Area: Glenveagh, Donegal, Ireland
This was recently voted Ireland's most iconic mountain, but although we stayed in Church Hill nearby we never actually saw it during our five day mini-break. I mean that literally - we didn't even see the bottom of it, never mind the top. Still, having done the other contenders for that 'iconic' title, spread across the whole of Ireland, I felt obliged to make a rapid ascent first thing in the morning. It was great fun, setting out from the car park above Dunlewey in mist and constant fine drizzle. The route takes a boggy path beside a stream before cutting westwards to climb more steeply up to the scree that gives the peak its characteristic appearance - a quartzite cone. The scree is steep throughout, and then the cone narrows to a ridge as the angle eases. I gained the first (and highest) summit in 34 minutes from the road. It was windy, cold and very wet, but I nipped across the short narrow ridge to the northern summit before descending into the wind: 55 minutes up and down, feeling much better now.
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