The Croghan Caper

Submitted by admin on Mon, 09 Jan 2012 6:18pm

Christmas WalkSome thoughts from Brendan Doherty

Achievement
Based on statistics from Brendan O’Connor, the group of 31 (odd?) people covered some 28K in a walk time of 5 hours 20 minutes and climbed some 850 metres.

What emerged
The mechanics of covering up hill and descending down dale I leave to others more capable than I. Many thanks are due to Dave, Phillip and others in allowing us to do this.

What I would like to cover more is the huge sense of camaraderie that can emerge from a forced march such as this one- embracing all (it seemed) and leaving few outside its touch.

Examples I became aware of included



  • Veterans of Croghan (Richard Flynn, Brian Power, Bobby Buckley) reflecting just how dark the dark (mapping) ages of the eighties  really were, compared to today’s computerised efforts

  • Brendan O’Connor displaying the patience of Job in responding to queries such as “how far have we gone?” and the child’s travel favourite “are we there yet?” by referring to his GPS

  • Mary O’Connell revealing her sprinting prowess as she ran at one stage between groups to convey navigational instructions (in between releasing your scribe’s boot-lace when it got entangled when leaping off a barbed wire fence)

  • A master stroke displayed by Marcus Geoghan,  in conjuring up a flagon of sparkling Italian wine for the group, to toast the lunching hour

  • More conjuring from Doug Corrie  from National Trails, appearing  out of the mist (so it appeared) snazzily equipped with MTB and GPS to provide route choice options if thought necessary-totally unrelated to the main group

  • Much help from a number,  in guidance of the group down a slippery black slope (mud, leaves, felled trees, brashings) close to journey’s end

  • More of the same in the dark by a small group  using torches over public roads……………the story could go on

Thoughts to ponder on



  • I oscillate between shouting to many more Dublin/Wicklow mountain-walking prisoners to hie themselves down to this area, and keeping it as much of a secret as possible

  • Maybe make future walks a tad shorter –by 5K was one suggestion made to me

  • Make sure to stress that group members bring torches -your scribe left not 1, not 2, but 3 of them in his car in the haste to clamber on board the bus; my fault, but did I pay for it

  • Maybe afford the planners a little more planning assistance by breaking up such a longish trail and outsourcing the reconnaissance of some of the segments. Such an approach also provides for a sharper time estimate of the total route
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