Snow, Sunshine, Smiles

WELL DONE to the Franciscan College Gormanston 5th Years. After 8 days and 160 km + of walking, they reached Santiago Cathedral on March 28th along the Camino de Santiago. Fantastic!! Physically, spiritually, socially it was a very demanding and challenging experience, but at the same time very rewarding and worthwhile.

Friends, Food, Fun

Here is a slideshow of their amazing achievement. The captions on the pictures refer to lyrics from the following songs used in the presentation: “You Get What You Give” (New Radicals), “Feeling Good” (Muse), “Forever Young” (Alphaville), and “In the Sun” (Michael Stipe and Chris Martin). A full write-up will follow shortly but pictures first!!

Gormanston Camino 2013 by MissKRyan

What a tough but thoroughly rewarding hike on Saturday 9 February. It was the second time for the Camino group to take on Slieve Donard, but this time a more challenging route was taken. The starting point was Bloody Bridge and the hike continued along the course of the river with the same name. Bloody Bridge River is a spate river – meaning in dry weather it is just a trickle and easy to cross, but in rainy conditions it can be a torrent. Crossing over the boulders was a bit tricky indeed as the river flooded around them.

It was onwards and upwards through the mist and muck. As we rose higher, spatterings of snow were all around and it was hard to resist throwing snowballs. The mist lifted briefly for everyone to enjoy crossing through a stone quarry with a gushing (but small) waterfall. The hike up was tough among the stones and heavy muck. Even the most experienced hikers in the group could not avoid a slip or two.

Reaching the Mourne Wall was a relief, but only because no-one had a clue of the mossy, stony, and horrendously steep trek to the summit. There were sandwiches and snowballs before the gruelling ascent began. Despite the exhaustion, a great sense of achievement was felt by all to finally reach the 850m peak of Donard. It was just barely possible to see the sea from the top.

Downhill might be pleasing to the mind, but was in fact quite tricky on the body with a few more slips by some. At the saddle between Donard and its neighbouring peak Commedagh a major snowball attack took place. Liam and Sean H on one side of the wall were a strong match for everyone else! After that the group headed down the valley of the Glen River in more rocky and rather slippy conditions.

Fair play to all the students on the hike and to Adam’s mam for coming along too. Despite the wet, cold and mucky day, everyone was in good spirits and certainly enjoyed the challenge of the hike.

One guarantee – the 155km trek along the Camino will be a walk in the park compared to the preparation hikes undertaken by the best bunch of students ever! Here’s a slideshow of that difficult hike:

Slieve Donard 9.2.13 by MissKRyan

What a great achievement by some brave 5th years today. Glorious weather conditions added to a fantastic day hiking along the Wicklow Way.

Sean Hayes, Sean Brennan, Kate, Matthew, Chris, Joe, Robert, Jake and Eoin should all be very proud of conquering the daunting and challenging Djouce. After 5 hours and nearly 18 kms, leg and back muscles were starting to ache. But sunshine, good spirits, breathtaking views of lakes and forests kept everyone going strong. A bowl of soup in Roundwood was greatly appreciated to revive the body and soul. How wonderful that Mr Hayes joined us for the last leg of the hike – thanks! Super day but it’s good to put the feet up now. Watch this space for the next Camino prep hike.

Here’s a slideshow of today’s highlights:

Djouce 4.1.13

Robert, Kate, Jake, Joe, Adam and Eoin turned up bright and early for the first Camino practice hike today. Meeting in Gormanston at 9am, unsure of the weather conditions that lay ahead, we hopped on the bus and arrived at Donard Park Newcastle Co Down just before 11am. In wet and drizzly conditions we wrapped up and began the steep but varied ascent. The first section of the climb was tricky underfoot as we crossed over the river Glen a couple of times amidst beautiful spruce and pine forest. We then reached an open stretch with the river on our left, the forest on our right, an ocean view behind us and Slieve Donard hidden from sight, but lying in wait ahead of us. We crossed over the river again using delightful stepping stones and the ascent to the saddle between Donard and Commedagh was steep and rocky. Nothing could stop those superhuman fifth years who made it to the saddle as a mere mortal huffed and puffed twenty minutes behind. At the saddle where the Mourne Wall stretches right and left, we met some hikers on their descent who tipped us off to the snow that covered the summit. Mist and fog rolled around us making it difficult to know how far the summit was from us. The intrepid Gormo hikers zoomed up to the top and waited for the last member of the party to arrive. The snow was glistening and the wind was both freezing and forceful so even though it was a fun and exhilarating experience, we did not hang around. The descent was far easier on the lungs and the muscles than the uphill climb had been. Robert and Eoin reached Donard Park first but still came back without any seeming effort to meet the stragglers.

These students are well on their way to being more than mentally and physically prepared for the Camino Pilgrimage next March. To be fair, their physical fitness was never in question (not like that of the organiser of the hike!!)

Here’s a slideshow with some photos from a great day with very cheerful and happy hikers:

Slieve Donard 2.11.12