Tag Archives: snow

Sneezey Does It

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Since finishing the Festive 500 on NYE I’ve been very lazy. I have various excuses reasons: needing some recovery time, spending some family time, weather, returning to work. Unfortunately, also due to a niggling sore back that was pushed over the edge this morning.

I’ve had an off-and-on issue with my back for about 20 years. It’s the usual issue of an aging body, lack of fitness when I was younger and a weak core that I’ve done nothing really to help.

After the second-last Festive 500 ride I could feel a niggle in my lower back but called in Mr Ibuprofen to keep it at bay enough to get the last one done and the Challenge completed. The evening of the last ride though it was noticeably worse and it has been causing me issues ever since.

I haven’t had much issue with my back over the last year or more and I’m putting this occurrence down to an over enthusiastic trip to the gym at the beginning of November. I definitely overdid things on one of the machines and I could feel it for a week after. I figure this hadn’t healed properly and the lack of recovery over the 7 rides brought it back to the fore.

All was going OK until I had an “unexpected” big sneeze this morning and lots of unsupported muscles in my lower back simply went sod this! I’ve been limping around the house ever since trying to find ways of relieving the ache while not straining it any further. I’m hoping it’s sorted by the morning as getting in and out of the car is one of the trickier operations when I’m like this.

The weather over Xmas was one of the helpful factors in getting the Festive 500 completed. From Xmas Eve it turned very cold here with temperatures hovering either side of freezing. Unusually for here though, it stayed dry. This meant that despite some very frosty starts the roads weren’t slippery and cycling could continue. This changed pretty much as soon as I got off the bike on the final ride. It became windier that evening and NYD ended up being quite wet and windy, so much that we cancelled our plans for a beach walk.

Over the weekend rain turned to snow with quite a bit on Saturday and Sunday night. Monday morning I was working from home and was an early morning snow taxi for Owen and Catriona who don’t like driving in those conditions. Returning home after dropping Catriona off it started snowing heavily again and although I could only get halfway up our drive I was happy just to get up our road and as far as the house.

It snowed heavily again after that for another couple of hours but thankfully I was able to get out safely in the afternoon and evening to collect both of them from work again. I credit my success to bringing coats and boots, prepared to walk at least part of the way home, thereby allowing the universe the option of proving me wrong but thankfully in my favour…..

The snow came again on Monday night but this time we all worked from home before a partial thaw on Tuesday evening and Wednesday.

Thursday and Friday saw the temperatures plummet again with the joy that is partially melted snow and ice mixed with rural roads. All manageable but once again I was called upon to provide taxi service.

A pal on Facebook posted some fabulous photos from a snow covered Sperrin Mountains on Friday evening and I concocted a plan to pay a visit to Sawel and Dart on Saturday and get some Winter walking before it all disappears again.

The last time I was on those two mountains was 2007 with my pal Jim. I’m sure the mountains haven’t changed much but we certainly have!

My plans were completely foiled early on Saturday morning when we woke to incredibly difficult road conditions with extensive black ice following overnight showers and then a freeze. I was able to get out locally but decided a trip to the mountains was foolhardy. Aldi was as adventurous as it got!

As Vince states over on Omil:

Good to look at from the inside of a warm house, otherwise rather inconvenient and a bit overrated, except for skiing, in my opinion!

Similar conditions to here in a nearby village

Since yesterday afternoon our weather has reverted to type with much milder, wet and windy conditions and a yellow wind warning for this evening. Pretty gloomy to look out at but at least we can get around safely…

My ambitions for 2026 aren’t off to the best of starts and it’s now only 10 weeks until my first goal….

Some dog photos to finish. Apparently Spaniels have only two states of being: On or Off…

I lied, one last photo. I made a digital graphic as a memento for the Festive 500. My sister printed it on photographic paper on her fancy printer and I framed it. I’m very pleased with how it turned out.

snow makes everything better

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Turns out yesterday’s snow was just an indication of what was to come with heavy snow showers overnight resulting in a beautiful covering of snow for a bright and sunny morning.

I’d planned to walk the usual 4.5km before breakfast but was enjoying it so much I kept going for the longer 6km walk.

Lots of photos below but I could have taken hundreds. After yesterday’s mishaps I was particularly scundered* last night but this beautiful fresh landscape had changed everything this morning ☃☀

hungry neighbours 🐮
flying dog
really fancy an iced donut now 🍩

*scundered (scunnered in Scotland): one of the best emotion descriptive words I know, just one of the things we do particularly well in Ireland.

not the day i had planned…

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The weather overnight was down to freezing and below and with the forecast giving 2/3°C plus sleet/snow showers it definitely wasn’t going to be a day for the road bike. Using Strava’s suggested route function last night I had a decent couple of hours on the MTB planned for late morning/early afternoon.

click the image to view on strava

I haven’t ridden this route before but I know all the sections having ridden them all on previous MTB or road spins. It’s uphill from the get go on minor roads from the house, into the forest for a few km before a mixture of forest and minor roads back home.

Heading into the first section of forest trails the gate was open and it was soon obvious why. The trail was a mess of half frozen mud churned to bits by digger works clearing the drains. At the top junction I was relieved to branch off onto an older trail that brought me back out on to a short section of road. The exit gate was closed but I was able to squeeze out the side where walkers had worn a rough path over a few rocks. Being lazy I tried to do this without completely dismounting, hit a big rock too slowly and managed a slow motion fall to the side on to the rough track. Thankfully not a bad fall and I managed to keep my head off the floor but I’m going to have a lovely bruised thigh tomorrow!

The day had started off bright and very sunny but shortly after going into the next section of forest it dulled down and the sleet showers started. This soon turned to snow which was strangely invigorating to ride in. There’s something exhilarating about doing something that most people wouldn’t even consider and riding a bike in a snow shower is definitely one of them.

Shortly after stopping for these photos I was back on to the roads. The snow was getting steadily heavier and less comfortable all the time. In the space of approximately 1km I went from this:

to this:

At this stage I decided the fun was rapidly going out of the day and with a lot more climbing and high ground to cover I decided to turn for home at just over 12km.

Just over 2km later and the day turned to shit completely. I started to notice that telltale bounce in my rear tyre and no matter how much you wish it away, it’s obvious there’s a puncture. It felt like a slow puncture and with two CO2 cannisters in my bag I figured I had an opportunity to get most of the way home at least without having to change the tube. I didn’t figure in a faulty CO2 pump 🙈

Neither of the two cannisters would open and it appears that the pin that pierces the seal is broken or missing. Without a manual pump I was snookered and Hike a Bike was my only option.

Just over 1km later I had worked out that I had a minimum of 8km to walk home and as I was already getting cold this was a non-starter. I was just about able to get mobile network and got through to my Dad who was at home and able to come get me. Fifteen cold and miserable minutes later he picked me up along the side of the road having walked almost 3km in total. MTB shoes are no fun for walking in and my gloves turned out to be a bad choice for today so I was delighted to get out of the weather and into his warm car for the short drive home. Shower plus warm food and all was well again.

Next bike purchase looks like a new CO2 pump and a new tyre. That’s a series of punctures in the same tyre now and I can’t work out why.

click image to view on strava

the roof of donegal

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Mt Errigal is the highest point of Co. Donegal. I’ve climbed it a number of times over the years. Last time was April 2019 with Jim, his grandson Veli and Conor.

summit photo

Before that we climbed it as a family on Easter Sunday 2018. This day also marked the 20th Anniversary of the day Catriona and I met for the first time.

a little cooler looking

This morning I started 2021 by climbing Errigal once again to witness the dawn of the new year.

2021

The idea for this started as a joke on Xmas Day when I told the boys we were going to camp out on Errigal to witness the dawn. I’d no intention of camping but the idea of a dawn hike was rattling around in my brain ever since. I kept an eye on the weather all week and it looked like it was going to work out.

The alarm woke me at 4:10am and after just one snooze and my first attempt to talk myself out of the idea I was dressed, fed and out the door shortly after 4:45am having tried to talk myself out of it for the second time!

Driving over to Letterkenny I suddenly remembered that the new lockdown restrictions that came into effect yesterday included a resumption of the 5km travel limit. At this stage I was committed and drove on hoping not to meet a checkpoint on the road.

Approaching Glenveagh Muckish was suddenly on the skyline, reasonably visible due to the almost clear sky and the bright moon, just one day from full. Along the road the remaining “Seven Sisters“ appeared with Errigal finally looming large with some clinging cloud and a topping of snow.

Arriving at the car park there was a car, a van and a motor home already parked up. A second and third car appeared within 5 minutes. As I was getting dressed a hiker appeared over the ridge and into the car park. He had some route advice and showed us a video of conditions at the top. He had started out at 3:30am and didn’t want to wait for dawn as it was so cold.

The other cars and the original van turned out to be a small group of online friends meeting for the hike. They were pretty fit looking so once they were ready, after everyone sheltered from a fairly heavy shower, I let them get a 5min head start to keep us apart on the hill. This was my third and final attempt to talk myself out of it!

The initial section of the hike is across wet bog and along the bank of a stream. It’s pretty difficult terrain at the best of times, particularly wet this morning and very tiring in the dark. Keeping an eye on the lights in front I was able to plot my route pretty successfully and reach the start of the scree without falling in a bog hole. Despite the compacted snow and patches of ice the firmer ground made for much easier walking and surprisingly I soon passed the first group.

Following the footsteps in the snow and the path faintly visible in the light of my head torch I made steady progress and soon reached the rest point just below the summit. This is a ring of stones approximately 4m wide and built up to a height of about 1m. Just enough to provide shelter from the wind. Just as I arrived another heavy shower of snow and fine hail blew in but once I had my hood up and sitting on my seat pad, leaning against my rucksack it was reasonably comfortable. Less than 10 minutes later and the group joined me. We were way too early for the dawn and with zero shelter at the peak we waited in the shelter until 7:45am and then headed for the top all together. Along the way the clouds lifted and there was a tantalising vague view of the mountainside falling away and the nearby landscape and mountains highlighted with drifts of snow.

Very quickly we were on the first summit and crossed over the narrow ridge to the second. The cloud was fairly thick again but the brisk wind was keeping it moving with the full moon appearing every now and again as the clouds blew over.

The other group moved back to the first summit to check the view for photos and fire up a drone. I stayed where I was as I was keen to experience the dawn peacefully on my own.

The temperature was close to freezing and the windchill sub zero which made it difficult. As usual toes and fingers suffered the most, especially my right hand as I had to remove my glove to take photos.

As the light gradually appeared the sky started to ripple with the pink of dawn and as the clouds blew past I soon forgot about the cold. Ever so slowly the landscape below began to materialise as the light increased and eventually the sun’s glow was visible through the clouds.

The whole experience was amazing. It’s easily one of the best things I’ve ever done and I found it quite uplifting and emotional. A morning I don’t think I’ll ever forget ♥

The descent was pretty straightforward now that daylight had arrived. It needed care though as the path was compacted and slippy with a mix of snow and ice. Lots of people were making an early ascent of the mountain and it was really nice to get a chorus line of Happy New Year all the way back to the end of the scree. The bog was running wet for the rest of the descent and very muddy for the last few hundred metres but much easier descending and daylight made pathfinding much easier.

I met at least 40 people on my way back down and the car park was full to overflowing with more cars parked along the road. Seems like I’m not the only one who forgot about the 5km limit today!

Two of group I met on the hill are very talented photographers and are active on Instagram. These are the photos they chose from this morning. They have a lot more talent than I do and are worth following.

Header image by Aodh Mairtin O Fearraigh and published by “Donegal Has It All“.