A chance encounter, a long held ambition, a suggestion, then the willingness to to go on an adventure……
David J. Killeen was a friend of mine. I worked in his garden under his fastidious eye. He was a lover of nature, the outdoors and stubborn to the bone. But men like David metal was forged in long years of unrelenting work and a depth of confidence that grew from ones own self-relisence.
Sadly and all to quick, cancer took hold of this healthy, active and independant man and a few months before his 80th birthday he passed.
I met Tom at his funeral. Tom had lived in Sligo as an adolescent and held the dream of climbing Ben Bulben ever since he was a boy. Now in his 82nd year that ambition still burned strong. He shared with me stories of adventures, running marathons and scaling some of the Uk’s and Ireland’s highest peaks and so we made a pact to climb Ben Bulben.
Tom and his band arrived to Mullaghmore on Friday the 5th July, with an assembled crew of sons and friends, who joined together once a year to scale mountains. We briefed that evening and crossed our fingers that the forecast would hold for the next day.
The next morning as we set off from the Glencar Valley, the mist was low and hopes of grand vistas squelched with our footsteps over the soft heath and heather. If trepidation filled their hearts as it did mine of a cloudy, misty slog no one made any comment. As we travesered the saddle between Truskmore and Glencarbury hints that the sun might burn off the low lying cloud became a real possibility.
I remember reading a pamphlet in New Zealand from a great pioneer of the Otago gold rush in the 1860’s. A note that whenever you get in trouble or unsure of what course to take in the mountains, “sit, and make the tae”. So as we looked down, over of what is left of Ben Bulbens Baryte mines, it seemed apt to put a hot drink in our stomachs and take a rest.
To our amazement, the clouds lifted and we were granted stunning views of this unspoilt landscape. Refuelled and revitalised we set out on the next leg. A wide ridge with views of Donegal to the North and Mayo way to the South. By the time we reached west end of range, the sun was glorious and rain jackets and had long given way to sun cream.
Resting and refuelling at the Ben Bulben Trig. point, we carefully made our way to sheer cliffs so reknown of Sligo’s “Table Mountain”. Words and pictures can not do experiences like this justice. Magnificent, breath taking, scary as it was, it is one’s own experience and journey to this point. Bombarded by the very real sense of danger and the sheer scale of this mountain environment evokes a sense of our own fragility while the grandeur of nature is a humbling experience.
We retreated back from this precipice, retracing our steps till we turned down by a mountain brook that will eventually become the Grange River and on to Luke’s Bridge, where we had left a car earlier that morning.
The spirit of adventure is in the hearts of all, choosing to listen to that voice and having the courage make it a reality is what makes us who we are. I know my friend David would have loved a day in the hills like that one and I know that his spirit still burns bright, where ever he may be.
R.I.P. David J Killeen 1939-2018
Daniel J Kealy 2019
