It's true I thought I was going to die from some sort of altitude sickness that robs your breath and hits you with the worst dizziness I've ever experience, but that just turned out to be exertion on my part according to my more experienced companions! I felt a bit pathetic at that stage but soon rallied when I reached the top lay on my back panting loudly and moaning for a while and then realised that I'd made it!
View from the top!
Going down was much easier and my tip to anyone who wants to try this mad sort of exercise activity is that on the way down utilise your bottom as much as possible! I did and it was very effective!
This is the path we took, it's steeper and more difficult than it looks and this was very near the top so don't scorn!
4 comments:
Congratulations! Which hill was this? If you haven't already, you should check out http://www.mountainviews.ie/ which has everything you could ever want to know about hills to walk in Ireland. We'd like to climb every one of them, but have only managed Djouce so far.
This is Slieve Dubh or Black Mountain - which sounds much scarier! The lovely boy has scaled Djouce 3 times now apparantly its great fun!
I grew up in Wicklow and we used to climb Djouce at least once a month. It's been a long time since I've gone out there and I really regret that. It's serene up there. My old man is a keen mountaineer (he sumitted Mount Blanc last summer, there's a picture from the top on the photostream on my blog) and most of our family holidays were in the Lake District or the Pryrenees. Over the years, the whole business rubbed off on me, but unfortuneatly none of my mates are in the least bit interested in climbing. If you are interested in getting into it, then you should read Touching the Void or the Beckoning Silence. Compelling stuff. Best of luck with your moutainous adventures.
Thanks Eoin. Lucky you growing up in such a gorgeous place! You never know you might get back into it in the future especially if you enjoyed it so much.
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