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| simon3 2005-04-20 13:07:20 |
Whether Forecast
oh I loved that one Bleck!my principle in walking in Wicklow has always been to disregard the weatherman and wait to see what I encounter a. if you believe a bad weather forecast that turns out to be incorrect, you have missed a walk b. when predicted, bad weather usually appears in showers which are easily dealt with c. if you encounter continuous rain this is usually apparent before you start and you can do something different d. if it really is unpleasant you can change your route and go home, often in Wicklow by setting your compass or GPS to the starting point On average I would say the weather seriously stops me only about 2 weeks a year. However this simple principle don't necessarily work elsewhere. I will never forget walking for 10 hours in the rain on the 'Turks in 1995. 450 people started (far too many) and only about 80 finished as far as I remember. I had become so cold that about two hours after finishing the walk I started to get spasms. You know stitches in your side or in your legs? Well this was in each and every limb. My entire body became rigid. For many of the wilder places, unlike most of Wicklow, it is quite difficult to leave an area, particularly if your transport is to the north or east of the range. Wicklow's mountains may have been 2500m high once but nowadays the flattened stumps left after 350m years of erosion don't offer as many serious cliffs as elsewhere.. It may have been snowing in the north but in Wicklow it was a continuous downpour. I see from john_desmond's comments however that the Comeraghs were actually clear! |
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| Bleck Cra 2005-04-19 22:29:23 |
Whether Forecast
GB bemoans the demise of Rover - and on cue, questions are being asked of Directors’ salaries. How blind are the betrayed, to the billions up in smoke. A media weather-man (or person-thing) can take home €150,000pa. On Wednesday he/it advised that Saturday would be a scorcher; on Thursday he/it crossed his/its leaden heart that Saturday would be a scorcher; on Friday he/it swore on the life of his/its demon child that Saturday would be a scorcher; on Saturday itself, he/it told us that it was wet, freezing and blowing blizzards and batted not a hooded eyelid. God help us - take one emperor, take no clothes…..! Scouring the Mournes on Saturday in full mental jacket, I am still not thawed out by Tuesday. Boy, it was rough - but somehow, perhaps in the face of adversity, the craic was ninety. Incidentally, there is now a bloke fell-running every Saturday with a Springer Spaniel, the first tired Springer Spaniel I have ever seen and deliriously happy. “Tomorrow’s supposed to be worse”, I shouted to a trio of dripping devotees. “Yes”, rejoined one, “tomorrow is the Apocalypse!”. A bloke from Mayobridge, AWOL for several unpleasant years, marching out manful new footprints toward higher and higher summits. Two desperados from Carrick (quite) giving it welly with some dear kit. A Scots bloke from Mull (standing soaked on Donard, he must have been amazed at the advances of civilisation since he last left that grey island). My highlight was however, a round young bloke coming off, who knows, Crossone. “Bad weather” he said - and given he was in a grey sweatshirt and Lidl gutties, he was well placed to comment. And so 1. the €150,000 a year Weatherthing or 2. the sweatshirt-clad round young bloke? Choices, choices. |
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| johnvbrennan 2005-04-18 11:02:51 |
Buying a new rain jacket
I had the misfortune of losing my Lowe Alpine jacket in Scotland over Easter. I had it for 2 years and it did it's job from Kerry to Kilimanjaro. That said it wasn't perfect. The hood drove me crazy at times. In strong winds I found that the hood was inclined to blow out of shape, sometimes obscuring visibility in 1 eye.Anyway I need to buy a new one especially after yesterday's trip up Curve waterfall....I mean Curve Gully :-) Yesterday I had to make do with a 15 euro cycle jacket from Lidl. Portable sauna might be a better description but how's ever. What do you folks recommend? My dad has Berghaus Extreme XCR and it seems to be good jacket although he had a problem with one sleave that started letting water in. Interested to hear your thoughts. Cheers, JB |
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| jackill 2005-04-15 08:45:20 |
Mountain Trails
Everpresent - I've been spurred into action by the Northerner Black Craeture and his scurrilous comments on those of us south of the border.For one of the best trails across open mountain in the south I suggest you take in the Brandon ridge from Cloghane village to Mount Brandon there to Gearhane then on to Ballysitteragh/Beenabrack across the Connor Pass and up the other side(Cental Dingle Mountains) to Slieveanea and across as far as Knockmulane and down from there to Anascaul village. Two of us did it last year in Mayover 3 days camping at Lough Na mBan and at a lake under the north side of Gowlane Beg on the second night. You have views out over the Blaskets and the Atlantic as well as over all of Kerry as far as the 'Reeks. The walk from Cloghane to Mount Brandon is along a well worn track from Faha and you are bound to meet other people but after that you'll only come in contact with civilisation again briefly at the connor pass while crossing the road. The trail is easy to follow and seldom drops below 600 mtrs - there are quite a few comments on Mountainviews describing the area and maps 70,71 cover the area. I hope you find this of interest and that you have a good trip- all the best |
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| Bleck Cra 2005-04-12 22:04:57 |
Hello everpresent. Being a dedicated Mournes man and knowing the Wicklow Mountains like the back of my head, I have resisted proffering any thoughts on your tour. However as no one (and I mean not one of these cosseted, cash-rich, soft southerners) has deigned to comment, it is left to noblesse oblige and the politesse (as apposed to the politics) of the North. If you thought about winging North - it's only a couple of hours out of Dublin - I and a couple of others on this site could advise. If the compass is likely to point in this direction, I'm sure we could point you in the right direction too. Drop a comment in here and let me know. | ||
| Claude Hopper 2005-04-12 18:43:31 |
Any more tricks of the trade? Here's one. When buying new kit, think outside the box. The key word is "crossover". Need new gloves? You'll pick up a virtually indestructible pair, in 100% waterproof cordura, and immensely comfortable for under £20 - where? In a motorbike shop. Or new loop nylon socks - top end gear for bottom end prices in the village fishing tackle shop. Same goes for a head torch - better still from the local ironmongers. And much more - and strangely you may find the same brands but at much lower prices. | ||
| Bleck Cra 2005-04-12 18:32:56 |
Yes Speedo indeed they do, but if memory serves (and I meeeean memory), not in all circumstances. | ||
| Bleck Cra 2005-04-11 20:41:29 |
Caked grey ice clung to crack-tooth crags like dead man’s spittle. The flaccid flanks of pewter clouds, barged and bullied by biting winds, wept bitter tears into fetid glens. From the bowels of this grey tableau, the Devil’s fingers nursed bat’s teeth needles of frost and cast them in the barren air. The Mourne Mountains ninth day of the cruellest month and darkness was abroad. Lone riders slow, sulking, refractory, dragged their hapless trails behind them. Grim and grumbling, like distracted ghosts. Troops of bowed innocents poured in silent rivulets on to crumbling tracks, like grey mice from a burst barrel, criss-crossing, weaving arcane symbols on the land. Against the too blues and too whites of a different winter sky, three ravens rose and scattered like soot smuts from a Russian campfire and a sole skylark popped from burnt bog like poison gas. When the sun comes again to warm us (and it will), will it be as rotting flesh amongst the servants of mammon or alive with our own God in our own hills? Do widzenia Lolek. |
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| simon3 2005-04-08 13:16:15 |
A Wheen o' Whin
Ahh, whin. Whin (gorse or furze) featured in my nearly forgotten childhood in Northern Ireland. It was used to colour eggs at Easter. Before Bleck, another Scot said "Pit some gorse flooers in the watter when ye bile yer Easter egg and it’ll come oot a bonnie gowden broon." (Well some Scots may have said this). Certainly there's a lot of whin about in Wicklow. I always associate it with south facing slopes where it shines yellow in the sun for a long season. Just as well if you believe the saying "that when the gorse is not in bloom, kissing is out of fashion." |
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| Bleck Cra 2005-04-06 21:35:07 |
A Wheen o' Whin
Funny how as the highest ticket communicators on earth, we cling to our points of reference: “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day” or “very like a whale”. But my unfavourite of all time is “Ah the whin: yes, just like vanilla or coconut ….” or some other scandalous comparison. The truth is, the underplayed scent of whin is so fantastical, so captivatingly odd and distant, that it defies comparison. The whin is the most devilishly magical weed God (or his beloved light bearer) ever forked into this earth. If you plant sibling cuttings in the same ground, one will grow up, the other out. Rain the same rain on six cloned plants and watch 6 different interpretations emerge. John Joseph gives up and leaves them as windbreaks for indolent cattle; the buzzy bees float in them, all sheets to the wind; and the Reverend Doctor (and one-time photographer), threatens to set them on fire. If you do little more this weekend than get up, get up and fumble into whin country, to my two favourite whin loaneys: a minute into the Bloody Bridge Track, ex Newcastle or immediately on to the Trassey Track, ex Bryansford. It is here you will find yourself submerged in a sunshine yellow haze of eau de whin, that will transport you into a world of mists, dreams and memory. Boughs of it hung outdoors to ward off witches, the black reek of it burning ahead of battle; even a gnat’s of it in your whiskey for good measure and you can try this with it bound to a broom handle, when the priests and prelates are a-bed. Sweep east to west and repeat after me 'out with evil, from this house, as the sun travels bring us peace' |
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