MOUNTAIN LOG HIKER EXTRAORDINAIRE 71 On Saturdays, I go for a 25km run through the dunes, with my full pack, to get my legs and back used to the weight. And on Sundays I go road running.” So, how does he plan his routes? Does he visit the hills in advance to work out an itinerary? Again, no. “I research my routes using Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 and EastWest Mapping maps, as well as Outdooractive and Hiiker route-mapping software. I find small country roads, waymarked ways, tracks and trails, access points. The benefits of this are ensured access, speed, and less worry about navigation, though navigating in the hills is second nature to me now. I’ve also walked many of the mountains before.” But what if he doesn’t know a mountain and it has no mapped track to its summit? “Well, then I just go for it, though I have to be careful. I don’t want to risk injury.” He cites Mweelrea, Connacht’s highest mountain, as a case in point. To reach its summit, he went cross-country. WILD CAMPING On the first day of his long-distance hike from the GPO in Dublin to the GPO in Waterford – his Mountains of the East hike – Aidan joined the Wicklow Way in Rathfarnham and followed it to the Wicklow Gap near Glendalough, where he camped for the night. On leaving O’Connell Street in Dublin shortly after midnight, pack on back, a passer-by asked him where he was going. “Lugnaquilla,” he replied (!). Only bad weather prevented him from reaching Leinster’s highest peak before the end of that day. “The number one thing you need is water, freshwater, so I will always camp by a lake or stream. You need water for cooking and washing. I will camp on the sheltered side of a col or mountain, not too high up.” Does he ever worry about a cow stepping on his tent in the dark, or being robbed or assaulted by thugs? “There is no danger, it is not even on my radar. There are no cows in the hills, and I have no fear of meeting anyone.” Aidan’s tent is tiny. What is it? “It’s a Zpacks Plex Solo Tent – an ultra-light, one-skin tent made by a US company specialising in long-distance hiking gear. It’s strong, completely waterproof, weighs only 332 grammes, and it zips closed. I use my hiking poles as the tent poles.” So how does he pick his wild camping sites? “I pre-plan it so I have a guarantee that after 50 or 60km I will have a suitable campsite. You can’t just hope to find a good spot as darkness falls.”
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