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Author Topic: Fair Head Walk  (Read 8363 times)

RedLeader

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Fair Head Walk
« on: October 06, 2009 »
I fancy doing the Fair Head walk that was featured on the TV show Off the Beaten Track. It looks like a great walk. I'm thinking of one of the last 2 weekends in Oct09. Who's up!

Fairhead and Grey Man's Path
Fair Head is one of the great headlands of Ireland, magnificent when seen from any view…from Ballycastle or Rathlin Island or any of the other headlands on the North Coast. The massive basaltic cliff falls sheer for nearly 180 metres and some of the columns are 15m wide and hundreds of metres high.

Its base and face are so inaccessible that a pair of golden eagles was reputedly able to nest here and rear two young in 1953. After that, their nesting was intermittent and ceased in 1960.

Benmore (the great headland) on Fair Head looks across to Rathlin Island and Kintyre in Scotland.On the clifftop there are dark loughs and a crannog, a cairn, a megalithic chamber and the remains of a motte and bailey Norman fort.

The whole area is steeped in myth and legend, including The Grey Man’s Path, the Grey Man being a spectre that is supposed to be seen when the mist rolls in from the sea and he takes human form up this gully.

Evidence of human life and industry from a more recent age is dotted all along the coastal path from Ballycastle to Fair Head and further round the coast at Murlough Bay.

There were Porcellanite mines in this area in the stone age – but the tennis courts at Ballycastle are on the site of a harbour that was opened here in 1743, to export coal that was mined just outside the town. Coal mining was big business – beginning back in the 1600’s, production peaked around 1750, when 5-8000 tons a year was being produced. The coal also powered other industries –a glass works between the tennis courts at the sea at the mouth of the Margy river – there were salt pans, a tannery, candles and soap production, a brewery and others. The last mine closed in the middle of last century.

Height: 180 metres (590 feet) maximum

Round trip: 8 Kilometres (5 miles)

Time: 5 hours

Level 4: Easy leading to Moderate and then Difficult

This starts as a fairly easy level walk along a coastal path but then requires a scramble up a rough track or grass banks, which are steep and can be very slippery in wet weather. The last part is a level walk along clifftop tracks, which can be very windy, and finally a tricky descent down an extremely steep gully. A good level of fitness is required for the ascent, a good head for heights along the cliff top paths and also the descent down Grey Man’s Path, where great care must be taken

Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland Discoverer Series 1:50 000

Map 05 Ballycastle
Map Coordinates: Start: 153420 Finish: 182438

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chris

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Re: Fair Head Walk
« Reply #1 on: October 06, 2009 »
fair head is an epic place, but if i go i'll prob just wanna go climbing! I let you know, think I may be mourne walling anyway...
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RedLeader

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Re: Fair Head Walk
« Reply #2 on: October 06, 2009 »
Quote from: chris_8764 on October 06, 2009
fair head is an epic place, but if i go i'll prob just wanna go climbing! I let you know, think I may be mourne walling anyway...

I know you guys are planning a Mourne Wall Epic so I'll try and choose a different weekend so we can get max numbers.
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MG1

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Re: Fair Head Walk
« Reply #3 on: October 06, 2009 »
I'd be in but as chris said the mourne wall has to be mastered first.
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If you die with all your parts working your not trying hard enough!

666_pack

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Re: Fair Head Walk
« Reply #4 on: October 06, 2009 »
me to.
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LIFE IS TOO SHORT TO HAVE FUN

RedLeader

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Re: Fair Head Walk
« Reply #5 on: October 12, 2009 »
I took a drive up here at the weekend with the family. Is a totally awesome spot and the view from the Fair Head area is blinding (not literally obviously  ::))
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pablo

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Re: Fair Head Walk
« Reply #6 on: October 12, 2009 »
its a cracking view from sea level too.from a kayak.

think i have a couple somewhere......
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