Arderin — Local services in The Municipal District of Birr

We went yesterday. It was a very nice climb, but I had to search online for the way to actually get to the trail. It was very foggy, so we had no sight of the actual trail.

The road getting to the trail however is not for the inexperienced driver, we are from Canada and we deal with snow but this road was quite stressful to drive on; there is poor visibility and only space for one car on the road with deep ditches on each side and few pull off passing points along the way. It was actually slippy from moss growth and recent rain, too.

When we arrived, it was very foggy, which was fine. we made the decision to climb it regardless because we were there. It was VERY slippery the trail, very wet, and dangerous in some parts. I never knew an entire mountain could be bog.... it definely met up to what I expected walking in a bog, wet, slippery, squishy, random deep holes in the ground, etc.

We hoped by the time we got to the top that the fog would clear slightly we stayed at the peak for about 30 minutes and it juts got worse so we made our way back down.

My suggestion for anyone climbing on a foggy day is to bring a picnic, and have a lunch or coffee and wait it out. Even with fog it was a great experience. By the time we got back down to the car park, the fog had mainly cleared; which was a bit of a bummer.

It took us about 45 minutes to climb in the wet boggy conditions we had. I would not have brought my children on this hike in the conditions we had, it would have been too miserable in the muck.

So overall we had a good time, it was a really cool experience, but I wish someone had warned us of the road conditions because we may not have made...

County Offally / Laois high point at 527m , access from the carpark makes this such an easy but really boggy hike , an easy 25mins walk up to the summit point ( a post with stones ). Elevation gain is only a 100m , unfortunately doing it in Feb means I missed the great views of the Slieve Blooms .... will have to return during the summer...

Highest point in the Slieve Bloom mountains with beautiful 360 degree vistas of Irelands Midlands. Quieter than some of the other areas in the Slieve Blooms. Approx 30 minutes climb along a raised bog path. Can be wet so bring waterproof...