Crappy fortnight at work, started thinking about doing something different over the long weekend to take my mind of it, more than just the usual walk.
Settled on the
Seven Sevens: climb the seven Mourne mountains over 700m.
After
a bit of reading. I settled on the Glen River -> Donard -> Commedagh -> Bearnagh -> Meelmore -> Meelbeg -> Down the Bencrom River -> Ben Crom Dam -> Binnian -> Lanagan -> Glen River route. An easy enough route to follow, with the exception of Bencrom Rover, I've not done it before and the map didn't show a path.
Forecast for the Monday was to be cloudy start, rain then overcast for the rest of the day.
Decided to take the walk seriously so only a short walk on the Sunday, no coffee or alcohol the whole weekend.
I packed light (for me): 35l rucksack, 2l bladder of watered down fruit juice (with a dissoluble multivitamin table thrown in for good measure), 3x 500ml bottles of Lucosade sport and a 500ml hip flask of diluteable juice. Spare long sleeve base layer, lightweight fleece, spare socks, lightweight cheapy trekmates jacket, loads of energy bars, dried fruit, jelly babies (no food as such for lunch, plan was just to keep moving), first aid kit, map, GPS tracker, (but no sun blocker - mistake)
Up at 6am, big breakfast,
07.30 arrive at Newcastle grey and overcast, Donard covered in cloud. Slapped some sudo-cream on my feet to help protect from blisters (a top tip from a hill runner, can't tell if it did help but if the runners do it, why not).
09.03 - Top of Donard. 1h30m so much for taking it easy. One down six to go.
09.46 - Summit carn on Commedagh. Never been up that before,
nice wee sheltered bivvy spot room for one or two.
Also ‘found’ the well reported
water pipe coming out of the hillside.
Started off in the direction of Hare’s gap/Bearnagh. Looked miles away..began to wish it was foggy..
10.32 Reach Hare’s Gap
11.07 Bearnagh Summit. Path up wasn’t all that obvious to start with, just very steep. Spent 45 mins in the sun letting my base layer & socks dry out, boots off..aaahhh! (so much for keeping moving....but it was too nice up there..may just spend the rest of the afternoon there)
11.57 Start off down the side of Bearnagh, didn’t know there was no actual path up/down, just a rock field.
12.22 Meelmore Summit for the third time this summer.
12.50 Melbeg Summit, ditto.
13.28 Down to the Bencrom River. Passed by a couple of runners going the other-way. Excellent wee river, couple of nice bivvy spots beside it. I’ll be back here for sure.
14.04 Hang a left looking for the Ben Crom Dam, didn’t want to lose too much height .. so ended up batting through bracken, much to the amusement of the old folks waiting for the Silent Valley bus
14.30 Ben Crom Dam...arrived exactly at the ‘official’ cut off time. During the official race you have to get to the Dam by 1430 otherwise you get retired.
Phew what a scorcher!
2l bladder now empty, filled it up with the Lucozade, put on fresh socks. Rested in the shade.
15.11 Arrive at the shoulder between Lamagan and Binnian. Place is full of afternoon walkers, I swear I can smell a BBQ! Smells goooood.
Looks at Lamagan..(shudder)...you can see the path go right to the top...looks hateful.
Looks at Binnian, looks better (even though I know there is a couple of miles of it hidden from view). Thinks about going down to the Blue Lough for a swim and getting a taxi back to Donard...sooo tempting.
15.21 Ahh sod it..Binnian it is then.
(get overtaken by families with small children and a couple of top heavy lovelies on the way up...making me feel old and feeble)
16.26 Binnian summit. Pass loads of rock climbers. Sit down for a rest. Ahh balls to this, let’s go home. Call to the wife, arrange pick up at Carrik Little car park, start down off the side of Binnian, shooting dirty looks at Lamagan on the way down. Next time...probably not tho.
17.45 Arrive Carrick Little car park. Boots off....aaaahhhhh!
Time: 10hrs 15mins (less an hour for breaks)
Distance: 16 miles
Assent: 2,100m
Not sure I’d do anything different, the route going down the Bencrom River would be easier than going up it, the path is soo patchy it would be hard to stick to it (esp. in wet weather) Respect to the runners who do it in less than four hours. Two day later my knees are still compaining going up the steps at Lisburn train station
So if you want to give it a go, keep the
7th August free. (the
CDO in me wonders why they don't do it on the 7th July...that would mean doing the seven sevens on the seventh day of the seventh month..ahem
)
More pics/route map here.
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Topic: Seven Sevens on the Twelfth (Read 23197 times)