Bother Bui to Cloghane

This was the most grueling day. Total of around 15 miles, but the Way took us over the shoulder of Brandon Mountain. Brandon Mountain is around 3100 feet in elevation, but the trail took us over a saddle several hundred feet below its peak. Legend is that Saint Brendan the Navigator climbed to the top of the mountain around 530 AD, saw the Americas, and set out for them. The weather must have been different in 530 AD. Based on what we saw, Saint Brendan would have been lucky to see his feet.

We had several miles of walking to get to the base of Brandon. By then, the rain had started and we had our rain gear on. As we went up the mountain, the rain increased, along with the wind. By the time we got close to the top the wind gusts were easily 60 mph. We looked like those newscasters on the coast in a hurricane, only colder.

But we crossed the  shoulder and started down the other side. Going down was tougher than going up. In places it was almost steep enough to be going down facing the mountain. And for the first few miles there was no trail to speak of, only deep grass and a lot of mud and a lot of hillocks and rivulets to step over and around.  For much of the way there were places where the grass was flattened down as if something had slid down on the grass. We learned later that a lot of locals find it easier to “slide down on their bums.”  We should have tried that.

But we got down. After walking through the village of Brandon we got to our B&B, where we were welcomed warmly in spite of the rain and mud we brought along..