North Atlantic Skyline - - Photographs from the west of Ireland (Galway, Mayo, Clare, Limerick, Roscommon and even Leitrim)

Mweelrea

To be a rock and not to roll...a ice-shattered rock slab (the size of a small car) balances on the edge of a ridge on Mweelrea, the highest mountain in Connacht at a little over 800 metres.

Kerrist! I'd forgotten just how hard it is to hike to the top of Mweelrea. We approached it from the western edge of Doo Lough, and it's basically like climbing a 700 metre staircase to get to the summit ridge. Mweelrea is the ominous looking mountain sitting on the northern side of the mouth of Killary Fjord. It's usually topped with cloud, and this morning was no different. We did have more than a little luck today - as we climbed, the cloud in front of us cleared, so that we spent most of time on the top in bright, and somewhat unseasonal, sunshine. This is the third hike this autumn where this has happened - I think some of our walk leaders must have taken the optional Divine Intervention module on their Navigation Skills course.

For once, we kept bumping into other climimg parties. Two chaps set off just before us, and made it down long before us. A girl on her own navigated in near-zero visibility across a couple of the ridges, and in a cracking time too. She is obviously an accomplished walker, but Mweelrea isn't really the sort of climb to do on your own. And then there was the NUIG walking club, who practically ran all the way up and much of the way back. That's very bad for morale, even if most of them are nearly half my age.

Alas, poor Yorick...I fleeced him well...

We didn't see much in the way of wildlife, other than a couple of annoyed ravens who circled overhead to make sure we were leaving. Oh, and plenty of sheep. Of course, not all of them leave the mountain breathing. And that's where the ravens come in...

Buy pictures of Mweelrea. Co. Mayo here