Any time I went to climb the ‘Western Bens’, I got drenched. And not just drenched – every previous time, the hike was cut short due to the rain. So I wasn’t hopeful at all when the Galway Walking club decided to do a hike along Bencullagh and Muchanaght – those peaks in the Twelve Bens that lie west from Ben Bhan – on a wet and windy Sunday early last month. Happily, the rain (which was worse in Galway city than out in Connemara) had turned to sleet and then snow by the time we had reached the Bens and ascended a few hundred metres, and the rest of the day was spent walking along snow-capped hills, which never stops being a novelty in Connemara. The temperature in Galway has dropped significantly this week and the possibility of wintery showers on higher ground has been forecast for later in the week. The prospect of hiking in snow in Ireland on a May bank holiday weekend ? Novelty indeed.
First snowball of 2016 !