All downhill from here

Jeez, I am feeling slightly light-headed right now, gimme a minute to catch my breath. Phew, here I am, at long last, sticking my little Raheny_eye flag on the summit of Mount 5K

It’s been quite a trip. 5,000 blips ago, I thought I was off on a pleasant jaunt up Blipfoto Hill. What a gullible young one I was, back then... At 100 blips, I got a little spin of vertigo. A mix of elation and longing for more. A vague feeling that the Range of the Three-Six-Five may be doable after all. I was hooked. An addiction was born (yet another).

I wasn’t alone. We were a bunch of greenhorns who compensated for their lack of experience by carrying rucksacks packed with energy and enthusiasm and laughter and beers. We helped each other along the way. We were set on reaching Peak 1,000. Almost all of us did. We were slightly more weather-beaten by then, more rugged, less likely to waste time on the frivolous. Some sat by the side of trail, to take a little rest, they’d catch up soon they said. They never did. Their bones picked bare by the vultures can still be seen, buried in the archives of the Blipfoto vault, just a few clicks away. Gone but not (completely) forgotten.

As the band of brothers (and sistaz!) got thinner climbing up mountains and down valleys and up more mountains, we grew to know each other ever more intimately. There was no longer any need for daily declarations of love, no stars for every breakfast and hearts for every anniversary. The commenting grew more seldom but the silence was by no means uncomfortable between old companions. We’ve been painstakingly progressing along the ridge of Daily Blipping, upwards and onwards.   


And here I am now. Planting my little flag. Jeezus, I am knackered. I could do with a foot massage.

It’s all downhill from here. I hope it won’t be a plummet, or a splat, like a semi-liquid cow shite. I’d like to think that I will be carving ludicrously beautiful curves in the fresh powdery snow of self-contentment. Off-piste and smug, nonchalantly making my way to the resort at the foot of the mountain for some well-earned rest and relaxation.

I’ll just feast my weary (raheny)eyes one last time on the breathtakingly beautiful panoramic view afforded from the top of Mount 5k. I salute you, fellow blippers. It is now time for this photojournal enthusiast to hang up his camera.





But wait a second... What is this diaphanous shape half revealing itself on the edge of the horizon? This dark blue behemoth half guessed against the slightly-less-dark blue of the sky? A beguiling faraway mass behind which the sun will soon set. Could it... could it... could it be the often talked about, seldom seen, never reached Peak 10K?!
It is! It’s there. It’s calling me! IT IS.
Me want.
ME WANT.
ME WANT!!!