Friday evening I got home from work, all set to clean the house for a party we were having on Saturday evening. As we had planned to hit the big smoke in the morning we wouldn't have much time during the day to get anything done. At 7pm we got a phone call from our next door neighbour, who is also a local mountain guide, asking us if we would like to join him and his grandson for a hike to the summit of Sliabh an Iarainn. Initially we said we were too busy, but thinking about it again (for about 2 seconds) we agreed to go with them.
We were picked up at 7:15pm (so we had loads of time to get ready..not...) and drove for only a few minutes before we abandoned the car an started walking up a long and very grassy trail. I was amazed to see Jack, 6, making his way up the mountain in wellies and not a bother on him. He had no trouble keeping up with us and devoured a whole bag of fruits during the hike.
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| The sheep didn't really mind us being around |
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| Some bridge - Cara wasn't sure whether to cross it or not...I wonder why ;o) |
John, our neighbour, was brilliant pointing out all sorts of places and views and we were amazed that we could actually see our house from up there. The climb was quite steep in some places. We had brought Cara to see how she would get on and she was amazing. She was so good, very obedient and never bothered the sheep that were all over the place up there. She was wearing a harness with a grip and every now and then Jack used her to pull himself up some of the slopes. I think she'd make a great rescue dog. :)
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| Us - photo taken by Cian |
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| Jack and Cara racing towards John :) |
We went up a dried out bed of an old stream, with big banks of bog on both sides. It was quite impressive. Then we walked through large grassy areas covered with little cotton flowers. It was so nice. Just before we got to the top we had to cross a large area of bog. We had to watch every step, because it was very easy to sink in it - Jack called it quicksand :).
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| Going into the bed of the old stream |
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| Little cotton flowers |
When we arrived at the summit Cian and Jack had a great time messing around in the boggy muck while John and I enjoyed the scenery. From the top we could see down the other side of the mountain, all the way to Knocknarea and Sligo Bay.
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| At the summit |
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| Yay, we made it! |
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| The sun setting over Sligo bay in the background |
Eventually we made our way back down, which was quite entertaining, with some of us falling (I got stuck in a bit of mud and fell down on all fours...Jack was falling regularly while stepping into grassy holes on the slopes - I don't think it was accidental either ;o)), slipping, stumbling and most of all laughing pretty much the whole way down. Jack wanted to race Cian and at some stage Cara tripped Cian up while he was going full speed to catch up with Jack, which was quite funny to watch (sorry Cian).
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| Jack got stuck in some "quicksand" |
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| "you can nearly touch the clouds" - well said Cian |
When we got home it was after 10pm and we were quite tired, so there was not much more work around the house done that evening. Instead we had some home made cheesecake (thanks to Cian). He had made some Baileys cheesecake earlier in the day and had mentioned it during the hike, so Jack was dying to get a slice. I loved the innocence in his question: "Who the hell is Baileys?"
We still managed to do the main bits of housework after we got back home from Dublin Saturday evening before people started arriving and the party turned out to be a great success. So no regrets whatsoever for actually joining John and Jack on their hike. :)
Take care all!
Di
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