There was a great turn-out for this walk, 23 people braved the cold winter weather, max 3 degrees I think! We were lucky though that it was sunny and there was very little wind.

The route went from the gates of Millstreet Country Park across the lower slopes of Mushera for about 5 km and dropped down to the Butter Road. We stopped there for lunch and then went a short distance down the Butter Road, turned right and walked about 4 km on a minor road until we reached the entrance to a forest.

As it was La le Bride, St. Bridget’s Day, Tom Desmond lead us in Cill Aodain, in which the blind poet Raftery decides to set off for Mayo as the days are lengthening. Various people in the group told the story of the poem and of St. Bridget and then after a few songs connected to the area we were in, we went in to the forest and continued the walk.

After a couple of km on a forest track we descended fairly steeply to meet another track which brought us on to the road back to the cars. The walk was 14 km in total, but to me at least it felt a lot more! HJ