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| THE TWELVE BENS |
We met at Kylemore Abby at 4:45am and I left my car in a nearby layoff, we then continued on in Peters car towards Derryclare the first peak of the day and the place from which we would launch on to the next 11 mountains. The weather was pristine not a drop of rain and the sun could be seen slowly making its way up above the horizon. Having left the car at the foot of Derryclare we prepared and then set off leaving at 5:17am, the darkness of the previous night was washing away as we walked pitch black turned to an outlay of the land an eyrie outline of our surroundings until eventually the sun began to illuminate the mountain range, we were at this stage 3/4 of the way up Derryclare by 6:17 we were sitting atop the mountain eating and reading our map. We were already cutting down on our estimated time, at this stage the fog began to close in around us and completely obscured our vision making the map vitally important, we then set off for the next mountain of the Twelve Binn Chorr (Bencorr)
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| resting on Derryclare |
We flew to the top of Bencorr and were on top by 6:55am cutting our predicted time down by 35 minutes in other words we were flying along. We didn't stop here and continued on towards Binn Dubh (Bencollaghduff) It was at this stage of the day were we lost our track and went way off course, instead of heading to the left after Binn Chorr to head towards Binn Dubh we continued on out along the ridge due to the fog, we then realised we had gone to far and decide to make our way down along the side of the mountain and head back up the valley towards Binn Dubh. This proved to be an exciting but overall useless exercise, we skirted down along a thin face towards the bottom of the valley and then began making our way uphill once more along scree and rock. Instead of skirting along from peak to peak we had now gone back down to come back up, an interesting in a gully along the way we crossed some stubborn snow which still clung to the mountain reluctant to let go as clearly the rest had.
Having regained the height we had lost we reached the summit of Binn Dubh at 8:30am an hour later then predicted, stopping for a snack we carefully read the map not wanting to make the same mistake twice, we then set off once again making for Binn Bhraoin.
The fog was still affecting our vision and we almost strayed off the path off the wrong side of the plateau we were on, we managed to readjust and find our path and so made directly for Binn Bhraoin making it to the top by 10:25am, 25 minutes later then we had originally planned but we knew our direction from this point and had our bearings so things would go smoothly from here.
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| view as we made our way from Binn Bhraoin onto Binn Gabhair |
The fog was gradually receding as the day wore on and things began to become a lot easier, myself and peters moods where lifted as the fog had gradually begun to drag the mood of the day down, but as we inched towards the rocky slope of Binn Ghabhair the fog began to clear fully.
Having stopped for something to eat atop Binn Ghabhair we made the short hop across to Ben Leitrà a gradual slope led from one to the next. I felt fresh and once the fog cleared we could see for miles in each direction, being able to discern where each and every mountain was made the day much more enjoyable as we were not so worried about getting lost or directions.
And so with the clear blue sky above and the twelve bens visibly stretching out in each direction with 6 already done we made for the 7th summit Binn Gleann Uisce which we had judged would take an hour and 45 minutes yet only actually took us 27 minutes as we jogged and sprinted our way to the top, taking a huge chunk off our judged time, having lagged more than an hour behind due to the fog we were now almost a half hour ahead of schedule.
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| Benlettery |
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| View from the top of Binn Gleann Uisce |
Having made our way to the top of Binn Gleann Uisce we rested for a longer period of time before making the push towards the 8th peak of the day Ben Baun the highest of all the bens standing at 729m high. We had a large drop into the valley floor below before we rise again onto Ben Baun.
We were feeling good and had put ourselves back well on track time wise, the weather was good and we were feeling good.
I refilled my water from a stream flowing down towards the valley floor and we ploughed on towards Ben Baun, we talked and joked all the way towards the next peak but once we reached the bottom we both headed off in different directions and agreed to meet at the top, Peter headed along an opposite route to me. I headed directly for a face of rock I could see to my left and spent the next 45 minutes climbing up along the face towards the tip of the peak, this was by far my favourite part of the day picking my way up along the stony face rock by rock. at around ten to 3 I reached the top of the face and walked along the top of the mountain for the next ten minutes until I reached the peak at bang on 3 o clock, the exact time we had planned to be at the top for, Peter arrived within a minute or two of me and we sat for some lunch looking out on the 4 peaks left to be reached, perched on the highest point in the bens mountain range.
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| Eating on top of Ben Baun |
From here on we made very quick progress the next 3 mountains, Benfree, Muckanaught and Ben Cullagh, Having eaten a huge lunch atop Benbaun these 3 combined took us less then 2 hours. Peter was suffering slightly with his knee and my legs were beginning to feel the strain.
The weather remained perfect as we danced along the walls towards Ben Cullagh, this quartet from Benbaun was the most beautiful part of the day from thin ledges to high vantage points looking out on the surrounding landscape we had it all.
We reached the top of Ben Cullagh at twenty to five in the evening, this was nearly 2 hours quicker than our expected arrival time, we had eaten up time and could now leisurely stroll towards Benbrack our final descent and ascent of the day.
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| making my way up Ben Cullagh,, Muckanaght and Benbaun can be seen behind me with Benfree hidden by both mountains |
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| View from the top of Bencullagh |
Having eaten the remainder of the food I had brought with me I refilled my water in a nearby stream and ploughed on ahead. The final climb of the day was at times difficult due to the tiredness of my legs, we were much slower getting to the top of this mountain but still managed to crush the time we had set ourselves.
We congratulated each other at the top and having stopped for some food and a talk about the day we eventually set off for home. We came down along a beautiful ridge we had traversed dong the mountain skills course a few weeks before, as we came down the ridge we saw Kylemore Abbey and sweeping views of the surrounding mountain ranges and valleys, it was a magnificent way to end the day.
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| View of Kylemore as we descended |
We were exhausted and starving but also very happy, I sped towards Peters Car passing by the edges of the mountain range which we had just walked in its entirety, I dropped Peter at the bottom of Derryclare where our journey began said goodbye and hit for home.
The sun set and disappeared below the horizon just as I reached home, A full range conquered and an amazing day spent.
