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Author Topic: Mourne Seven Sevens 2013 (10th August)  (Read 42957 times)

ChuckMcB

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Re: Mourne Seven Sevens 2013
« Reply #15 on: March 17, 2013 »

@Phil: yes it looked grotty on paper, but it's fine below the cloud (500/600m). Cold but dry. I'm even seeing sun over on Slieve Croob from my spot on millstone mountain.
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bbmcg

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Re: Mourne Seven Sevens 2013
« Reply #16 on: April 24, 2013 »

me and my hubby are gonna give it a go this year . we're down all this week testing out our endurance . clocked up 11 miles yesterday from carrick little through annalong valley up to the castles then back over beg,cove , lamagan and binnian. at a leisurely pace with only couple stops it took 8 hours . am pretty confident we can cover the distance but still need a trial run to see if we can hit the dam by the designated time. our route.....donard ,Commedagh , bearnagh ,meelmore ,meelbeg, binnian , lamagan and back to the saddle via cove.anyone got any tips or advice on our chosen route ??
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twentyclicks

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Re: Mourne Seven Sevens 2013
« Reply #17 on: April 25, 2013 »

Not really. That's a popular route. Some will follow the wall down off Commedagh to Hare's Gap (can top-up water from the pipe), and some will drop off the summit straight S to get onto the Brandy Pad (can top-up water from the streams that cross it)...there is no trail here so you want to be confident descending steepish rough ground, and navigating by compass or you might drop into the Castles cliffs.

The runners have to do this as, after Commedagh, we do the other mountains in the opposite direction (not much water anywhere until Ben Crom).

If you are walking you can start at any time from 7am I think, so making the cut-off should be fine. Just get an idea how long it might take you from your training and add a margin of error: should give you an idea when to start.
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Craig
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bbmcg

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Re: Mourne Seven Sevens 2013
« Reply #18 on: April 25, 2013 »

i def prefer the idea of following wall off commedagh down to hares gap so ill maybe time that section tmw . any advice for coming off meelbeg to the dam . havent been that way at all yet but hoping to explore today if this rain eases up
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twentyclicks

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Re: Mourne Seven Sevens 2013
« Reply #19 on: April 25, 2013 »

Personally I just take a bearing from the summit to the crook in the Ben Crom River where it turns more South, and just follow that. The side of Meelbeg is pretty constant steepness, and although there are no paths down through the heather it is usually manageable. Once you cross the peat hags/bog and reach the river you should pick up a trail running along the East side of the river. Somewhere around the 300m contour it will veer over the shoulder of Ben Crom mountain and there is a diagonal track ENE down to the dam.
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Craig
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phil_b

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Re: Mourne Seven Sevens 2013
« Reply #20 on: April 27, 2013 »

I have a 14 mile training walk for this planned for tomorrow morning, hoping to include 5 of the seven mountains. Would like a dry morning >:(
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phil_b

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Re: Mourne Seven Sevens 2013
« Reply #21 on: May 19, 2013 »

I did a good walk this morning as more training for this, gps measured it as 27.7k and 2400 meters ascent. Took in 6 summits and covered the last couple of bits of the route that I hadnt done before. I thought the walk from Ben Crom dam to the summit of Meelbeg was worse, not too bad this morning, did it in 1 hour 10 mins. Legs sore now.
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bbmcg

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Re: Mourne Seven Sevens 2013
« Reply #22 on: May 20, 2013 »

looking forward to getting down for some training myself next Sunday for a couple of days. sports massage booked and all for the ;) Wednesday
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bbmcg

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Re: Mourne Seven Sevens 2013
« Reply #23 on: May 30, 2013 »

Did trial run of our route on Tuesday . Gorgeous day for it. The aim was to see if we could hit Ben crom on time. We skipped donard and went straight up commedagh and followed the wall along to hares gap . Didn't feel this took any longer than dropping down to the brandy pad to reach the gap so gonna go with this on the day to avoid any errors . Onwards and upwards over bearnagh , meelmore and meelbeg . Didn't find the drop off the side of meelbeg too bad nor the peaty  bog as long as you've your waterproof boots on. We then followed the river down a bit and headed over the shoulder of Ben crom. The next bit down to the dam i wasn't too stuck on......i found it very steep and heathery and bouldery  and slow. We came down almost level with the dam. Hubby thinks we should have come down from higher up as it was more bouldery and he thinks it would have been easier to climb down through than the heather. I think I'd have preferred to go lower but would love to hear any suggestions ????  The last time we did it we came too low and I'd bother crossing the river down from the dam.

Anyway the good news is we made it to the dam in 6.5 hours so with the addition of donard on the big day, we now know we'll make it before the 2:30 cut off time  without my husband forcing me to walk faster than I'm comfortable with  ;D

For our trial run we also left out binnian so once we'd climbed up from the dam we started the slog up lamagan . And what a slog it was...........seemed to go on for ever and ever and running out of water didn't help. Forgot to top up at dam !!! Found a path to skirt round cove but can anyone advise if we could have skirted round beg too ?

Back to the saddle and back down the glen river path we made it to the car after 11 hours. 2 very weary and sore hikers who were really chuffed with ourselves that we covered the distance. Looking forward now to the full challenge in Aug . Does anyone know if you've to finish the whole thing by a certain time on the day ?
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twentyclicks

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Re: Mourne Seven Sevens 2013
« Reply #24 on: May 31, 2013 »

See my post above - there is a track down to the dam. If you're lucky on the day you'll see others going up and down it or, once you're in the area, contour horizontally until you hit it.
Anything around Beg is probably just animal tracks, it's hardly worth the bother trying to pick them up. When we were running the other way over it we contoured but it was a hive-mind type situation, I doubt I'd be any quicker on my own trying it.

I think the only cut-off is at the dam, but walkers can start from as early as 7am.

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Craig
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phil_b

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Re: Mourne Seven Sevens 2013
« Reply #25 on: June 02, 2013 »

Did trial run of our route on Tuesday . Gorgeous day for it. The aim was to see if we could hit Ben crom on time. We skipped donard and went straight up commedagh and followed the wall along to hares gap . Didn't feel this took any longer than dropping down to the brandy pad to reach the gap so gonna go with this on the day to avoid any errors . Onwards and upwards over bearnagh , meelmore and meelbeg . Didn't find the drop off the side of meelbeg too bad nor the peaty  bog as long as you've your waterproof boots on. We then followed the river down a bit and headed over the shoulder of Ben crom. The next bit down to the dam i wasn't too stuck on......i found it very steep and heathery and bouldery  and slow. We came down almost level with the dam. Hubby thinks we should have come down from higher up as it was more bouldery and he thinks it would have been easier to climb down through than the heather. I think I'd have preferred to go lower but would love to hear any suggestions ????  The last time we did it we came too low and I'd bother crossing the river down from the dam.

Anyway the good news is we made it to the dam in 6.5 hours so with the addition of donard on the big day, we now know we'll make it before the 2:30 cut off time  without my husband forcing me to walk faster than I'm comfortable with  ;D

For our trial run we also left out binnian so once we'd climbed up from the dam we started the slog up lamagan . And what a slog it was...........seemed to go on for ever and ever and running out of water didn't help. Forgot to top up at dam !!! Found a path to skirt round cove but can anyone advise if we could have skirted round beg too ?

Back to the saddle and back down the glen river path we made it to the car after 11 hours. 2 very weary and sore hikers who were really chuffed with ourselves that we covered the distance. Looking forward now to the full challenge in Aug . Does anyone know if you've to finish the whole thing by a certain time on the day ?

Hi Brenda. There is a clear well defined track from Ben Crom Dam up and across the bog to the river. I was up it 2 weeks ago and down it today. If you are not sure where it is go across the dam and try following it up, it is easy to find going that way. It brings you around the shoulder of Ben Crom and drops fairly steeply down to the reservoir, if you end up below the level of the dam, you are much too low.
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phil_b

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Re: Mourne Seven Sevens 2013
« Reply #26 on: June 02, 2013 »

Did just over 13 miles today as training for the Seven Sevens. We left the carpark on the Trassey Road, up the Trassey track to Hares Gap, over Bernagh, Meelmore, Meelbeg, Slieve Loughshannagh, Doan, down to Ben Crom Dam and along the edge of the reservoir and back up the valley to Hares Gap and back to the car. Hoping to get another 3 or 4 of these in before the end of July.
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whoRya

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Re: Mourne Seven Sevens 2013
« Reply #27 on: June 02, 2013 »

Phil, you'll cruise the 7 7s with the amount of training you are getting in.
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Re: Mourne Seven Sevens 2013
« Reply #28 on: June 03, 2013 »

Love to see someone putting the preparation yards in. Karma phil
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madmickie

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Re: Mourne Seven Sevens 2013 (10th August)
« Reply #29 on: July 30, 2013 »

http://bustedsaddle.wordpress.com/

Here's a blog I did on 7s, might be of some use. Runners going anti-clockwise this year.
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