Ballyhoura Bears 6th December 2009

By Robin Lee (Ballyhoura Bears PRO)
Whew! That was some weekend we had. It seems as if our activities are extending in every direction putting our stamina to a real test.

The weekend started as early as it could – on Friday night with our annual Christmas party. A bit on the early side you might say, but it was a great evening. Meticulous planning went into the preparations headed up by our Social Secretary, Eugene Stephens. Early on he made the decision that we should have a night to ourselves, and that the venue would be Deebert House Hotel – two inspired decisions. Ninety of us turned up in our finery to the best hospitality imaginable from the O’Sullivan family at Deebert House. From the welcome glass of mulled wine on arrival to the hot mince pies after the coffee, nothing was left to chance. Replenished by this marvellous meal we had that doyen of musicians, Jimmie Connery to regale us with his music and ultimately put our fitness and stamina to the test as he played for us well into the night. A line from Bing Crosby in High Society overheard towards the end of the evening summed it up aptly “….what a swell party this is”. Well done Eugene, and to your able cohorts, Denis Bates, Liz Enright, Mike Moroney and Pat Carmody, and to all at Deebert House for providing us with a memorable evening.

If we had a rest on Saturday, we hit into three walks on Sunday starting with a strenuous “A” walk in the Kerry Reeks led by Seamus Moran who assembled eleven hardy aspirants at Lislebane Car Park. These included two visitors from Clare and one from Limerick. Any straggling cobwebs from Friday night were soon blown off as we headed on for Cumeengeeragh Gully on our way to Carrauntoohill. Not unexpectedly, we encountered squally showers throughout the day, but what else would you expect on the Reeks in early December? Having reached the top of this gully we had a look at the Beenkeeragh ridge, but decided in the interest of safety to let it be; the wind and rain was too unpredictable and safety won out. Instead we advanced on Carrauntoohill via the Black Mare gully – a nice challenge given the wet conditions that prevailed, but we all achieved this in safety. Needless to say “the top” was not very hospitable and so we commenced our descent pretty well immediately via Maolan Buí and the zig zag to the start. A bite of warm food at Kate Kearney’s preceded our journey home from a challenging and satisfactory day out.

Meanwhile, and not to be outdone by Seamus’ early start, Robin Lee took out a group of Nordic Walkers at Garryarthur Wood at 9.00 a m. This newly introduced style of walking has generated a lot of enquiry, and with the abundance of Coillte tracks in the locality there are plenty of opportunities to perfect this skill. Again, the conditions were showery and chilly, but once we put up a “head of steam” all of that was forgotten. A sprightly and vigorous five-mile Nordic walk was just the preparation for the “B” walk that we were now to join.

Susie Flavin was responsible for this “B” walk and while her plans to take the walk from Darragh Bridge to Castle Gael and onwards were frustrated by the poor underfoot conditions on the Bothareen Dearg (it has been recently transformed into a virtual stream by the bad weather), her revised plans were just as pleasant. We walked in the opposite direction altogether, to Glenroe and then on to Rea’s Hill. Our arrival at the top coincided with a lovely bright spell in the day and the countryside around us and beneath us looked splendid. Crossing to Magnier’s wood via Barabronoka Bridge we were provided with a variety of walking that proved sufficiently challenging for the thirteen that were out and invigorating enough to ward off the effects of the poor conditions that visited us from time to time. Returning to Rea’s Hill again we skirted it and dropped down, eventually, into Glenroe again before returning back to the start at Darragh Bridge ten miles and four hours later.

Next Sunday Pat Lombard – 085 1743067 – will lead a strenuous “A” walk from Glengarra Wood, meeting at 9.30 a m, while Robin Lee – 087 6385290 - will lead a “B” walk at Glenstal Wood. The meeting point for this walk is at Morroe Church at 11.00 a m.