Amazing route! Rugged and almost all offtrail it has unrelenting vert that starts right away and doesn't let up. Right out the gate it heads straight up to Benlettery peak from the hostel, rising nearly 2,000 feet in 1.3 miles, to gain the long ridge. I stayed atop the ridgeline all the way around to Derryclare hitting all the high points along the way, including Benbreen, Benbreen central, Benbreen north, Bencollaghduff, Bencorr and many subpeaks. Not a lot of efficiently runnable sections were found due to the steep ups and downs; the route rinding; and the combination of uneven rock, thick grass and bog. A few highlights were the numerous rocky scrambling sections (my favorite was the consistent blocky quartzite steeps coming up Bencorr), a small heard of sheep way up high on Benbreen north, and of course the incredible views in both direction from the ridgeline. I was also really lucky to do this route on a sunny, calm day which is rare for March.
I wasn’t expecting to do any big runs on this trip, so I didn’t have my typical running fuel or running vest. I stopped at the grocery store in the morning and quickly grabbed some high carb density item; I ended up bringing a bag of sour jelly beans, some pop-tart like bars, and a few jelly donuts :). I borrowed my dad’s Black diamond distance pack which I loaded with 2 500ml bottles of water, an extra layer, and my tasty mountain snacks (I ended up finishing 2/3 of the bag of jelly beans, 2 jelly donuts, 2 pop-tart bars, and all the water. I did the route solo-unsupported and passed 5 pairs of hikers along the way.