The Twelve Bens

"Quartzite ridges, empty bog, and a skyline that looks more like the Cuillin than anything else in Ireland."

The Twelve Bens are a tight cluster of twelve quartzite peaks in the middle of Connemara, rising straight out of blanket bog to just under 730 metres. They are the roughest, emptiest, and most serious hill country on the Irish mainland.

We walk the ridge in sections over a week, staying each night in a stone farmhouse near Letterfrack. The weather decides which peaks go, and that is always the right call.

Cillian Joyce, our lead in Connemara, grew up on a farm at the foot of Benbaun. He is as patient a teacher as we have.