barrygahan

The Maurienne valley is home to some of cycling's most iconic climbs, climbs that are synonymous with the Tour de France, such as the torturous path up to Col de la Madeleine, the steep, scenic ascent to Col du Glandon, or the epic Col du Galiber. One short climb in the valley that slips under the radar somewhat is the Lacets de Montvernier, a 4km route with 18 switchbacks that seem to be sculpted into the mountain side. As we had climbed Madeleine and Galibier on the previous two days we were supposed to be taking a day off but we couldn't resist the Montvernier switchbacks. We only found out about this when researching other climbs but what a discovery it was, as it's one of the most incredible climbs I've ever done. The Lacets climb ... read more

During our Venice holiday, Ruth and Amy gave me a day off as an early birthday present, which I put to good use by attempting a climb of the famous Monte Grappa. I rented a road bike from Veloce bike rental and the owner offered to join me for the climb as he had never done it before. We met in the scenic town of Bassano del Grappa and set off from there. The climb begins properly in Remano d'Ezzelino, about 2km north of Bassano. I hadn't trained much at all over the winter so I was a bit apprehensive about the climb but I surprised myself by setting off at a good pace. Maybe it was the nice bike he had supplied. I had expected Gennaro to leave me behind but he was falling back ... read more

Carrauntoohil Climbing Ireland's highest mountain, Carrauntoohil, is something I had planned to do for many years, probably ever since I first learned the name in school, but it wasn't until 2011 that I finally got around to attempting it. At 1040 metres altitude Carrauntoohil is certainly no giant, but the trek to the top makes for a fantastic day hike, involving a fair bit of scrambling in places. It belongs to a range of mountains called Macgillycuddy's Reeks, a rather strange but quite compelling name for a mountain range, named after a local character "Macgillycuddy of the Reeks" who owned much of this land hundred's of years ago. The origin of the name Carrauntoohil itself are uncertain. Ruth and I have climbed mountains in many exotic places around the world so sooner or later I felt ... read more

A warm up for Kilimanjaro To give ourselves a better chance of climbing Kilimanjaro we did a warm-up hike on Mount Meru, the second highest summit in Tanzania, at 4652 metres altitude. Meru is nowhere near as popular as Kilimanjaro, but it's becoming busier as more and more people realise they need a proper acclimatization before tackling the big one. The Meru hike is a 3 or 4 day climb depending on how fast you do the descent. The summit attempt begins very early on the third morning, when, like on Kilimanjaro, you set off for the summit at midnight. Ruth and I had already been in Tanzania for 4 days on a safari before we met up with the rest of our group, who flew in the night before Meru. We were joined by our ... read more

With Kilimanjaro creeping ever closer we decided to visit the Lake District again for some last minute training to ensure we were in perfect shape for our attempt on Africa's highest peak. To make it a little more interesting we decided to try wild camping. Neither of us had wild camped before, but Trail magazine, to which we subscribe, had run a feature on it the previous month and it had immediately sparked our interest. Is wild camping legal? Officially, it's not allowed in England unless you have the landowners permission. However, provided you follow a number of rules it's apparently tolerated by the National Park authorities! Trail recommended camping at above 450 metres altitude, and as far away as possible from the nearest farm or settlement. We also had to delay putting up our tent ... read more