Friday night on Meelbeg

With thanks to Fred.

With such a great weather outlook it was hard to resist a bivvi on Friday night. I hiked into the mournes from Newcastle via the glen river track and brandy pad, arriving on Meelbeg in about three and a half hours. The walk in was very pleasant in the gentle evening sunshine and with so few walkers about, I virtually had the mountains to myself. Although there was a strong breeze on the summit, there was enough shelter behind the wall to cook and settle down in my sleeping bag to watch the sunset. Thanks to the breeze, there wasn’t a midge in sight.
The remainder of out group, Rumblebum, Typon and Cerbera147 arrived after eleven, accompanied by Landyliam who just made a flying visit to chat and drink our  beer before disappearing into the night. We had a great night cooking and chatting by the heat of our firelogs before turning in around 2am. The summit of meelbeg doesn’t lend itself to camping but we found enough reasonably level spaces for bivvi bags. This was Rumblebums first bivvi and hopefully after such a pleasant night he is a convert now. The following morning after a hearty breakfast we hiked out after doing a spot of geocaching.
It was a great night out and thanks to all who came along for making it so enjoyable.

Breakfast in the early morning sun

With thanks to cerbera147

It was a great a night; thanks for the invite. Second time in the bivvy for me but my first summit.

My first time bivvying I forgot my sleepmat and this time it disappeared on the way up  ??? I’m destined not to experience bivvying with a mat. Although everyone volunteered their sit mat so it was all good.

I would highly recommend bivvying to all. I see no reason not to try it especially on nights like Friday.

Thanks to the guys for bearing with me on the way and to Liam for his help. If only the summit could be at the bottom of the mountain.

The clouds and mist were amazing as was the sunrise around 4am. I’ll pop up some pics later.

BTW if you see a blue sleepmat between Meelmore Lodge and Meelbeg it’s mine.

Original thread here. With thanks to Fred, Cerbera147 and LandyLiam