Northern Ireland Outdoors Forum - Hiking, camping and more

General => General Chat => Topic started by: Andy-D on May 30, 2018

Title: Summit camp?
Post by: Andy-D on May 30, 2018
Was hoping to get a summit camp on Saturday.  Any advice on which one would  be your favourite for tent\ bivvy spots with great views (room with a view)?
Title: Re: Summit camp?
Post by: RedLeader on May 31, 2018
I've always been fond of Doan and Commedagh. Doan doesn't have many secure car parks close by, Meelmore is probably handiest. It's got great views and it feels nice and isolated. Commedagh has a lovely route up it from Meelmore over Coragh and Slievenaglogh and the views over Newcastle are epic. Usually a lot of sheep poo up there but it's made up for with the availability of water from the mysterious pipe  8)
Binnian is a good one too and Rocky has some nice views.
Title: Re: Summit camp?
Post by: Andy-D on June 01, 2018
Was thinking bernagh?
Title: Re: Summit camp?
Post by: Darran on June 03, 2018
Bearnagh is doable (though I've never done it) you would have either side of the wall to shield you from the wind. Saying that, I know this is too late being Saturday night already, but I wouldn't be camping high with forecasts for thunder and lightning!
Title: Re: Summit camp?
Post by: Andy-D on June 03, 2018
(https://www.flickr.com/photos/162151118@N03/shares/Az7P05)

Summit camp Slieve Bernagh! Kept a close eye on the forecasts and decided to go for it, turned out perfect.
With a light breeze I was able to pick a cracker position for the tent.  The downside if the position was that this morning my kettle decided to roll down the hill dam busters style, searched for it for 45min to no avail (no porridge for me).
Title: Re: Summit camp?
Post by: Rugged Track on June 04, 2018
Sorry I didn't see this until now.  Slieve Bearnagh is great.  I did a video (longest on I ever did, sorry usually at least half the length) when we went a couple of years ago to test a tent when a storm was coming in with strong winds. 
Title: Re: Summit camp?
Post by: Andy-D on June 04, 2018
I watched your video and others to get a bit of an idea of the lay of the land, very helpful, thank you.  Wasn’t as windy as your trip thankfully so was fortunately able to camp on the summit, breathtaking views.  Tried to post some photos (via Flicker) but didn’t work, any advice?
Title: Re: Summit camp?
Post by: whoRya on June 05, 2018
If you open the photo in Flickr and click on the arrow at the bottom right hand corner it will bring up a screen which says "Share 1 photo to".  Click on BB code, click on the link displayed and highlight it all.  Copy that link.  You may have to experiment with the size, I usually go with a medium size.  Simply paste that link on a post here.

I usually then delete everything that follows after the part that shows [/url].  The bit you have left will display the photo.  The other bits refer to the name of the photograph and the Flickr username.

Hopefully that works for you.
Title: Re: Summit camp?
Post by: specimanYak on June 05, 2018
Good stuff Andy, the weather turned out perfect despite the forecast. We saw a few lights over towards Meelbeg and Donard so we weren't the only ones out enjoying the evening.
Title: Re: Summit camp?
Post by: Andy-D on June 05, 2018
Yea, if you zoom in on your video you can see me waving lol, think I saw a fire on top of Donard.  As you say the weather was perfect for walking and the higher you got the clearer it got, crazy clouds.  Also saw a hare (ironically) on the way up to Bernagh from Hares gap.
Title: Re: Summit camp?
Post by: seanbranagh on June 11, 2018
I am a bit late to this one but if you are looking for some detail / photos on summit camps for future I can definitely help.
I am currently working my way around camping on all of the Mourne 500's (All 39 peaks over 500 metres). I have camped on 18 so far including all of the sevens.
I keep a small blog about it here which I update with each camp with photos etc;

https://branagh.ie/2018/03/14/mourne-500s-camps/

As others have said Doan is an absolute cracker, definitely one of my favorites. Slieve Muck is good with views looking back into the rest of The Mournes and there is a cracker little spot right up at the North Tor on Bearnagh looking north too.
Checking the wind speed and direction at upper level is critical for summit camping, especially anywhere where you don't have the Mourne Wall for shelter.
Title: Re: Summit camp?
Post by: Andy-D on June 11, 2018
Thank you