The Cooley Raid - Tango & Cash featuring Dempsey & Makepeace

Tango & Cash joined forces with Dempsey & Makepeace (aka Enda and JackieO) to form a crack unit for the Cooley Raid on 1 November, and were delighted to romp home 2nd in the mixed teams, 3rd place overall.

The Cuchulainn Warriors, Gerry and Jonny McCabe, snatched the win, followed very closely by processed meat experts Irish AR Denny. Ballyfree Boys and Babe came in just behind us in 4th place, having been slowed up by an injury.

RACE REPORT

Quinn’s Bar in Camlough – the scene of many an international adventure race meet! The cool, crisp, clear day we had for the race was particularly pleasing, given the meteorological battering taken in recent races in Binevenagh and Kilbroney.

We made a decision before the race that when the hooter sounded, we would push hard on the first 1.5km run, to get to the boats first – so when the hooter went, we took the lead for a few hundred yards, ran out of gas, and hit the boats mid-pack, puffing hard.

Davy and Enda had both made the mistake of wearing far too many clothes for the start, and the sweat was absolutely billowing off them by the time we made the far end of Cam Lough – our boats looked steam-powered!

Enda had the good sense to shed a few layers at this point, but Davy prevailed with the multi-layering, a decision that was to plague him all day. Jackie and Rick were perfectly dressed, as usual.

Out of the boats and off on foot at the back of the leading pack, we were neck and neck with the Gnarly Dudes for the climb up onto Slieve Gullion, meeting loads of other teams at CP1 who had taken the more direct route up.

Nearing the first cairn checkpoint, the Cooley Raiders stormed past us back DOWN the hill looking grim, having obviously missed CP2. This spooked NUI Galway, who were then in a bit of a flap about possibly having gone past CP3, but once they steadied themselves that it lay further ahead, they disappeared quickly, and we saw them no more.

As we marched between cairns towards CP4, we could see a few teams on the far summit faffing about looking for the CP, but we knew from doing the same thing last year that the CP lay inside the wee cave, so we lost no time hunting around and dropped down towards the forest.

It was at this point that we passed Ballyfree Boys and Babe, who had been flying up to now, but one of them was clearly in bad shape with a leg injury. We found out later that the fella was not injured at all, but had retired from the race in a huff after team captain Paul Mahon had broken his pre-agreed vow of silence :-D.

Fighting our way down through the bracken, we were easily overtaken by (extremely) old adversaries Passing Wind, who were baying for back to back race victories, having triumphed in Binevenagh.

It was an easy run down the path to the bikes through Slieve Gullion Forest Park; Jackie changed into her bike shoes and munched through the first of what turned out to be a 30-piece assorted fruit hamper!

The first few km on the bikes were easy going, but we were soon puffing our way up the long tarmac slog up Black’s Mountain. We over-took Passing Wind early in the climb, and then stopped for a rest, and they had nipped past us again by the time we reached the mast.

The open-mountain grass section on the bikes was brilliant fun (despite a number of falls by Rick), and we got past Passing Wind again – Tish McCann had NEVER been off-road on a bike before, and was appropriately cautious as a result. Despite this, they were pretty much with us all the way down to the bottom and back up the long forest climb towards The Castle hill.

Searching for CP10, we were very close to making the same mistake a few others had made, but a lucky encounter with Barry from Give It A Go, and some subsequent healthy debate, ensured that we lost little time, whilst a few other teams were hunting around for the CP on the wrong side of the hill. Peter and Barry from Give It A Go were in flying form, and they lost us in no time in the next open mountain section, and that was the last we saw of them.

Jackie was at this point showing off her gymnastics ability with a spectacular pitch over the bars, thankfully resulting only in sore ribs for the rest of us, from laughing. (Jackie had the good sense to perform this manoeuvre at walking pace on soft heather, rather than flat out on a rocky path, which was the lot of Karen Duggan in a recent race outing with us in Donegal!)

Reaching the road at the bottom, our thoughts turned immediately to the almost 300-metre vertical climb we had ahead of us back up to the cut-off point. Enda and Jackie were setting the pace here, tramping up the hill no bother. Davy and Rick, badly out of gas, hung back about 300 yards just to pick up any stragglers! We could see Passing Wind way down the tarmac below us, and we knew if they were any way close to us setting out on the run, they would eat us for breakfast. We just made the cut-off with four minutes to spare, and set off on the run.

We did not see another soul during the run section, apart from 3 folks on quads, but they would not be bribed... Apart from one daft error in going to the wrong forest corner, and Enda having an energy wobble for half an hour, we managed to finish the run in good enough shape after fighting and cursing our way through the forest.

Having missed the cut-off for the paddle by a country mile, we knew all we had to do was grind it out on the bikes to finish. We flew down through Ravensdale Forest following the quicker Ulster Way route to Marble Bridge (rather than the Tain Way marked route), and started the long pull back to Camlough.

With all the battering the bikes had taken, we had lost a few of our lights, and as it was getting dark quickly, we had to keep in formation to ensure we were well lit for the traffic.

Going through Meigh, we managed to nip past Passing Wind, who suddenly took on a burst of speed for a couple of km to stay with us, but thankfully they broke after a while, and we soon also set upon the Gnarly Dudes, just making it to the finish line in front of them.

Fantastic to finish a race in the warmth and bustle of a pub, with a great spread of grub laid on as usual by the one and only Joan of CCAR, and Rachel Cinnsealach, who was tending the beef admirably at the BBQ.

A few photos from the race:

Jackie convinced us she meant business as we discussed race tactics

Davy always looked sure of himself in the navigating

Gerry Kingston from Passing Wind wouldn't go down without a fight

Paul Mahon remained chipper, despite injury befalling his team

YAAAAAWWWWWNNNNN!!! Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

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TrailBadger.com Weekend in Scotland 2008

TrailBadger.com teamed up with a few ne’er-do-wells from NTSR, and jumps-specialist Sammy Brownlee, in a Tango & Cash organised trip to Glentress, 10 – 12 October 2008.



A weekend of fantastic weather and great biking, all was going well until Ian decided on Saturday afternoon that he wasn’t getting enough attention; so he chucked himself over a jump, over the bars, and directly onto his head – reconstruction later showed it as an 8 foot vertical drop.

Smashed helmet, bashed-up head, general cuts and bruises, and it was clear that we were heading for A&E to get him checked out properly, such were the strange noises and gibberish emanating from the normally lucid Ian.

So began the most tedious 30-mile journey we had ever embarked upon, as Ian repeated the same rubbish over... and over... and over... and over again.

Clearly still totally out of it when we arrived at Borders General Hospital, after another hour or so it seemed that Ian had started to talk sense again until, under questioning from the doctor about the date, he thought it was approaching October 2003!

Sammy shows us what it's all about, just before his minor altercation with a rather large and obstinate tree!

The Great Gatsby

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"Passing Wind" Strikes Back! Binevenagh 1-Day Race Report

We should have known we were all in for a battering from Billy and Gerry of Passing Wind at Binevenagh on 4th October, when they presented themselves at the start of the race in their new Stormtrooper helmets. It was indeed to be their day, in brutal weather conditions of heavy wind and rain. And Tango and Cash? Well, The Force just wasn't with us today.

Click here for a highly entertaining report on Average Joes blog (there's a first time for everything!)

Race highlight: FoyleHov Powerturn Buggies - check this place out!!

Billy and Gerry of Passing Wind were dressed to impress, and impress they did.

WARNING: Race Report - Do not read whilst driving or operating heavy machinery.

Off the bus at Mussenden Temple, the hooter sounded and, in the excitement, the first orienteering loop was completed flat out – we were all knackered by the time we started down the hill towards the beach.

Passing Wind established an early lead up the beach to the cave, but whilst the rest of us picked up the code just inside the cave entrance, Gerry seemed intent on heading on in for some additional pot-holing in his new multi-sports helmet, and they lost a bit of time.

Picking up the first bike, the teams were already well spread out, and Passing Wind had regained the advantage, with the Deliverance Brothers and Uphill Struggle also a bit ahead of us. We arrived at the ice-cream stand just as Deliverance were leaving, and I could swear I heard Sean asking for seconds.

Clearly very well brought up young men, Jonny and Mark of Uphill Struggle politely licked their ice-creams, quite the gentlemen. Not so us, particularly Davy, whose favourite musical instrument has always been the dinner bell! In two crunches and a burp, we were up and away, just ahead of the lads. (Ian of the Spartans played the gluten-free diet card here, and poor Enda had two pokes to eat himself).

We marked up our maps a bit too slowly at the caravan park, but were out the door as the fourth team onto the bikes. Once it got steep, we were soon passed by Peter Cole and his new secret weapon. They were pedalling like demons and chatting calmly to each other as they went – most depressing, and we were for once glad to be back on foot, arriving at the bike-drop just behind them and alongside Uphill Struggle.

We made decent enough work of the foot climb up to the lake, and arrived a step behind Peter Cole and his pet ostrich, but just managed to nip out of the van and into the boat ahead of them (OK, we stole the boat – it was a rather rude manoeuvre! Sorry, lads!). The lads must have put a voodoo spell on us at this point, as we made a dreadful pig’s ear of our route back down off the hill. We arrived back at the bikes in sixth place, having been second as we had hopped in front of the fellas onto the boat.

On the way down back down the track on foot, we met up with pocket dynamo Paul Mahon, whose advice to us on down-hill running technique was taken with a pinch of salt when he ended up crashing face-first into the sticks and muck, heheheeeee.

Back on the bikes, and raging that our stupid mistake had us now well off the pace, we tore through the forest, spitting various members of Average Joes out the back. We arrived at the boats just ahead of Uphill Struggle, but faffed about trying desperately get our life-jackets to close, and the lads hit the water first.

Paddling down the river, we met Passing Wind coming back, over ten minutes ahead of us. Talk turned briefly to sinking them in an act of unprecedented gamesmanship but, not wanting to tarnish the reputation of good sportsmanship associated with CCAR races, we made do with a quick splash at them before setting our sights for the checkpoint. Uphill Struggle pulled away from us a bit in the boats on the way back, and it was a relief to be off the river.

We soon caught Uphill Struggle on the bikes, and we were sure they were plum out of gas as we passed them on the road, but they stayed about fifty yards behind us all the way to the gliding club for the paper planes task. We arrived there just as Deliverance and Peter & Emu were leaving together, so we reckoned there was still merit in pushing hard, as it was getting tight.

I was seriously running out of puff here, and Davy had to practically drag me from the gliding club to the buggies at FoyleHov. We saw that Passing Wind must have lost a bit of time to here, as we arrived just as they were heading out the gate, and Peter & The Wolf were hot on their heels.

We flew round the FoyleHov buggies course, having decided that Davy would take both controls and that I would use my mind to control his left hand by ESP. This proved to be a very successful technique. Lap completed, and now totally covered in cow-shit and back on the bikes, we could see Deliverance on the road ahead, and we worked hard to try and eat into their lead, Davy again pushing the pace.

We were DELIGHTED to time out at Sampson’s Tower for the archery, and the folks with the arrows were a font of great advice. Alas, it was like throwing pearls to swine, and we each just winged the deer from the closest point and got on our way, rueing the missed opportunity for extra points.

Having easily found the yellow ribbon round the old oak tree (not lost on any country music fans) at the rough fort, the nettle stings we sustained proved great relief to our nagging rheumatism.

Into the town and along the track to the river, we somehow had it in our heads that the checkpoint was at the other side. We were both half-way across and close to being swept to our deaths when three disapproving fishermen drew our attention to the punch that was lying beside our bikes! Relieved we didn’t have to go any further, we punched the card and headed for home, Davy pedalling strongly, and me trying in vain to hang close.

We arrived back as the fourth team, just ahead of Uphill Struggle and about eleven or twelve minutes off the leaders after five hours of racing. Time adjustments will confirm timings and places, but the rumour round town is that Passing Wind just nicked it. Well done to Passing Wind – Lord Vader will be most pleased.

(Apologies for references above to Peter Cole's team-mate, whose name I don't know - the big lad was flying!)

Another superb CCAR race, finishing with the usual sumptuous spread of eats supplied afterwards by Joan - our thanks to the whole CCAR team of organisers, marshals and supporters for a fantastic day of fun in difficult conditions for racers and organisers alike.

Some photos from the race:

Ivan handled the race briefing with his usual composure and clarity

Davy proved once again to be surprisingly agile for a big fella, sinking his ice-cream with all the grace and poise of vintage Nureyev

The Spartans were starting to suffer badly after the pull along the beach, and were relieved to top their ice-creams with WD-40

Uphill Struggle took a moment on Binevenagh to double-check their co-ordinates and flirt outrageously with each other

Paul Mahon was surprised to meet us coming off the side of Binevenagh

CCAR’s Steve looked cold but steadfast as he manned the kayak section

Deliverance Brothers were now going so well, they had plenty of time to cruise for chicks

The archery marshals had to re-emphasise that there were no points available for felling the livestock in the field

Rick tried walloping the deer over the head with the bow, and was gutted to be denied a kill despite its head falling off

Peter Cole was flying as usual, but the sight of him at the end assured us that he had had to work hard to keep up with his partner

The Dark Lord himself congratulated his henchmen, Billy and Gerry of Passing Wind, on a job well done.

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Mourne Mountain Marathon 2008 - Memoirs

Tango & Cash prepare to unleash the power on Day 2, shorts pulled up so high they are in contravention of the Good Friday Agreement.


With 17 teams starting and mountain-running being far from anything approaching our speciality, the target was simple – not to be last in our class. Old crafty Zeus was at his games, though – some good fortune and a high body-count meant we ended up with a tasty 8th place, enough for a prize t-shirt each and a photo-call!

Unfortunately for Davy, he was washing himself in the river when our names were called, so he has no photographic record of his only mountain running success.

Davy misses the prize-giving

Poor old Paul Mahon, having won the Gaelforce 12, the Beast of Ballyhoura, the Galway Rat Race, Celebrity Come Dancing and the Rose of Tralee in 2008, continues to be jinxed by Tango & Cash, having never won a race that we have entered.

TrailBadger.com was the best-represented brand at this year’s event, with Tango & Cash, Ian & Enda, Dale & Denise, Al, and Shirley Park all choosing to tog out in MTB’s finest tartan.

One of the highlights of the weekend was seeing poor Paul McArthur close to death and going through physical and mental hell after the heat and hubbub of Day One, so covered in salty residue that he was thrice mistaken in the camp-site for Lot’s wife. We were sure his carcass would be carrion for the buzzards on Day Two, but somehow the lad managed to rally and we could not catch them, and he and Rowan steamed on to a well-earned 5th place.

Billy & Gerry, Passing Wind to many, were very unlucky, as they were looking like matching last year’s third place until Gerry blew a gasket and strained his striddle half way through Day Two, forcing the guys to retire.

Jonny Gallier, sometime partner with Rowan and Paul and the lovely Kate as Average Joes, was forced to retire during Day One due to an injury to his partner, who was cooked and eaten at the campsite, and his gear distributed to the poor.

Misfortune also befell Al and Taryn, who wandered around on the side of Slieve Muck until Wednesday afternoon and just missed the Day 2 cut-off, forcing them to retire.

We discovered with some shock that Kevin and Cathal, normally travelling under the guise of Team Purple 2, had been disqualified for allegedly leaving their bags at the bottom of the climb up Bearnagh, but knowing both fellas as being men of unquestionable integrity, it is clear that they must have been framed for a crime they didn’t commit.

It was great to finally meet our soon-to-be-team-mate-in-the-Cooley-Raid Jackie O’Hagan, whose team unfortunately also fell foul of the demon cut-off on day two.

Our heartfelt apologies go to Ian and Enda, who were promised a weekend of great enjoyment, superb craic in the campsite, a real hoot from start to finish, the best event of the year, and also that Alpen with hot chocolate powder and water was a real nice breakfast. It was purely a chance omission that the lads were not told it was also very bloody difficult! But finish they did, in fine style as usual.

Dale & Denise, attempting their first MMM, took the bold step of travelling light by investing in a tent that weighed 11.5 grams, and were then alarmed to discover in the camp-site that it really wasn’t that big, did not have a porch, and you couldn’t sit up in it! Congratulations on finishing and finishing so well after what must have been an awful night.

Day One Quick Summary

Starting Day One, we were called for our 8:50am start with about 10 people still in front of us for the portaloos. Thankfully it was primarily number 1’s from the patrons ahead, so we got under way not too far off schedule, marked up our map, and set to running. Within 50 yards I realised that the gripless Nike street-fashion trainers from JJB Sports were a bad mistake, but it was too late to do anything about it, other than get blisters, lose toe-nails, and complain solidly for the two days.

We were quickly into the swing of things and picking up checkpoints OK. The cluster threw us a curve ball and we took a while to make our decision, but we ended up not too bad. Low-points of the day were climbing out of the Pot of Pulgarve up the side of Commedagh, and descending Bearnagh, which were both painfully slow for us. One chap arrived at the Pot with only one shoe on, the other one having been ripped apart some time before, and so he nicked the marshal’s shoes and carried on!

We were pretty knackered but going strong enough by the time we hit the camp near Fofanny Dam, with the sun still in the sky and the weather fine. Ian Luney and Paddy Mallon encouraged us in for our final steps, and Paddy was lucky not to get a clip in the ear following a misunderstanding surrounding the “Punch to Finish” sign he was holding.

Soon we had the tent up and were enjoying our tea of Supernoodles, which we complemented for supper with some Supernoodles. The evening was punctuated with cold beverages and the company of fellow competitors and Paddy, James and Stevie, who, having downed his bottle of Sambuca, was up for heading on to a night-club! Then it was time to grab forty winks before breakfasting on some more Supernoodles.

Day 2 Quick Summary

Another lovely day, we were up and at ‘em at 8:00am. We had an awful start to Day 2, with Davy’s knee giving him serious grief for the first 4 or 5 checkpoints, and this slowed us up badly. But eventually we got into our regular shuffle and had managed to nip past a few teams by the time we reached the Ben Crom dam.

At the dam, we were told there were 4 teams just ahead, all within 10 minutes of us, so we pushed on hard but only caught one of them, Kirkby & Archer. We had a great tussle with team Kirkby & Archer from below Binnian all the way to the end, and despite a bit of an energy wobble from me for about 15 minutes, we managed to reduce them to the tears of defeat on the day and had them out of reach for the last couple of checkpoints. They just pipped us at the post overall across the 2 days by a mere 3 minutes.

Soup, orange, biccies and lots of good chat completed another fantastic day in the mountains.

The shoes are in the bin, and the rucksack should be unpacked sometime in the next few weeks. That was the Mourne Mountain Marathon that was. 2009 here we come.

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Mourne Mountain Marathon 2008

My top lip is the only part of me not still hurting from Mourne Mountain Marathon 2008, so until the pain subsides and we gather our thoughts, it is best just to reflect on the marvellous weather we had, which went well with view from the mid-way camp-site.

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Mmm, Mmm, Mmm!

Tango & Cash will reunite in September 2008 for their first Mourne Mountain Marathon (MMM) together since 2005, when we finished hellish late and practically on stumps, so poor was our choice of footwear. No more experimenting with cheap shoes from Junction One! (We might try The Outlet in Banbridge instead).

The weekend of the MMM is one of the only times in the year when one can consume 10,000 calories a day without feeling guilty - the only problem is carrying all the required grub.

If (and it’s a big if) we get into camp ahead of ANYONE else after Day 1, it is our intention to lurk on the edge of camp to spit-roast another straggler.

Stragglers, please form an orderly queue.

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The Slieve League Lunger

A joint venture between Tango and Cash, Trailbadger.com and Trump Enterprises Inc. enabled the staging of the first ever “Slieve League Lunger” in County Donegal on Saturday 16 August, despite the terrible flooding that wreaked havoc all over Ireland.

The Lunger (pronounced Lun-jer) begins in Ardara, striking west for the ancient enclave of Glencolmbkille via Maghera and Port, before the downing of hot whiskies in Teelin and tackling of Slieve League (Europe’s 2nd highest sea cliffs, supposedly), returning to Ardara via Glengesh. A total of 80km and over 2300 metres of vertical climbing.

Davy was regrettably unable to attend the event of which he is patron, but Mark, Enda, Ian and Rick all received Finisher’s medals. Conor, having had to stop early to go and do some tiling, pledged to complete unfinished business in 2009.

The success of this year’s Lunger has kick-started planning for the 2009 event, which will be staged again in August and will follow the same route, with the spice of an added kicker at Slieve League.

For anyone interested in the precise route, contact info@trailbadger.com.


(The 4 successful Lungers enjoy a hot one before the big climb up Slieve League. Conor's blushes at not making it all the way were far outweighed by his embarrassment at being caught on camera arriving in a VW Jetta)

The route map:



WARNING: Boring unless you were there, or are planning to take it on (possibly boring anyway).

The 2008 Slieve League Lunger participants gathered in a sodden Ardara at 9:30am on Saturday 16 August. Ian, Conor and Rick were already in County Donegal on other business, but Enda made the trip from Sligo, and Mark from Antrim town!

The five bikes left Ardara at 10:00am heading west towards Maghera in torrential rain, and in a couple of minutes we were completely drenched and thinking our target a pipe-dream. The waterfall on the coast road, normally a trickle, was simply awesome, chucking more water than probably at any time in the last 50 years, and we stopped to enjoy the power and the noise. We didn’t stop at Maghera, and soon we were pounding up the steep valley known as Granny. The heavy rain stopped and we had superb views behind us.

Conor, more used to Dublin City cycling than crossing mountain passes, quickly came to the conclusion that proceeding would surely end in his untimely death, but we managed to cajole him to the top. We were stopping for lunch in Glencolmbkille, but had another big climb to do, and Conor elected to take the short-cut down with no more climbing. Rick, navigator for the day, sent the poor chap the wrong way and, after being assured a free-wheel to the village, he had a 120 metre climb thrown in just to keep him from getting bored!

Oblivious to Conor’s troubles, we had a fantastic descent down to the dead end of Port, with a great view and dry skies on the way down. Arriving at the road end, the river was crashing in torrent down over the rocky beach, and we noticed a sheep-dog just standing stock-still in the middle of the river. On watching for a moment, we realised the poor thing had attempted to cross, had fallen badly, and was now stuck and terrified. Given the water level and the foul weather, the shaking hound (who had clearly been there for some time), was now in some danger of dying of exposure!

Rick decided to be hero, and waded out to the dog in a strong current with uncertain footing, but the worst that could happen was being swept 30 yards down the beach and into the tide to the enjoyment of the rest of the lads. Ultimately with Ian’s assistance as chief catcher, we rescued the beast, which had badly cut its leg in its attempted crossing. Satisfied we were now in positive karma, we left the dog in the care of a passer-by as we started our last big climb before lunch, Ian soon pitching over the bars in classic O’Seibhlinn style.

The grassy path up the mountain afforded fantastic views of the bay behind us, but the rain was soon torrential once more and the mist closed in. We could hear the dog barking frantically down in the bay, at which point it struck us that we should have perhaps thought to look for the dog’s owner in the river too! Whoops!

On summiting the hill, our stomachs were pining for lunch and, Mark leading the way with total disregard for life and limb, we made short work of the high-speed tarmac descent. Down into Glencolmbkille, we made our scheduled stop and met up again with Conor at the Tea Room of the Folk Village, cold drowned rats.

Hot soup, bread, doughnuts and coffee soon had our spirits up once again, but Conor had elected to phone for a lift to make his escape, knowing that even tiling for his brother-in-law John was preferable to climbing any more hills in the rain. We could see in Enda’s cold, dead eyes that the only thing that would stop him summiting Slieve League today was the Second Coming, so the rest of us got ready to battle the elements once more. We didn’t hang around for long in the cafe, as it was pretty cold in there – even the folks preparing and serving the food were wearing duffle-coats!

Back out into the rain and feeling very cold, we started for Carrick up the walking route, safe in the knowledge that we had a 200 metre climb to warm us up again. We took ten minutes just to watch the river at Carrick Bridge, as it was in awesome flood, and then pushed on for Teelin. At Ian’s suggestion, we stopped in a pub for a hot whiskey before our climb up Slieve League and, just as we drained our glasses, it stopped raining for the rest of the day.

It took us a good 90 minutes to summit League, which was in a blanket of fog above about 400 metres, but the views were superb below that. We decided to dump the bikes rather than take them over One Man’s Pass, which turned out to be a good idea as it was very slippery and windy up there. We didn’t hang about at the top, as there was nothing to see or do, so we somehow found our bikes again in the mist and were down at the bottom in about 40 minutes from the summit, stopping on the way to fix Mark’s puncture and break Rick’s pump.

Following a quick pit-stop in Carrick, we headed south-east towards Kilcar, and then turned north-east for the long tough climb up the Ballaghdoo River valley in glorious sunshine, and the coats were off. The top sections of this beyond the road were extremely boggy and hard going, particularly through the forest at the very top, but it was good for the fitness, I suppose! We were by this time ready for home. There was no marked path as such once we got over the top, but we picked our way down open ground, loosely following the way-marked posts down to the river, which had been torn to shreds by a huge mudslide a couple of acres in size about half a mile up the mountain. A farmer at the road told us the mud-slide had come down the mountain like thunder.

Now back on the road, all we had to do by way of work was climb to Glengesh Pass, and we were bathed in early evening sunshine as we took the switch-backs and tucked for the long high-speed descent, recording a top speed of 49 miles per hour before the final 2km back into Ardara along the main road.

A long day, made longer by the amount of rain we endured, but a superb route and highly enjoyable. Definitely one for 2009.

For anyone interested in the precise route of the Slieve League Lunger, contact info@trailbadger.com.

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