Goal : Unlocked
When
the pandemic first kicked off and we were all in the height of lockdown, social
media became the place many people turned to.
I had
briefly heard of ‘Stairway to Heaven’ or Cuilcagh boardwalk up in Fermanagh
before, but during this period it kept appearing in my feeds and I added it to
my bucket/goal list.
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| Sunrise |
When 2021 came around I was all set for a year of walking, hiking and wild camping. Hah. My body had other ideas completely and promptly broke down forcing me to rest for a few months. This made the idea of completing Cuilcagh an even bigger goal post surgery. Something to really mark my achievement of recovery.
Not
alone did I want to do it, but I had the idea in my head of watching sunrise
from the top. Now, like most people I like my bed, a lot. So, I really needed
to do this before sunrise became too early.
The idea
resurfaced recently as winter starts to turn into spring and the days slowly
get longer and the weather improves. I made a plan to do it during the bank holiday to have sufficient
recovery time – I was under no illusion that I would need a nice rest after!
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| Moonlight |
I roped in my friend Caroline to come too. Fervently watching the weather forecast all week, Sunday morning sounded good. Dry and maybe cloudy.
The alarm clock went off at half 3 (and another one ten minutes later just in case). I slowly forced myself out of bed and got ready. Typically, I didn’t have a great sleep for fear I’d sleep in. I put on my one million layers, filled up my travel mug and had some scrambled eggs to keep me going. I picked up Caroline on route and we had a great laugh passing the time on our trip.
The thermometer on the car hit minus three in parts. It was a cold bright night but luckily for us the roads were in perfect condition. We arrived in good time and left the carpark around 6.30am.
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| Caroline taking pics |
The moon was
so bright it helped light the way for us – but Caroline was our main source of
light with her headtorch.
Our giddiness
and excitement didn’t take long to turn into heavy breathing and moans. We stopped
to catch our breath and take in the magnificent landscape we were surrounded
by.
All the
pictures I’d seen did not show the degree of difficulty involved. Most showed a
flat boardwalk leading to steps in a beautiful landscape.
IT IS NOT
FLAT. Before you even get to the
boardwalk part you’ve been steadily climbing for at least an hour. The
boardwalk part then has steps along it in various parts, which aren’t big but
when your calves are shouting to you about the abuse they have received for the
last hour, any bit of a lift is torturous.
At one stage my heart started to hurt, and I wondered at what point you start to think you’re having a heart attack.
When you see
pictures of the boardwalk, you’ll notice how open it is in that part. It was a
breezy night/morning and in this area that breeze turned into a wind which was
doing it’s best to blow me off it. I’d moaned (in my head) about carrying so
much water when I wasn’t even drinking it but I was glad of the extra weight to
weigh me down in the end.
As I said,
we’d aimed for sunrise and as the morning went on, we were blessed with
the most beautiful sights as the light slowly rose and dawn approached. There were many photos
taken (whilst taking breaks to try and catch my breath and not get blown over).
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| The long boardwalk trail |
I had the stairway in my sights. 'Ahhh yes', I thought, 'this will get easier here. I can use the handrails to help me up it'. Narrator: It Did Not Get Easier. At this stage I had to keep my head down as I was walking, both to hide from the wind and because it was literally one foot in front of the other as my legs ached. I reached the stairway. Two steps in. Oh lord, this is not easier. My calves screamed bloody murder at me. My thighs felt like they needed WD40.
The stairway is broken
up into sections of steps, eg 10, then a slight platform, most likely for
passing people coming down/going up. But I used this section to stop, check my
sanity, catch my breath, drink some water and motor on. The mantra 'nearly there' repeating in my head.
Eventually I
reached the summit (or the platform at the top of the stairs, which isn’t quite
at the top) and in under 2 hours. I was disappointed when I realised the sun rising
was closer to the other side and I considered climbing around to it. But the
wind and me being an inexperienced climber told me not to and the thoughts of
having to call mountain rescue put me off!
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| Triumphant selfie |
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| The last steps |
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| Sheer delight |
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| Sunrise across the landscape |
I took a few
photos and videos and then quickly sat down to finally rest and get out of the
wind momentarily. Caroline was a few steps behind me as the boardwalk isn’t
wide enough for 2 people and with the wind we couldn’t chat/egg each other on,
so I’d to power on while I could. I knocked back my lovingly made (by me, for
me) smoothie which really hit the spot. I rewarded Caroline with one when she got up. After a nice rest, but not as long as I'd have liked because it was absolutely bitter out, it was time to go back down.
I half slid half walked down the steps and the boardwalk part was certainly easier going back. As we had started our walk in the pitch dark, walking back we had a good look at everything. I couldn't remember some of the hills we walked, they all blended into one! Walking back over them all in daylight emphasised our little achievement. Every time we got to a gate and had to climb over, I had to take a deep breath before lifting a leg. It was almost a déjá vu of when my back was at me and I could barely walk. One of the worst parts was as we walked back we noticed a whole lot of cars in a car park that was nearer than the one we had parked in (the gates were locked so we couldn't go further). That was torture constantly walking passed cars driving closer to the boardwalk. It was a good 15mins walk beyond that carpark to our car and when you are on your last legs, that is a lot.
Once we got back to the car and sat down, out of the wind, it was
the first time we truly noticed how cold it was. Our arses were essentially frozen
solid! It was still only 1 degree. Using my legs to clutch was…interesting.
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| 1000 layers of clothing |
We drove
into Enniskillen for food and a gawk and soon realised NOTHING was open. It was
nearly 11 on a Sunday and nothing really opened until 1. We ended up driving
back out and went to a petrol station for a bit of grub and a massive cup of tea. We
defrosted and rested our leggies before hitting the road for home again.
I was home and on the couch by 2pm, absolutely delighted with what we had achieved.
2023 is going to be a good year (she says, fingers crossed, fully aware of how plans go awry).
**It was 1000% worth doing, but I would also say you need a certain level of fitness, as it is tough going.
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