Carrauntoohil Climbing Ireland's highest mountain, Carrauntoohil, is something I had planned to do for many years, probably ever since I first learned the name in school, but it wasn't until 2011 that I finally got around to attempting it. At 1040 metres altitude Carrauntoohil is certainly no giant, but the trek to the top makes for a fantastic day hike, involving a fair bit of scrambling in places. It belongs to a range of mountains called Macgillycuddy's Reeks, a rather strange but quite compelling name for a mountain range, named after a local character "Macgillycuddy of the Reeks" who owned much of this land hundred's of years ago. The origin of the name Carrauntoohil itself are uncertain. Ruth and I have climbed mountains in many exotic places around the world so sooner or later I felt
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