On top of the world...

Well not exactly, but close. On February 27th we set off for the beautiful surrounds of South Armagh to take on the 'Twin Peaks Mountain Challenge'. The event provided an ideal chance to raise a few quid in sponsorship for the upcoming trip to Korea, more than that though, it was a perfect training session.

The challenge was an 18k trek across two of Armagh's most daunting peaks; Camlough mountain and Sliabh Gullion.
We headed in Camlough village for registration where we also met with all the other teams taking part. There was three teams from Dublin, one of them was team Red Star, which included Adam Quinn, Alvydas Jankauskas, Néidín Coulahan and Adam's mate Ciarán. This blog was attached to another team of experienced out door people, Gerry and Oisín. They craved the outdoors.

When we set out from the base I was unsure as to what to expect. I had prepared well, probably too well, I had too many layers on as I found out to my annoyance later on up the mountain. My pre-judgment had me believe I was heading for a stroll with a bit of a challenge. I was right, if you remove the stroll bit and upper case the challenge bit, add an exclamation mark -! -and were off.. CHALLENGE!

The beginning of Camlough is not for the faint hearted. It is an unforgiving sudden angle upwards. There was no warm up, just up. two or three minutes into the climb and the heart rate was well and truly at a pace, at this point I knew I was overly clothed, but there was nothing I could do except plough on.

The lads were hungry for the challenge, Adam and Alvy wanted to run it, I was content with the walk however.
Camlough was nearly vertical all the way to the top. It was a great relief to make it to flatter land, mission one was accomplished and no casualties.

Onto Sliabh Gullion now.

Armagh is an amazing county. Steeped in recent and not so recent history. The mountains we were trekking across were in the not so recent past inaccessible due to the British military being camped in spy posts across the region. The tops of these beautiful sleeping giants were out of bounds to locals and hill walkers alike. The spy posts are gone now and the walkers and locals of Armagh have made the mountains their own.
Unfortunately, a bit like litter bugs at the beach, the army left behind lumps of metal and barbed wire across the terrain. The locals don't mind though, for them the barbed wire is a symbol of what they campaigned to have removed, and now they can roam freely.

The views were spectacular. The snow was still intact on the peaks, the temperature dropped to -3 up there, but the body heat kept us all blissfully unaware of the circling wind.
A small winding road through some forest land led is to the beginning of Sliabh Gullion where waiting for us were Moore Streets finest mandarins. Nothing tasted so good. As we munched on mandarins we chatted with some local Armagh people who gave us some of the local history. We were told that on the top of Sliabh Gullion a small megalithic tomb existed. The druids of times long gone by burned the bones of the deceased in this ancient tomb. We headed on, excited of what lay ahead of us.

The lads on my team were a pleasure to have around. Both Gerry and Oisín were full of out door knowledge. There was plenty learned, new found knowledge ignited a possible new found love for the outdoors in this city dweller.

On the top of Sliabh Gullion my legs felt like they had taken part in two of Master Dalton's squad sessions, back to back. I was relieved to have made it. The fresh air up there was crisp and extremely clean. You could tell the difference. We were surrounded by nothing but clouds and it felt liberating.
We sought out the tomb and sat for a while as we loaded up with hot ribena, quinoa and simple carbs.
I took a moment or two to wonder at this marvelous structure on the top of the mount. It always amazes me that the people of a period over a thousand years ago paid such respect to their dead. Building this structure on Sliabh Gullion would have been no easy feat. Remarkable indeed.

We said our goodbyes to the tomb and to the Stewart's who were camped there for the day and we set off towards the ground. The descent was as challenging with most of the falls and tumbles happening as we clambered down. There was no serious injuries though, just damaged ego's and bruised rear ends.

About two hours later the ground started to level off and we were back near enough to sea level. Down through some small streams and across some knee deep soft ground and we had about 5 miles left back to the base.

On arrival we were timed, 5 hours 20 minutes it took us. We also found that the winners of the challenge did it in 2 hours 30 minutes. They ran it. I kid you not. Alvy reckons we could run it the next time. He's on his own.

After some soup and more mandarins we said a fond farewell to the folks that looked after us and headed back to the noisy polluted metropolis. Legs a bit weaker but minds a good deal clearer. Adam says we have to do this more often, I agree with him. And we will. I have now a new love for the outdoors that is tangible and not some pipe dream. The day was well worth it, and to make it even better it was a good days training.

As for the Sunday session, we took a break today. The memories of the mountain yesterday are good enough to create a sudden sweat. That will do us for today.