Start Your Mini Adventure Tips

Planning- You must plan your walk. This could be anything from a quick look over a marked trail to creating a route plan involving time, distance, elevation, compass bearings, and features, etc. I don’t want to overwhelm you, a lot of this will come with time and experience so don’t feel like you need to know all this before you start. One of my go-to books for planning my walks is Hiking in Ireland by lonely planet. This is a great book with detailed routes and maps of the most popular walks in the country.

I will normally follow up with an online search of my chosen route such as Mountain Views and read a few different reviews and route recommendations before finalizing my plan. This may seem like a lot of work but in reality, you are building the excitement for your upcoming adventure. You are gaining valuable insight into what to expect and with personal online reviews, you get the benefit of their experience. They will tell you what to look out for and what to avoid. For example on top of Cush in the Galtee Mountains, there is a box with a notepad inside where you can record your name and date of ascent……… great Facebook photo by the way.

Check the weather forecast and start your hike early. I say early for a number of reasons.

1.       Ensures you have plenty of daylight to finish your walk.

2.       Parking spaces can be hard to find.

3.       Allows you to relax for the rest of the day knowing you have accomplished something great.

4.       Most importantly, that feeling you get on your way back passing others on their way up!

Gear- You don’t need expensive branded gear to enjoy your hike. Hiking is one of the cheapest sports you could be involved in. Hiking gear has become more accessible in recent years so shop around. You only need the essentials when starting off.

·         Hiking boots.

·         Wet gear.

·         Comfortable pants (No Jeans)

·         Layered system for the upper body such as t-shirt, jumper, fleece etc. that you can remove or add depending on how hot or cold you are. Rather than one big heavy jacket that has you sweating after 5 minutes.

·         Rucksack, depending on what you are carrying a rucksack with hip and chest straps really help.

·         Head torch.

·         Map.

·         Walking poles, personal preference but are a great help.

·         Extra clothing, hats, and gloves, etc. it gets very cold very fast when you stop for a period of time.

·          Food and water, remember you have just done a great hike and you need to replenish your energy resources so eat that Mars bar, you deserve it………….at least that’s what I tell myself and I usually don’t stop at one.

·         Most importantly- your flask. I love my cup of tea on the mountain and to me my flask is the most important part of my kit. Sitting there on top of a mountain on  a cold winter day all wrapped up looking down on the world with a cup of tea in my hand  has to be one of the most peaceful experiences in life.

 

These are just some of the basic essentials, you will meet hikers who are minimalist and those that carry everything but the kitchen sink. I’m the latter, I would rather have it and not need it to need it and not have it. 

So you have your route, you have your gear. The day is set and the countdown is on. Adventure is calling, enjoy.