Lugnaquilla - 28th May 2011

You must be thinking that we have given up on our hiking. It's been so long since I've posted anything. The truth is that we went on a walking weekend on the May Bank Holiday and I injured my back. Luckily for me, it was nothing too serious (even though it felt quite serious at the time) and a few tough physio sessions, exercises and lots of solpadeine did the trick. I took a few weeks out from the gym and hiking to make sure that I recovered and didn't aggravate the injury more than I already had by ignoring it creeping up on me.

So after 4 weeks of no exercise I was really eager to get back out in the open. Me and Johnny had decided that we would go on a hike on Saturday. The weather would dictate where we would go. It had been quite bad over the past week or two so we were unsure of what the weekend would bring. A quick check of the weather forecast showed that although cloudy, rain was not expected until the evening. Don't ask me why but I wanted to do Lugnaquilla again. And I wanted it to be tough and windy and wild. For someone that hates hills, the cold and dirty muddy weather, I don't know why I felt like this. Johnny was unsure about the weather but we decided to go with the view that if there was fog, we would turn back.

On the drive out we could see that the clouds were lying quite low. The top of the mountain could not be seen. Because of the dangers that surround Lugnaquilla, we decided to hike as far as we felt safe and then turn back. Once again the first hill was so tough. It really is. I'm not exaggerating. And then I got exactly what I wanted. Wind, wet bog land and water. It was exhilarating. My trousers were soaking, my boots were covered in mud and the wind was blowing in my face. It made the hike difficult but I enjoyed it all the more for it. Once we got to the top, we found shelter, had a quick lunch and got ready for our descent. It was only upon leaving the summit, did I realise how cold it actually was. My fingers, even though wearing gloves were in agony. I had two walking poles so couldn't put them in my pockets. Johnny didn't know what was going on. I'd usually be complaining but was laughing and smiling at the adventure. It was at that point, leaving the summit, fingers aching, nose running, mouth drooling from not being able to catch my breath and Johnny beside me that made me realise how much I had missed the outdoors over the past month. Even having my first mountain fall on the way down didn't put a dampener on the day and I think it even made Johnny's day more enjoyable :-)

I have only climbed Lugnaquilla twice but there is something that really attracts me to it. We definitely have to try other routes up it. Next on the list is the Mourne Mountains next weekend. We have climbed the highest mountain in Leinster and we now want to climb the highest in Ulster. We are thinking of taking in the three highest peaks in the Mournes (About 19km) but need to do a bit more research. Fingers crossed all goes well.