idea so I came up with a plan to do something similar in Ireland before committing to a foreign trip. I decided that The International Appalachian Trail was a good idea. I have walked some sections of this during other hikes, have wanted to walk more for a while now and it’s easy to access as it’s all within Ulster. I decided on a 3-Day trip (Dungiven to Castlerock) and a 5-Day trip (Portstewart to Waterfoot)
I scheduled the first trip for the end of March and the second for the end of May so the first one is already done. It was a bit of a disaster! My plan was 18km Day 1, 30km Day 2 and 14km Day 3 for a total of 62km. This was nuts! The only day that made sense was Day 3 and there was no way I was going to be able to walk 30km on Day 2 with a full camping setup especially after 18km on Day 1. I made a video of my experience that I’ll link to below but SPOILER ALERT – I gave up on Day 2!
Coming home from that trip I felt crap. I was pretty much for giving up on backpacking altogether and I was in a real funk for a week or two. Listening to that podcast though made me recognise the traps that I was falling into. I was in a mindset that only big, challenging goals were worth working towards yet not recognising the steps along the way that are needed to achieve these goals. I was doing exactly what the podcast guest described and predictably failing. As I said at the top this was a bit of a lightbulb moment for me.
What am I doing differently now? First of all I have totally revised my plans for the IAT in May. Instead of a 5-Day 95km trip I’m now planning a 3-Day 45km trip taking a much more achievable 15km per day average. Instead of walking from Portstewart to Waterfoot I’m only going to do the Moyle Way section from Ballycastle to Waterfoot. I’ve walked this distance in training and I know I can do it.
I’ve also got myself back on the bike! Nothing spectacular but I have a pretty low base that I’m re-starting from. Virtually all my cycling fitness has evaporated and it will take some time to get it back. Instead of setting myself big targets I’m being conservative. My first goal is just to get out regularly. I have a simple 20km loop close to home and my plan is to ride that twice a week (hopefully 3) until I get some kind of legs back again. If I can get myself built up to a 50km ride by the end of the summer then I’ll be very happy but I’m not putting myself under any pressure. It’s time to go back to where I started and maybe remember why I enjoyed cycling again!
I have had this idea in my head the last couple of years that I don’t have time to devote to cycling and hiking, that if I’m going to be really good at either one then I won’t be able to do the other. I’ve now realised that I don’t need to climb Everest or ride 600km in a weekend and that I can enjoy both by relaxing, enjoying the process and mixing them up as much as I can.
Now all I need is a decent Summer to get weather that will make it all more enjoyable…
niall harran 