Sandyford Bridge, in Moyne L-R Cian O'Sullivan, Julian Leeth, Jason Drewit, Jamie mc Donald, Lisa Steritt, Paul & Carol Mc Manus, Dave & Thea Steritt, Nathan Beuck (in foreground)

The Zest Fitness Team, consisting of the Trainers and their Clients completed the last two stages of the Wicklow Way to finish in Clonegal, Co. Wexford last Sunday.  The team was lead by Nathan Beuck of Zest Fitness.  This was the first time the club had attempted any of the stages of the Wicklow Way.  The event was in support of the Special Olympics Wicklow Branch.  The participants were not experienced walkers, but were embarking on indoor fitness programmes which were designed to prepare them for this event.

 The walkers started out early on Saturday morning from their base in Coolattin Lodge in south Co.Wicklow. They joined the Wicklow Way Trail in Moyne and made their way along the Boreens to the finish at the“Dying Cow” near Shillelagh. 

The Wicklow Way was largely devised by a man called J.B Malone who was born in 1914, who lived in the southern suburbs of Dublin City.  He saw its final opening in 1981 as Irelands first waymarked long distance walking route.

 On the final day the team joined the trail in Shillelagh and made their way along the trail to the official end of the route in Clonegal, Co.Wexford.

The next Zest outing will involve walking, the next 2 stages of the Wicklow Way. The walk is scheduled to take place on the weekend of October 10th and 11th 2009.

End of Press Release…………………….Read on for full report please.

 Nathan had come up with the idea to walk the stages of the Wicklow Way.  The Zest Team as well as many of it’s clients were embarrassed to admit, that they had never walked the Wicklow Way before despite living in the county forever..

Once the particpants were committed to doing the walk, their training vigour increased somewhat. Nobody really knew what to expect from the walk in terms of it’s physicality including the Zest Trainers…

Our base for the weekend was Coolattin Lodge. 

The group assembling at Coolattin LodgeThe Last Supper

It was there that we ate the Last Supper, before that day, that lay ahead. It was also bucketing rain which added to the tension although a couple of glasses of wine helped.

The Last Supper

The next morning, was a 7am start and the sun was shining! After a big breakfast the minibus collected us and delivered us to somewhere around the start of the Stage. The bus driver, who lived very locally to the trail, had never actually set foot on the Wicklow way either! 

The sun shone on the Boreens, the rain came and went briskly. On one downpour, we all stopped and got out wet gear on. By the time we did so, the sun was out again and the uphill terrain forced us strip down again. “Comfort Breaks” was the theme set for the weekend early on and plenty were taken. Long endurance events often have breaks built in to increase performance.

We crossed rivers, met horses doing the Wicklow Way alone, closely followed by Germans, the latter who gave us advice on ze mud. 

Lisa Sterrit - River Crossing

Five Fingers, Walk the Walk

Cian, who could not make it to Croagh Patrick this year, decided he was on Pilgrimage with us and demonstrated that he was completely nuts, with the wearing of his five fingers.  The interest and photography taken by Adam of Cians feet, let the group to think that Adam had some form of foot fetish!

Cian - up to his neck in it!

(l-r) Nathan Beuck and Adam Kelly, fitness trainers in Zest decide to give their fellow walkers a break!

Dying for a drink in "the Dying Cow"

The carrot for the day, was the promise of a little surprise at the end of the stage, to look forward to.  A quaint little pub in the middle of nowhere, called the “Dying Cow.” What a name eh? It the the “Dying Cow” for tourists and simply called, “Tallons” for the locals.  The bar/cow shed was open, but nobody was home.

We had really worked up a thirst after our days walking, and had to remind ourselves that, we were now in the country. We decided to just relax, as we still had an hour to wait for our mini-bus.  Our peace was disturbed by some kid on a small motor bike circling round and round a field.  Nathan tried to scare him, by photographing him, but it must have encouraged him, with his new found fame!

Annoying Kid on Motor Bike!

Eventually after 30mins, we decided to ring the door bell of a local house to try and find out wether the bar was self service of not. Somebody suggested looking for an honesty box. An honesty box and a pub in Ireland? I dont think that would be a great mix somehow! We finally got served. Adam was on Jamie watch, in case Jamie turned into “Frank the Tank”. Adam was also on toe watch, but luckily nobody noticed..

An early dinner was served at Coolattin lodge in the form of a BBQ.  It was a beautiful, sunny summers evening. What a miracle, and that was just the dinner!

The Zest Team replace burnt calories, at Coolattin Lodge after a hard day on the Wicklow Way.

Another 7am start on Sunday morning, and another dry day in store. Happy 19th birthday Lisa!

We started the trail at Shillelagh and made our way towards Clonegal. We had a few additions to our walking group and therefore some fresh legs to follow.

Luuuuuunch

The cows are coming..

We stopped for lunch in a sunny field, and were soon joined by some inquisitive cows, (not fellow walkers), but the furry kind! When the bull however, got too inquisitive,we felt it was time to leave.

The finish was in sight, a couple of hours later.  We had all got very distracted by a telephone poll, which only had its top half intact. It was a telephone pole, just suspended in the air. It was most exciting.

It is now estimated that 50% of Poles have now left Ireland!

When we got to the official finish in Clonegal, Co Wexford, we did the obligatory photo shoot. The dogs that had accompanied us for the entire walk also got their moment of glory and posed for a photo in the alleged resting place of Fionn Mac Cumhaills dogs.

(L-R) Betty Sherry, Dave & Thea Steritt, Paul & Carol Mc Manus, Lisa Sterrit, Jamie Mc Donald, Mark Sherry, Adam Kelly, Richard Cullen, Julian Leith and Carmel

…..and finally, who let the dogs out?

Who let the dogs out?

Sandyford Bridge, in Moyne L-R Cian O'Sullivan, Julian Leeth, Jason Drewit, Jamie mc Donald, Lisa Steritt, Paul & Carol Mc Manus, Dave & Thea Steritt, Nathan Beuck (in foreground)

Keep looking up, not down.

Our journey began on Saturday the 13^th of June when we headed off to France to climb Mont Blanc. The first couple of days were great. On the 14th of June we travelled to Italy to acclimatise and conquer our first summit on the 16th, Gran Paradiso, which stands at just over 4000m.

What a drop! Falling just is not an option.

The weather had turned a little cold and wild on summit day, and we left the hut at 5.00am to summit early, so it gave us a real feel for the mountains, and that you cannot take anything for granted. Our Guides had decided not to tell us about the scary sheer drops at the top of Gran Paridiso, which I am quite happy about, as it was a nice surprise. Only 4 people can fit on the summit at any one time, and climbing across icy rock, with crampons on, and having a drop of maybe 2000m to one side is not for the faint hearted. I also had a French Guide unclip me from one of the most technical parts of the climb, which as you can imagine frightened the life out of me, but one of our Swedish Guides soon sorted him out…from then on he was my favourite…  

We got to the summit at 9.30am, and wow what a feeling…we then descended to the hut, had lunch and had a three hour hike back to the car park. And finally we were on the road back to France. 

Wednesday the 17^th was a later start, up at 8.00am for breakfast, and after getting all of our supplies from Chamonix, we headed off with our packs on or back to conquer the big one. After a 3 hour scramble we got to the Tete Rousse hut, where we relaxed, and got ready for the 1am start for the summit. After dinner and some nervous laughter we went to get a few hours sleep. 15 to a room with 12 beds to share, it was a snug fit. Again the guides had decided not to tell us, as we headed off to our bed that there was only a 5% chance, due to weather change that we were going to be able to summit on Thurs and there was a 0% chance we would summit on Friday. 

1am start…The weather was looking good, and it was warm, we were so happy, and someone had been looking out for us…I was one of the lucky ones that managed to sleep for a couple of hours, so I had that added advantage. We headed upstairs for a breakfast of stale bread and coffee, mmmm, a nice substantial breakkie for the 15 hour hike ahead. One lasting memory I had in my mind was speaking with Adam from Zest before I headed away, and him telling me “unless you eat Hazel, you will not make it”. That is some of the best advice I had been given…. so I ate and ate and ate…

Check…crampons on, harness, helmet, head torch…we headed up the steep scramble for the Gouter hut in the dark. I loved it…my heart was beating so fast…we all heard an avalanche on the scramble that morning, but not one word was mentioned… After two and a half hours we got to the hut, and people really started to feel the altitude sickness. One guy, thankfully not from out team had to be air lifted off as he had pulmonary edema, and I think that gave everyone a wake up call that this is a serious challenge.

I had a message the day before from a dear friend to say, go get that mountain, and I was ready…

It was a long day, with little breaks, but on every one I managed to eat as much as I could. Then we got to the last emergency hut, just before the last leg of our journey. I was feeling fit, with no altitude sickness, and wanted more than anything to be on that summit.

On Mont Blanc there are two false summits, which I had known about, so was prepared for a long slog at the end. I put my head down and off we went…

Approaching Mt Blanc Summit at Sunrise

What can I say, at 10.00am on the 18^th of June we had made it… the summit was amazing, the feeling of being the highest point in the Alps, surrounded with nothing other than beautiful sights, and the cleanest of air…the clouds looked like candy floss rolling over the mountains below, and I was on top of the world…We were also lucky that we were on the summit alone. There were three in my group, and to have that sense of achievement, when we reached the top was one of the best feelings in the world..

The Roof of Europe!

After our time on the summit I had to lead us back to the Goutier Hut, which is another big challenge in itself. I was so happy, I could have skipped the whole way down…

Mont Blanc is a serious challenge for anyone…15 of us got to the summit that day, which was a great success, both for us as a group, and Jagged Globe as a company leading us. Andy the director of our group thanked us that night, mostly for respecting the mountain and putting the work in to prepare for the very successful challenge that we had all set out to achieve. 

Now, go get that Mountain…. and for me, what’s next!!

Mission Completed...

You are very welcome to pay it a quick visit and have a look around.

 et tell you how it’s done!