We've officially had the best summer on record since the early 1980s, with scorching hot weather for the past few weeks and a promise of more to come. How can you not love that! Maybe I'm making excuses, but I find it tough to run in this kind of weather, so without any major race on the horizon I've eased off the running until the weather cools. That's not to say that I've completely neglected it, however, and I enjoyed a lovely four mile trot not so long ago with my good Norwegian friend, Torgeir Brathen, who was over visiting with Bente, Marie and the Dina... we certainly enjoyed their company immensely and hope to plot a visit back to Norway in the next year or two...
Yesterday I took to the hills with Brendan Mac, for a serious walk on the Maamturks... When the students leave (on the 11th Aug) I plan to walk 66km, from Oughterard to Leenane, over the Maamturks with an overnight camp. This is instead of my Carraroe-Louth cycle, which we're taking a break from this year. So, yesterday's walk was to suss out the 'camping area', as well as to work out the routes on and off the mountain area. It was a beautiful day for the hills - severely hot on ground level and cooling nicely as we climbed. Brendan struggled initially as he was after a long cycle the previous day and without proper food or water taken. However, after a sandwich and a gulp of water at the top of the first peak, he became the mountain goat that he usually is!
The climb took us four hours in all and we finished it off with a lovely pint in Peacocks... lovely hurling!
