Sunday 7 April 2013

Adventure Climbing in Ireland

 And Sho, hailing from the depths of Hereford, Geoff and Sarah Corbett arrived in the sunny County of Donegal with a single express mission in mind and that mission was to paddle off the End's of the Earth.

Adventure in Donegal


 And so, to Cruit Island for a day of vertical pleasure, we arrived to the usual Cruit Island welcome of bright blue skies and a shimmering seas. We spent the day in the company of a very calm and relaxed Neptune and went about our task of safe adventure climbing practice. Half a dozen routes later and a wee visit to a ringside seat  at the deep and we were all set for the task at hand, for the next day was forecast to be a wee bit emotional.

An Port Bay, Donegal

 The following day we arrived at the portal to the other world dimension that is the Port road end and began the clifftop walk north to the view point over looking the mighty Cnoc na Mara. The entire Slievetooey peninsula was in outstanding condition with the clearest brightest skies and massive vista's in all directions. 
 We descended into Glenlough Bay and arrived just beyond The Ends of the Earth Crag to arrive at our goal.
 The Ends of the Earth Stack is an excellent 30 metre high sea stack sitting approx 300 metres out to sea in one of the most remote location on the mainland of Ireland. 

Donegal Sea Stack Climbing

Geoff arrives on the Sea Stack

 A swift sea passage and Geoff alighted onto the landward tip of the stack, a further swift sea passage and Sarah was duly transported onto the same wee platform. Alas, this meant we were still a wee bit of a coastaleer away from the base of the parent stack. Between us and the base of the End's of the Earth Stack was a subsidiary summit and a superb wee sea ridge joining the two summits. So we made our way over the first summit and crossed the sea ridge on to the base of the End's of the Earth sea stack. We were now standing on one of the most remote and mildly scary points of land in Ireland. :-)    

The view from the stack back to Donegal
Sea Stack climbing in the sunshine

  At this juncture the North winds were indeed beginning to freshen and the northerly motion was starting to liven, and thus haste was the key. We all raced up and onto this very remote piece of land and watched as the legions of the damned approached from the north.


The summit at The End's of the Earth

 A quick abseil down the landward face of the stack and a re-tracing of our steps on the sea ridge and we were back at our ferry boat launch pad. Alas by now the winds were funneling and nautical navigation through the skerries was a touch emotional. :-) 

Sea Stack Climbing

 There are very few places on earth where you can have a true adventure without travelling through time zones and spending a fortune. Off the coast of Donegal sit a collection of summits that fewer people have stood on than have circumnavigated the Moon or jumped to Earth from the edge of space. 







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