West Waterford Weekend....

Well the forecasted rain held off on Saturday for the "Curlew walkers"from Sligo.The walking club were on a  weekend visit to the sunny south East and the plan for day 1 was  to shake off the cob-webs and enjoy a nice relaxing guided few hours around the beautiful and always interesting Ardmore cliff walk...The 12 first time visitors to this wonderful area really enjoyed the nice'n'flat easy trail which took us to lots of historic and interesting sites such as Saint Declans well, the wreck of the "Samson" crane ship and of course the 10th century St. Declans oratory and impressive  10th century round tower..

After a stopping off for a relaxing coffee and some nice home baking in a we left Ardmore to go and visit the renowned Stephen Pearce Pottery in the lovely East Cork village of Shanagarry.The gang really enjoyed their full tour off this world famous pottery and even got a lesson on throwing pots by Stephen Pearce himself !!!A perfect and informative end to an ever interesting day....

Sunday we headed East from their hotel base in the historic town of Youghal  to the beautiful Comeragh mountains of West Waterford...None of them had walked or been to the Comeraghs before and the forecast was for nice bright sunshine all day with only light cloud!!! They thought Ardmore was amazing so I couldn't wait for them to see the Comeraghs!!!!!

Our objective for Sunday was the stunning Coumshingaun horseshoe....The group were blown away by the awesome beauty of the place...and all only a half hour walk from the main road.!!! A little cloudier than we had expected but some brilliant sunshine at times and a really great route...one of my favorites in the whole country in fact!!! We also took in the impressive coum of "Crottys Lake"...

A great weekend had by all on their first and hopefully not last visit to this wonderful wonderful area and range of beautiful hills...

 The Comeragh Mountains stretch diagonally across County Waterford from Dungarvan to Clonmel. They divide the county roughly in half. As mountains go they are not spectacularly high but they are rugged and interesting abounding in lakes, rivers, hollows, cliffs and rocky slopes. At the very summit of the range is a great bog which gave the mountains the name Monavollagh meaning turf on top but ...the name by which they are better known is The Comeraghs ( Na Comeraigh), meaning having many river confluences or Com Seangan ( pissmire valley also translated as hollow of the ants). Coumshingaun is perhaps the finest example of a glacial corrie or coum in the British Isles and for the most part is made up of a knobbly conglomerate rock type.

Blissful couple of hours in the Gap....

The rain has stopped so we're goin out to play!!!  Had planned on heading up North to Fair Head in county Antrim for the climbing "Meet" but never made it !!!! (Brownie points all used up!!!!) By all accounts the North avoided the deluge of rain the South of the country experienced....To make amends I luckily managed to get out climbing today in pleasant sunshine to the gorgeous Gap of Dunloe....AMAZINGLY the only party climbing on a perfect day...the stiff breeze even kept the midgies away.... Happy days....but I bet Fair head was a cracker......!!!!

While on the subject, one of the routes we climbed was a just that....a CRACKER !!!

It is a great  30 metre slabby wall leading to a tremendously exposed arete and a mad place to be....The snaking line of "P'U" E2 5b...Notice it had its first ascent in 1990 by the mighty "Gap" pioneer Aidan Forde and the even more infamous Paul Pritchard...U.K climbing legend...A man I truely admire greatly...

A Pritchard route...Nice one !!!






http://ppritchard.blogspot.ie/

Pritchard was born in Lancashire, UK, in 1967 and, at age 16 began a life of climbing. He soon moved to North Wales and that Mecca of rock climbing, Llanberis and ...by 1986 he was climbing the top grade of the day. He began a life of mountaineering that would take him to the Indian Himalaya, the Pakistani Karakorum, Patagonia, Baffin Island, The Pamirs, the European Alps and the American Rockies.
When he won the Boardman/Tasker Award for mountain literature in 1997, with Deep Play, he spent the prize money on a world climbing tour that found him in Tasmania climbing a slender sea stack known as The Totem Pole. It was here that all that he had known before was turned on its head.
On Friday the 13th of February 1998 a TV-sized boulder falling from 25 meters inflicted such terrible head injuries that doctors thought he might never walk or even speak again. Pritchard has spent his time since the accident in contemplation of the hemiplegia which has robbed his right side of movement and played tricks with his speech and memory.

However, he is still making a remarkable recovery and re-directing his life in continually inspiring and rewarding ways.
He has since moved to Tasmania, the place that did him so much harm, and is raising two children.
Always looking to the future, Pritchard story gives the message that life doesn't have to stop with the trauma of head injury or disability.
 
Just have a look at this and see!!!!! http://vimeo.com/30899616