There's gold in them hills

After surviving my very first proper hike and getting so excited I accidentally bought a pair of hiking boots, I decided it was about time I went on another hike. The crowd I had hiked with last time were doing a pretty tough hike on a Sunday and I was working for it but much to my good fortune a colleague had sent me on a link to a walk happening today that she thought might be my thing.

So the previous hike I had been on was with a group of amateur hikers and it was great in a very tough sort of way but this walk was being led by a qualified hill walking guide which meant there was a €20 fee but a much lower chance of falling off a rocky bit of mountain. That's always a plus. I didn't mind paying because I really wanted another hike and sure there's worse things I could be spending a bit of money on.

So the morning got off to a bit of a rocky start. I left home in what I thought was plenty of time and put the destination into my maps and off I went. Except for one teeny tiny detail. The address I put into maps was the business address for Hidden trails and not in fact the agreed meeting point. I did manage to meet everyone, 40 mins late and they were all very nice about me being such a dope. I did learn a valuable lesson about paying more attention to details so I wont be making that mistake again.

So I followed the group to start point of the walk in my car and I was surprised the mountain was so close. Geography was admittedly not my best subject so I hadn't realised the location of the walk had been changed last minute until our guide helpfully clarified it. The terrain on The Blackstairs wasn't great when he had done a recon for the walk a few days previous and instead had decided to take us up Brandon Hill. I would have been none the wiser until I posted the pictures online and someone corrected me which would have been embarrassing.

I didn't mind. I can count on one hand the amount of mountains I have been up so it was still going to be a novel experience with a whole load of fresh air. We ended up being extremely lucky with the weather. Yes it was cold and the wind was not the friendliest but it was dry and not a snow flake to be found so I knew I was going to be fine. Our guide, Paddy, had been up these hills many times and on the walk we learned much about the landscape and the history of the place.

The path we walked was rugged but the walk was evenly paced so at no point did I feel I was under mad pressure and I thoroughly enjoyed all of it. The other women on the walk were friendly and many laughs and stories were exchanged along the way. 

Apparently there was even a part of Brandon Hill where there is thought to be gold deposits, I'd direct you to the spot but I don't have the greatest sense of direction so I'm not sure I'd find it alone. It was a bit nippy out so we opted to keep walking rather than pausing to mine for gold and hoofing our way down to cash for gold to see what they would give us in return.

Even in the mist, the view was beautiful and none of my photos do it justice. There's a mythical quality on some of Ireland's hills and I certainly found it here. We even detoured to look at a possible faery circle and I felt I could almost see traces of the old Ireland we read about in legends long ago.

Mostly I was delighted to complete a whole walk without falling over but I felt like the walk had cleared my head as well as stretched my legs and I am looking forward to getting out again. I guess hiking is something I do now 

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