Newsletter June 2019 Challenge Information
Newsletter June 2019 Challenge Information
As the rains abate and sunnier weather slowly teases, we leave May with The Challenge Walks Calendar well underway. The very start of that month saw a glorious day out for all the participants on The Causeway Coast Challenge. A beautiful coastal walk, seasoned Challenge Walker and legend in his own lunchtime, Ian Fitzpatrick, remarked how it was hard not to stop to look backwards at the incredible vistas . . . but no need, especially considering this would be the truth for the second half of the Day - as once the Walkers reach Portbradden, they then turn "about face" and retrace their steps back to Portballintrae passing Dunseverick Castle once again. Next year sees Bannside Rambling Club celebrate their 40th year hosting this Event!
Next year too, all going well, The Wayfarers Hillwalking Club hope to celebrate their 50th, yes 50th year of the ever popular Blackstairs Challenge - which this mid-May was once again a great success. Pretty much all of the 262 walkers on the day finished and received well-earned Certificates. The weather was plenty hot in the cols and valleys, but not surprisingly, it was definitely fresh atop the higher contours. Take a closer look at the photo on the day . . . that's a biting mist spilling over the gentle rise before Mount Leinster! No call from the cuckoo at Carrigalachan Gap Checkpoint this year – but the tea was in full flow and sure isn’t that every bit as good as a winning lottery ticket!!
The Blackstairs is the perfect Challenge Walk to cut your teeth into for the first time, so it was one Walk that over the years I managed to coerce all the Brats to come along on (walkers over 16 years allowed). Always great to watch as they admit to not realising how tough the day could be. Enjoy their surprise too, as they can't believe how nimble their Daddy is ("considering he's loike sooo fat and loike a hundred years old!! ").
Rolling into June and the 29th of the month sees Galtee Walking Club host The Galtee Challenge (31km with a 1700 meter ascent), always an enjoyable day tracing the mighty summits over these hills. A week earlier and the Kingdom calls as Annascaul Walking Club host The Tom Crean Endurance Walk (31km with a 1750 meter ascent) - yet another Walk that sells out quicker than Hugh Jackman matinée tickets! But before either of these two thoroughly enjoyable outings - the legendary Lug Walk beckons . . .
As has been said before, this is a full day . . . and, this is one of the toughest dates on the Challenge Walks Calendar! Taking place on the 15th June with an ascent of around 2450 metres, the Walk comes with a serious mileage count of 37 in old money (56 arduous kilometres in new dosh).
Up at 3:30 (yes teenie-boppers, that's in the am!). Bus at 4:30 am. Walk at 5am . . . then considering that the final cut off time at Table Track is 5:30pm - there will be Walkers out for 14 hours and then some. Back at The Glen of Imaal with a day's entertainment over, it's still at least an hour and a half before the Challenge Walker gets to hit the leaba!
This will be an eighteen hour day for many! I mean, Rise and Shine at 3:30 in the am and do absolutely nothing else for the rest of the day and you'd be totally Banjaxed either way! Held every other year and proudly hosted by The Irish Ramblers Hillwalking Club. Read here the Lug Walk Report from 2017 that makes for recommended and informative reading!
As always, up to date information from the different organising parties can be found on the Challenge Walks Calendar . . .
Here too there'll be many a Report from different days on different Walks that certainly give an honest flavour of what to expect before the boots go on.
So Onwards and Upwards Boys and Girls and never forget how even in June the weather can turn in an instant . . . and pack a whistle, they weigh feck-all (useful Challenge tip no.47!).
Keep Safe and Enjoy your Day,
Jim Holmes.
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