Ring of Imaal Marathon Walk 2008

Ring of Imaal Marathon Walk 2008

 “……….looks like it’s goin’ to clear……..” But alas on every occasion these words were uttered (which seemed to be on an hourly basis), the weather would almost instantaneously worsen! To all who ventured in the wondrous spirit of all things both boggy and sloppy out of their warm beds to attack with gusto the great “Ring of Imaal Marathon Walk” there would be no let-up from a battering wind and a driving rain which would do it’s best to sap the energies of both mind and body. Still for all this I can’t remember a day on which I laughed as much.

 Checkpoint at Keadeen

This was helped along in no small part by the numerous stewards and guides of An Óige who were continuously helpful and good-spirited as they manned checkpoints and ensured all were well topped up with orange squash (who would have guessed “Miwadi” could taste so good!). Indeed I was to find that at every checkpoint the given stewards were at pains to apologise for the inclement weather (hardly their fault) and that I was at pains to stress that it didn’t really matter all that much. Reason being so long as all would go well… and I would arrive down as much in one piece as is humanly possible… once the pains of the day start to ease, it would be then that one could look back and agree on the achievement that was.

In what bears an uncanny similarity to An Óige hiking days of old, the walk started out with a road walk of about 7km before reaching the ancient ring fortress of Brusselstown. From here on in the wind would blow hard and the rain would actually start to lash at a horizontal pitch!...... I jest you not people. Descending from Keadeen Mountain every time I took one step forward I took two steps back…….it was only when I turned to go home that I ended up going in the correct direction as it were. Yup the day never ceased to throw curiosities at the courageous hillwalker.

My favourite of the day was how while searching for “nearest waypoints” my GPS tried to reason with me to take sides with the “warm and cosy option” as I would be closer to “Fenton’s Pub” while navigating at Ballinabarney than I would be to the summit of Lugnaquillia…...!!! “Get behind me Satan” But the day did progress and most did slog-on…. ..from Lug over to Table then on to Lobawn, then a gentle drop back ot the start/finish at Donard. And to all who finished it was to be no mean feat.

It’s obvious, but weather dictates everything in hillwalking and to survive the endurances of the day that was, all concerned can be “chuffed” as it were, because the day concerned truly commanded that elusive extra effort.

Jim Holmes.

Somewhere near Lug -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------