WATCH: Adventurer wakes up in the clouds after climbing all of Ireland's mountains
One adventurer has climbed every mountain in Ireland in just eight weeks – the fastest ever time.
James Forrest, 35, walked over 1,000km in his mission to stand atop all 273 600m high mountains across Ireland and Northern Ireland in 56 days.
James, a freelance adventure and travel writer from Cumbria in England, walked up to 25 miles a day and slept wild in the mountains in a one-man tent.
He began his adventure on Thursday, August 9, and reached his final summit – Knocknadobar in County Kerry – on Wednesday, October 3.
“I feel on top of the world to have finally completed this epic expedition,” James revealed.
“It has been the adventure of a lifetime and an incredibly tough challenge, both physically and mentally.
“Mountains are good for the soul. I love the freedom, the fresh air, the isolation, the unpredictability, the escapism – and this journey has let me experience these joys more than most.
“Ireland is an incredibly wild and beautiful country and I found the people to be so warm and friendly.”
James has completed the ‘Vandeleur-Lynams’, a list of 273 peaks in Ireland and Northern Ireland which defines a mountain as any summit with a height of at least 600m and a drop or prominence on all sides of at least 15m.
The list features several well-known Irish mountains including Carrauntoohil, Croagh Patrick and Slieve Donard.
Simon Stewart, founder of MountainViews.ie, the organisation that publishes the list of summits, said: “ Despite bad weather he completed this in approximately two months, faster than anyone else we have on record.”
James also set a record for climbing all 446 mountains in England and Wales in just six months in 2017.
However, he faced his fair share of bad weather during his challenge too, battling against torrential rain and gale force winds during Storm Ali.
“I faced such brutal weather during this challenge at times I felt like giving up”, he added.
“I was particularly wowed by the beauty of the mountains in the west and south-west of Ireland. I loved exploring those wild places – it was breathtaking.”
