As told by Margaret Griffin.
A MEMORABLE DAY WITH MAURICE 3/10/06
A bright October day and 5 of us headed to the Black Valley for a hike. Tony and Peter fresh from a week on Skye, Patricia back from the Pyrenees, and completing the group Maurice and myself.
As usual Patricia had an idea to do a different route and her patient friends complied. We parked near Lough Reagh, decided to walk in and scramble up towards the main falls. That took longer than it looked, as boulders were greasy and awkward, with gushing water to contend with, criss crossing, and detouring.
Early on, I decided wisely to hug the left bank. Peter scrambled over wet slabs like a goat. Tony, Maurice and Patricia persevered determinedly, at one stage Maurice and Patricia swung along the branch of a holly tree.
Tony gratefully accepted a helping hand to avoid a dip in a deep pool. Maurice decided it was time to follow my route.
Peter, Maurice and myself regrouped at the base of the main falls. Tony and Patricia climbed up a little chimney, and awkward boulders, looking down on the trio. The falls were impressive close up. We decided to climb alongside the falls, as it was not feasible to climb the falls direct.
I proceeded to traverse slippery rocks, to gain the safe left bank, having a few contacts with the ground on my posterior. Maurice photographed enthusiastically and followed cautious
Peter, Tony and Patricia proceeded to scramble up the right side of the falls, with one particularly interesting move. All met safely at the top, and we followed the banks of the river, aiming for its source at Lough Duff.
A few sprinkles of rain had Peter sheltering under an overhang. We did not realise until then he was afraid of rain. Anyway three of us followed suit, but I braved the elements and stood on the opposite bank. The rain never really materialised. In fact it got quite warm.
The original intention was to climb a gully at the back of Lough Duff, leading almost direct to the summit, but my beady eye was drawn to another gully left of the summit, so we headed that way.
A stony watery gully, but water never stops us. Loose in places. Peter and myself, negotiated one slimy rock slab while the other three contoured and we met again in the gully. The gully continued to steepen and narrow, with good holds.
Now Maurice decided to lead the way, and at the same time tested our reflexes. Maurice was climbing up, and suddenly seemed to lose his balance. He lost contact with the rock and started to fall towards Patricia but Patricia somehow supporting him from behind and avoided a serious fall. Tony cleverly moved out of the way but thankfully neither Maurice nor Patricia were hurt. Tony has a great knack for avoiding, ducking imminent danger – reminisces of a bull comes to mind but that’s a story for another day.
Shortly afterwards, the gully started to peter out and it was noticed that Maurice was one of the walking wounded. Blood dripped from both hands, and earlier he had grazed and cut his knee so he looked a seasoned warrior.
The two nurses in the group gave swift attention to Maurice. As blood dripped, I wondered would we get AIDS. Dressings applied, which included an impressive bandage supplied by me. Resourceful Peter had the scissors to cut the bandage. Maurice was tended to, and I took time to cut an offending fingernail of my own.
On up the steep short grassy slope onto the main ridge in sunshine, with Maurice patiently tolerating smart comments. Andy will have to hear about the first aid, as one evening he was descending from Bothán with Maurice, sprained his ankle, and had to hobble painfully back to the car with not a bloody nurse in sight!
Late lunch in sunlight, Peter deciding to dine on his own below us. Then time to go on. Tony must have had a magic potion as he took off at a fierce rate and was a speck in the distance.
On over the hills to Knocknabreeda. This is the standard descent route but we had decided to continue on the main spur and descend near the turn off for Lord Brandon’s cottage.
We spread out now, as it was quite a long section distance wise. Patricia stayed near Maurice and he decided to have his second mishap. Loud mutterings Patricia turns back to see Maurice gamely lifting his right leg out of a boggy hole. Both legs smeared in muddy soil, all she could do was laugh, after first checking (of course) that Maurice was not injured.
All regrouped at the next hill and patient Maurice had to endure laughter and jokes at his expense. By now he really did look a sorry sight, with bandaged hand and muddy legs.
Time was passing, all the hills were climbed (the big ones anyway) and we aimed to descend the long rocky spur with lots of ups and downs, contouring rocky knolls and steep slabs, high grass and hidden holes, to emerge finally at the car below Derrylooscaunagh alongside the Cearhameen river in beautiful October sunshine.
Maurice still had another adventure to pack into his day. Peter and Patricia climbed up two small rocky knolls and descended to the car on dry terrain.
I took the low “safe” route and proceeded to find watery holes amidst the grass en route to the car.
Tony and Maurice brought up the rear on the low “safe” route. Maurice took out his mobile phone to make a call as the end was safely in sight (he thought) and then managed to sink into marshy ground. The hapless phone got a ducking too. Tony turned around in amazement to see Maurice holding aloft a somewhat waterlogged dripping phone. I don’t think he got to make that call.
Finally all regrouped at the car amidst more gales of laughter at Maurice’s expense, and his latest mishap. To his credit he took it all stoically. In all his years on the mountains he said he never had such a day of misadventures, but he certainly gave us all a wonderfully entertaining hike. We seemed to continuously dissolve in laughter as Tony explained the latest mishap.
To end on a happy note we were all safe and well, despite a bruised, battered and muddied Maurice. The lads proceeded to undress at the riverbank, and I got the chance to catch it all on camera. A great day was had by all but the day really belongs to Maurice. It will be a long time before he forgets this particular hike. The fun, enjoyment and banter was infectious.
As I chose the gully, it’s now called “Lippy Gully”.
Peter thought he should bring the Club hike on this route but we advised him not to!
Tony continues to evade danger.
Patricia’s role – just planning the route and then deciding to get me to write about it. 6 ½ hours out at a fast pace. A glorious autumn day. Rainbows galore. October sunshine, and Maurice’s exploits made today a memorable one on the mountains.
Margaret Griffin
