After a failed attempt ,including a wasted drive to The Black Valley to get Purples and Reeks done yesterday we still had horrible weather everywhere for Sunday, except, up west! So Dad selected some possibilities from the list and we set off early on Sunday morning arriving Maumeen car park at 8am. Three peaks were possible from here Binn Chaonaigh, Binn idir an dá Log Southeast Top and Binn idir an dá Log and we were up and back without any bother soon after 11:30am. I did fall awkardly and took out the front lens protecter of my Go-Pro on one of the stony sections but luckly it was a removable lens and easily replaced. Next up Ben Creggan, Ben Creggan South Top and Ben Gorm with initially a very steep climb but worth it to save on a bit of distance. Returning to the car it was simply a few hundred metres to the start of Tievenabinnia and from that over to Tievummera before finishing on Barrclashcame. We had the option to return the way we came but choose to drop down steeply and more directly to the road where Dad (minus his bag) waled the short road section to get the car. A very enjoyable day and a hard earned 78 Points added to our score but still over 100 from the top!
Put in a 12 hour shift today in Connaught, points are hard earned on those mountains, but managed to grab 78 points on Peakhunter.com over 9 High Point Ireland Sport Hillwalking Locations
After driving down to the Black Valley yesterday to try get The Purple Mountains done and then The Reeks the following day, we were forced to return home without stepping a foot out of the car. Thanks a lot, weather!
So we returned home, but with unbroken resolve. We began scouring the weather to find somewhere it wasn’t raining. The West! We looked through a few different options to grab some points there, and had a plan prepared before heading to bed to try and get a bit of sleep before our early take off the next day.
We arrived at Maumeen car park for 8am after a long drive (A long sleep for me!). Three peaks were possible from here; Binn Chaonaigh, Binn idir an dá Log Southeast Top and Binn idir an dá Log. We were up and down without any bother soon after 11:30am. I did fall awkardly landed on my GoPro in my pocket, taking out the lens Protector. Luckily it was easily replaced!
Next up was Ben Creggan, Ben Creggan South Top and Ben Gorm. Initially, the climb was extremely steep but definitely worth it to save on a bit of distance! We then just followed the ridge to log all 3 mountains and followed our footsteps back down.
On returning to the car it was a simple few hundred metre drive to the start of Tievenabinnia. Once we had Tievenabinnia logged, we continued on to Tievummera before finishing on Barrclashcame. We had the option to return the way we came but choose to drop down steeply and more directly to the road where Dad (minus his bag) walked the short road section to get the car. A very enjoyable day and a hard earned 78 Points added to our score. Despite that, we were still over 100 points away from the top of the leaderboard!
We definitely learned one thing: Points are hard earned in Connaught!
