Northern Ireland Outdoors Forum - Hiking, camping and more

General => Meets, places, trips and reviews => Topic started by: Heggs on May 21, 2017

Title: Slieve Binnian Adventure
Post by: Heggs on May 21, 2017
My younger brother Conor has never experienced the Mournes before. The only mountains he has ever been close to were mountains of Chinese food, beer and laundry back in his student days. He has been thinking of working out a bit to lose the reminder of those days from around his waist and I thought I’d help with a trip to Slieve Binnian.
We agreed on a date and I assured him that it was a nice, “easy” walk to break him in gently.

We arrived at Carick Little car park at 7.50am. Conor tried the 2 extra pairs of hiking shoes I brought for him but he decided to wear his trainers and packed one of the pairs I brought as a backup. We set off from the car park at a steady pace. When climbing Binnian we took the occasional break as the last thing I wanted was to put him off trying anything like this again. Reaching the summit around 9.30am, we were met with a lovely clear sky, gorgeous views and a mild cool breeze. While Conor had a look around, I messed about trying to get my GoPro working. It had stopped recording on the way up but had I had no luck and chucked it in my bag (turned out it was a corrupted Micro SD card).

(http://i.imgur.com/4hIKmuY.jpg)

(http://i.imgur.com/jpCUWye.jpg)

(http://i.imgur.com/8ETLMVh.jpg)


On we went, along the top of the mountain past the Back Castles towards the north tor. I have hiked up Binnian a few times before and have only admired the tor on the way past. I had read the night before that it is fairly easy to climb, so that’s exactly what we did. It definitely kept us entertained for around 20 minutes and added another highlight to the walk.

(http://i.imgur.com/A7oanls.jpg)

(http://i.imgur.com/u8vhPiY.jpg)

(http://i.imgur.com/Harpj1E.jpg)

Following the path downhill, we joined up with the main route back towards the car. Conor was chatting about work when we were approaching Blue Lough and I interrupted him with: “let’s jump in and out, quick as a flash and freshen up!” It didn’t take much convincing and within minutes we were in, out and back on the route fresh as a daisy. I quoted Haze Outdoors from YouTube and told him: “it’s all about creating the memories up here” pointing to my head. So true.

(http://i.imgur.com/0LBVFOM.png)

As we continued, I was realising that my bro was just a big 31 year old kid and I had to keep him entertained or he would get bored. “There’s a cave in here you know, fancy a nosey?”
“Yeah, come on” he said and up we went to Percy Bysshe cave.
I’d been here before but didn’t know where to go past the first opening. Luckily 3 guys were exiting as we approached the entrance and gave us directions. It was a tight squeeze and Conor was cursing the chinese he’d had the night before. He also thought he would 'politely' let one of the jagged rocks know how much he appreciated it gently massaging his skull by throwing every swear word he could think of at it. As we were squeezing back out, Conor soaked his foot in a puddle but he thought his trainers were so comfy that he decided just to change the wet one and walked the rest of the way to the car with odd shoes.

(http://i.imgur.com/xYB0552.png)

(http://i.imgur.com/Ux7RWJg.png)

(http://i.imgur.com/hA6uR5g.png)

We noticed before we left that the new cafe was open at Carrick Little and stopped in for a coffee. I’ll pop a pic of the menu below for anyone interested.

(http://i.imgur.com/TxgkW4k.jpg)

Overall, the trip was a success. The Mournes has a new fan and we both left with smiles on our faces. We had hiked a mountain, climbed a tor, had a dip in a lough and explored a cave. All for the price of food and petrol. We were physically tired but mentally recharged.
Just what was needed before the daily grind starts again on Monday.

Heggs

Title: Re: Slieve Binnian Adventure
Post by: torp on May 21, 2017
Great write up mate and cracker pics (again) :-X how'd the bro feel after mate?
Keep em coming ;)
Title: Re: Slieve Binnian Adventure
Post by: Heggs on May 21, 2017
Cheers mate, actually we were both pretty good afterwards. I think the dip in the Lough fairly freshened us up and the walk down the straight path probably gave our legs a warm down too. Really enjoyed it!
Title: Re: Slieve Binnian Adventure
Post by: Glenn B on May 22, 2017
Cracking wee write up and pics mate. Karma added for the swim lol, how many lengths did you do  8)
Title: Re: Slieve Binnian Adventure
Post by: RedLeader on May 22, 2017
Excellent photos, looks like a great day out, you got great weather. You reckon you can persuade your brother out again? Next stop a summit camp of course  8)
Title: Re: Slieve Binnian Adventure
Post by: Heggs on May 23, 2017
Thanks guys.
I done about 2 lengths of myself lol. It was a chilly one!
I'm really in the mood for a summit camp now, or any camp to be honest. Just have to find the time now.