MEET: Outside old Irish Press Offices, Burgh Quay, down from Spar shop.

DEPART Sundays 10.00 A.M. (or when the bus is full)

COST: Private bus. Cost 10.00 Euro.

NOTE: The leader has the right to refuse anyone who is not adequately equipped (i.e. without adequate rainwear, spare clothes, food, torch and hiking boots). The leader has the right to extend, curtail or alter the route from that described in the program. The leader sets the pace of the hike and walkers are expected to obey his/her instructions at all times.

During winter months it is essential to bring a (head) torch on all Sunday hikes and weekends away. Don’t forget to check your batteries and bulb.

Your club membership card MUST be carried and produced, if requested on all Sunday hikes. Numbered tickets will be given out on the quays by a committee member. People with a valid membership card and ticket will be given preference on the bus.

Mountaineering is an activity with a danger of personal injury or death. Participants should be aware of and accept these risks. People who take part in our club activities do so at their own risk and are responsible for their own actions and involvement. The Committee requests that anyone who is on medication or with a medical condition inform the leader before the start of the hike.

Try to reduce the erosion and widening of trails, e.g. do not walk on the edge of worn tracks; walk through the centre of the original track or go several feet into the scruff where the ground is untrodden, walking parallel to but not on the track.

Litter is unsightly and dangerous to animals. Even bio-degradable items like orange peels and banana skins take years to disappear. Bring all your litter home and try to include at least one extra item from each day out. Do not bury litter – animals will dig it up.

In the interest of safety and comfort please keep the pointed end of your walking stick covered, especially when travelling on the bus.

To address the perennial shortage of hike leaders the club has set up the Co-leadership scheme to encourage new volunteers to lead hikes. The scheme will consist of a contact list of experienced hikers (co-leaders), each willing to assist a new leader on a first led hike. The scheme is particularly intended for people with suitable navigation skills but limited experience or confidence. Ideally the co-leader would have a passive role on hikes allowing the new leader as much as possible to fulfil their own duties unassisted. However by having a co-leader on a hike a new leader would have the option of assistance should the need arise.

To avail of the scheme a prospective leader need only contact Jimmy McCullagh (contact details given elsewhere in Newsletter) for the names of willing co-leaders. The onus is then on the prospective leader to contact and organise a co-leader for their hike.

The scheme is intended as a natural means of encouraging and developing leadership skills in the club. Its aims are to encourage more people to lead hikes and also to share the wealth of experience within the club.

Jimmy McCullagh

Club Training Assistant

Club members will not have recovered from the June bank holiday trip to Wales, when already we lavish you with yet another walking treat, this time in Kerry under the guidance of the incomparable Philip Hayden. The organiser has promised the Editor that, whilst in Killarney, there will be several night hikes from the hostel to the "Golden Nugget". Full details are available at the back of the newsletter.

The Club extends its best wishes to Pat and Marguerite who are due to be wed in early June. Surprizingly, this hillwalking couple have declined the offer of a row of hillwalkers to form a ‘guard of honour’ with raised walking poles. We hope all goes well.

If anyone would like to present a slide show, please contact Donal Finn 01-4530617 (no, not of the wedding, of a mountain trip).

In the summer of 1989 I climbed the Little Sugar Loaf for the first time. I had returned from my "travels" as I now refer to them, the previous Christmas. To some extent I was still settling back into life in Ireland, still seeing things with the fresh eyes of a returnee!

I had decided before coming home, that I wanted to take up hill walking, so I was pleased to discover that an old friend of mine, Marie went walking most week ends. One Sunday morning I met up with her and another friend Ali at Bray dart station.

We walked up through Bray to the Vevay area and entered the lands of Kilruddery house by a gate behind a factory on the Boghall road. We followed paths through woodland and fields of barley and corn. It was a lovely sunny day and it felt good to out in the countryside.

We started to climb a bit, I was fairly fit and I found the going easy enough. Marie and Ali had their traditional places to stop for a rest and a cigarette, during these stops I regaled them with stories of my recent travels. If I bored them, they showed no sign of it, but like good friends listened to me and seemed interested.

When we reached the open hillside it was covered in purple heather mixed with yellow gorse, it seems strange to think of it now, but back then I had never actually been out among heather and gorse before!

We climbed the rocky section that leads on to the first of the three bumps of the Little Sugar Loaf and then on to the second and third, where we stopped for lunch. I spent a long time admiring the view.

On my right I could see the little harbour at Greystones and further down the coast, Wicklow head. On my left I could see Bray head and the town. Turning round I looked at the Great Sugar Loaf and the green fields of the rocky valley. While abroad I had spent some time in desert area in Israel and I was still in awe of the lush greenness of the Irish countryside, so different from the dry brown landscape there. Further on I could see the Wicklow mountains unexplored territory for me then. We ended the day with a pint in the Harbour Bar, Marie advised me on where to buy my first pair of hiking boots and we planned our next walk.

Ali now lives in Kerry and Marie in Madrid; both of them have long since given up hill walking. But for me that Sunday was the beginning of a whole new chapter in my life. Through hill walking I would make new friends, go on exciting travels and adventures (when I thought my adventures were over) and discover a completely different appreciation of nature and the environment.

Wear: Packed lunch, wet weather gear, boots, tracksuit bottoms (no jeans), hat and gloves.

Meet: Messrs Maguire Bar, O’Connell Bridge, Dublin at 8.45am.

June 27th to 29th For further details contact An Óige office 8304555.