Knocklayd in the Dark!
Posted by Glenn
We set off from the centre of Ballycastle at 9:45pm on Monday night…for another night walk on Knocklayd. The weather could not have been better, with a base layer being all that was required, right until we got to the summit.
Walking in the dark is a totally different ball game, from daylight…when you can’t see your goal, it is more difficult, psychologically. This is good preparation for the summit day on Kilimanjaro, which starts around midnight, on the Friday night. We get up at eleven pm, and have a cuppa, heading for the summit then, with roughly eight hours (from what I can gather) in the dark, to the goal. This is done at night, because the ground is loose scree, and is frozen harder at night, and therefore easier to negotiate.
“Knocklayd in the dark” is a great evenings training, and trudging back down through Ballycastle Forest at that time is certainly memorable!
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Talking about frozen ground, Melanie and I went up the mountain here a couple of weeks ago, and just as we reached the top a blizzard hit! It was absolutely freezing, so I can’t imagine what Kili is going to be like – you better wrap up warm!
Hi Armen, Great to hear from you!
You both were up the mountain…Mt Wellington..isn’t that right? What is the temp at the bottom? Sounds like it was a memorable trek!
I had Geraldine, Jed & Kezia up Knocklayd a few weeks ago! They all walked the whole way! I didn’t even have to carry Geraldine!
Woops! Read this after my other reply, but I may as well confess and clarify that we drove up the mountain.
That day it was probably about 12C at sea level, and just below zero at the top, with a serious gale force wind-chill factor (I would guess at least 60mph winds), making it feel like -10C. It was truly baltic, but admittedly we weren’t exactly wearing the appropriate gear.
Right!…Armen… I am not used to mountains that you can drive up! I just assumed…
It sounds like an “alpine” experience anyway!