My legs are aching a bit and my arms are covered in midge bites but apart from that I’m in pretty good shape after climbing the Reek yesterday. PJ and myself had a hugely enjoyable day on the mountain – we set off from the car park at ten and reached the summit a little over two hours later. We stayed up at the top until two in the afternoon, and spent our time up there relaxing, refueling and admiring the majestic views. We were in no rush on the way down either and we made it back to the car by around four o’clock.
I had intended to stick up a load of pictures here today but unfortunately I fell on my hole halfway down and although I only suffered a dent to my pride, my lovely Panasonic Lumix – which was in my back pocket and so took the full force of the fall – wasn’t quite so lucky. The camera is, by the looks of it, buggered but I’m hopeful I’ll still be able to rescue from the memory card the hundred or so photos I’d taken and, if I manage to do this, I’ll post some of them here over the next few days. In the meantime, all I have to show for my efforts is this one I took with my iPhone and, of course, there’s also the audio piece I did from the summit. However, as I said on the audio, pictures tell this particular story far better than words so hopefully mine didn’t go wallop when I lost my footing on the way down.
That was the only glitch on an otherwise perfect day. Anyone who has done the Reek doesn’t need telling about who wonderful it feels to reach the summit and how magnificent the views are from up there. For those of you that haven’t yet done it, my advice would be to do the climb at the earliest possible opportunity. In fact, the time to do it is right now while the weather is as good as it is. You won’t regret it and you won’t forget the experience in a hurry either.
Well done WJ. I did it for the first time back in the early 1970s and at night. It was brilliant. Now that we are suffocated with health and safety bullshit that night time climb of the Reek has been banned. Anyway, whilst you were up there did you get any divine message as to where we are going football wise? With Big Joe next door in Galway the stakes have risen. I liked his remark that all of his panel is within an hour of the training pitch and Big Joe will be there himself to oversee the proceedings. We on the other hand….ah I l’ll stop, the day is too nice.
Thanks, ontheroad – I managed to fall on my posterior in full daylight so maybe it’s just as well that the night-time option is no longer available! No divine messages, I’m afraid, but I never climbed the Reek ahead of all those other finals so if we win the minor I’ll know I’m onto something …
Big Joe’s arrival will certainly spice things up in Connacht next year and we’ll need to up our game if we’re to get the better of Galway next year (as we seem fated to meet them every year in Connacht now). Given the fact that no Connacht county has made it as far as the All-Ireland semi-final since 2006, a rise in provincial standards wouldn’t go amiss.
Thanks for the pic WJ! That is one of the few things my wife and I did not get a chance to do in Mayo when we were there for our honeymoon last October. All the more reason to to make the trek from the States once more.
Keep an eye on the site over the next day or so Sean as I’ll be putting up more pictures of the Reek and a few video clips taken on the summit. My camera may have perished on the way down but the memory card was okay and I was able to upload all the photos from it.