Tim Orr, foreground, with participants in his recent hillwalking skills course in Co Wicklow
WE MUST look odd, mad even, tramping in a line across this broad expanse of heather when there s a perfectly good track around the edge of it that would take us to the forest on the other side in half the time.
Eccentric though the scene may be, however, it will at least be obvious to anyone taking the easier route that we are obeying our instructor Tim Orr s injunction to have fun while in the mountains. There s plenty of chat and good cheer as we advance through the dense vegetation, stopping for a huddle every hundred metres.