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[whoRya]

Has anyone got any good walks/climbs they have done with their youngsters?  

My wee fella is just 5 but I'm trying to blood him early.  I'm sure many will be familiar with the intolerable moaning kids do when they are asked to walk the length of themselves.  I'm sure I must have been the same.  I have found though that it is easier to get them to go for a wee bit of a climb rather than walking on the flat somewhere.

So far I've had him on a few walks:

>  Carnmoney Hill - a great wee dander with some lovely views.  It can be really tranquil and you forget you're surrounded on all sides by half of the population of North Belfast.

>  Slemish - He loved this one and is a favourite of mine.  He says that when he says "Hup!" it helps him climb the hard bits.

>  Cavehill - From the Hightown Road entrance, he got up there a couple of Christmases ago when he was only 3-and-a-half.  When I look at my three year old daughter I sense it may take a bit longer to get her up there.  Not one to linger for long on the top of though as you are terrified of them getting near the edge.

>  Black Mountain - Seeing the path so far ahead was a bit of a push, once we got onto the bog and he had to jump over mud he was much happier.

>  Scrabo - a wee dander up the hill, great views and an exciting tower to climb for free.  Good fun!

>  Big Collin - I haven't actually had him up this yet but may be next on the list.  The wind farm turbines are actually quite scary to walk under on a windy day, I think he'd think they are cool.  The view up there is decent.  The only thing is that there was a bull in the field last time I was there.  Maybe if he was way the other side of the field it may be ok.  Mind you last time I was up Black Mountain a bull was mightily unimpressed that we wanted to share the same road as him.  Gave him a wide bearth and he seemed ok.


Has anyone else had any success with getting the kids out for a wee dander, one that goes someway to satisfy your own need to be up high looking down on the land below?  What about the Cloughmore Stone from Rostrevor?  That doesn't seem too far?

[LandyLiam]

Take him to the caves at Percy Bysshe in the mournes, he'll love it 

[DryBag]

Good post.  I'm looking for a good short walk followed by an overnight camp before another short walk in the morning.

any ideas?

[suspectmonkey]

Sounds like you've had him on some good walks already!  How about some more of the Antrim Hills?  A while back we did Trostan from Glenariff following the Moyle Way.  Even some of the walks around the Forest Parks can be good fun.  When I was a kid I used to love walking around the likes of Glenarriff, Tollymore and Castlewellan.  The "black route" around Tollymore is good, and you can have the added fun of a BBQ when you get back to the car      

[LandyLiam]

If you want to bring the little ones to a mountain summit Slieve Croob is very easy as it has a road (no you can't drive up it) about 90% of the way from the car park then a wee scramble up a hill at the end with some rather large telecomms towers up there (i told them it was a space station  )

[whoRya]

Good post.  I'm looking for a good short walk followed by an overnight camp before another short walk in the morning.

any ideas?

I kept meaning to take my son on first overnight in a tent this summer.  I had intended to take him down to Brown's Bay camp site on Islandmagee and to do a wee evening walk round to Skernaghan Point http://walkni.com/Walk.aspx?ID=50 then BBQ.  I thought it would be ideal for a Friday night, getting home early after breakfast on Saturday. 

It perhaps doesn't quite tick all the boxes for you since you'd perhaps have to drive somewhere for a walk the next day.

I'll have to check out some of the other suggestions, good stuff. 

[RedLeader]

We've had kids under 5 up to Donard Wood a few times - you'd be suprised what they can do if you're patient. We had a 4 year old on the Binnian summit bivvy but in fairness his Dad carried him most of the way 

[Scribble]

I got my 5 year old up onto Binnian slow and steady with lots of treats and stories about pirates and the lost binnian treasure helped :-) He now wants to do Donard and sleep on top which I'm all for

[brendanmcc]

Hen mountain is a safe bet (obviously avoiding the really craggy bits at the top.)
Did it with my 11 and 4 year old last month.
very close to the car park so not much of a slog before the ascent.

I passed loads of kids scampering up Binnian weekend before last
Luckily I was heading the opposite way so didn't have to worry about being overtaken.

[LandyLiam]

Slievenamuck must be the easist peak to reach on the Mournes, drove by today and though i'd pop up for my teabreak, only 10mins to the top from the Ott Car Park (5 mins for chuck  ) also has great views over Spelga and good camping spots with no rocks about, also you are near enough to the car park to hear your alarm going off  just don't park in front of the tree or you'll look down and think your car has gone (like i did  )

[whoRya]

I like the sound of the couple of the hills on the edge of the Mournes.  Just the right spot to let the kids see the mountains in all their glory.

[pinki]

Hew was one of my choices also. Took the wee lad up there when he was 5. Not too demanding.
Drinahilly for a training session
Eagle mountain from bloody bridge might be an idea. Once you get to the wall it is basically flat to the summit. Great views and not too many serious drops. Also has a wellington bomber crash site.

I had hoped to take my youngun through the Annalong Valley, camp at the Ox bow, and then over the saddle into newcastle the next day. The weekend beforeI was going to take him I did a practise for the MMM and was swarmed by midges at the ox bow campsite. Worst I had ever seen. So took him wild camping on the coast. No midges. Great time.

[whoRya]

I finally got round to getting both the kids for a wee saunter up Hen Mountain yesterday.  

It seems that there is a constant stream of birthday parties and the like that take up half days every weekend, it rains most of the rest of the time, so when I had full free day and the weather forecast was favourable, I jumped at the chance.  

There is a nice wee picnic spot at the foot of it with the river running along-side.  We had our lunch and charged up the batteries, then set off up the track.  About 2 minutes into it all the four year old starting giving it the usual nonsense about her legs being tired and needing carried (here we go again!).  I always find though that when the hill starts to climb so do they.  Once we started on the steeper section she was giving it all "we're doing so well" and "I love mountains".  

Hen is a cracking wee mountain.  The kids (and me) loved scrambling about on the torrs around the top.  The trouble was trying to keep my 6 year old back from climbing everything in sight.  There were some climbers on the summit torr and my son would have had a go at their pitch given half a chance.  

I couldn't recommend this hill enough especially to throw in as part of a family day out, perhaps combined with ice-creams on the promenade and a walk along the beach.  Goes without saying a bit of caution is required around some of the torrs.

Well here's a couple of pics.

Our starting point was closer to the top than where this was taken from.








A mother would have remembered to bring a hair bobble!




  

[Kayakgirl]

Class photo of the kids..

[Eamonn]

Was this on saturday cos i think you might have been heading up at the sametime i was. We would have been a wee bit head of you. Did a group of young prople walk along the bottom of the hill when you were having your lunch?

[Rugged Track]

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