These boots are made for walking

THIS morning Marie Callaghan, 57, will embark on one of the most “exciting’’ challenges of her life as she attempts to climb the five highest peaks in Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales in just three days.

Along with her sister, Brideen, 63, and more than 30 other hill walkers aged between 25 and 65 years, she will climb a total of 17,373 feet to raise money for HeadsUp, Rehab’s youth suicide prevention project.

“I am very excited and really looking forward to it,’’ says Marie, who is from Fanad, Co Donegal. “I think the actual walking will be fine, but what is required is stamina. The tiredness will be the hardest thing to deal with as there is an awful lot of travelling.’’

The group will climb Carrauntouhil, in Co Kerry this morning before travelling up to Newcastle, Co Down, to climb Slieve Donard in the evening.

Tomorrow they will take an early morning ferry from Larne to Troon, Scotland to climb Ben Nevis, which is 4,409 feet high and which will take approximately seven to eight hours.

“That is probably going to be the worst one,’’ says Marie. “I think we will be hit by a wall of tiredness. When we are halfway up Ben Nevis, I think that is when the morale of the group will be really important. We will be hauling each other up to the top.’’

The group will then travel overnight by coach to the Lake District in Cumbria to climb Scafell Pike, which should take about four hours. They hope to complete the Five Peak Challenge by 8pm on Sunday after climbing Snowdon, in Gwynedd, Wales.

“Hopefully my daughter, who lives in London, will be there to meet us,” says Marie. “I think it will be a huge buzz to complete it. I love walking anyway, the views will be fantastic, and I think it keeps you mentally active.

“It is totally away from home, away from work. It is totally different. Any problems you have you can stow away and when you come back they don’t seem to be so bad.’’

The sisters decided to do the challenge after spotting a newspaper article in their local paper and thought it would be a “great achievement’’.

They each had to raise €1,800 for HeadsUp, a charity for people with head and neck cancer, before being accepted.

“I found the fundraising to be the most intimidating aspect. We live in a small parish and do a lot of fundraising for the GAA, so you would be hitting the same people all of the time,’’ says Marie.

Fortunately everyone was very generous. They held a draw, selling lines, and received great prizes from local businesses and hotels, including a Sunday lunch at Neven Maguire’s restaurant MacNean House. Within three weeks they had raised the money, and so could concentrate on their training.

“My sister is terrific and is very enthusiastic about it. We don’t think about age, you just get on with your life. Hopefully we will both be fine.

“I’ve been very lucky. I haven’t had one ache or pain and no blisters either. So it has worked out very well. Blisters would be a disaster,’’ she says.

Despite our on-off summer, Marie is also not overly worried about the weather conditions, as long as it is not foggy and there are no high winds.

“If you waited for a good day in Ireland you wouldn’t get out walking that often. Whatever comes we can deal with, we have the gear. We have been out in some very bad weather, but you still get a buzz. When you have achieved it in terrible conditions, that’s an extra brownie point.’’

¦ www.headsup.ie