Introduction
The Mourne Way is billed as a quality section of the Ulster Way. It begins in Newcastle, sitting at the north of the Mournes, and winds for around 26 miles to Rostrevor on Carlingford Lough. The route is almost exclusively off-road and takes in a mixture of forest trails and open mountain tracks.
The opportunity to walk a local way marked route was too good to turn up and an NI-Wild trip was arranged for the weekend of 23rd October. The plan was to start the trip on the Saturday, with an overnight camp around the half way point before finishing in Rostrevor on Sunday.
Day 1
Newcastle to Rocky River - 14 miles
Kat and I had agreed to pick up Mark at Newcastle bus station en route to Donard car park where we would meet Chris. Matthew would also be joining us for the walk, but as he couldn’t make it until early afternoon we had planned to meet him at Meelmore Lodge. Although the Mourne Way officially starts in the centre of Newcastle at the Tourist Information Centre, we picked up the trail on the Bryansford Road just after the tennis courts.
The route begins on a gravel lane which passes through Tipperary Wood before rising towards Tollymore Forest Park. The sun was shining and it was turning out to be a warm and dry start to the day, so it didn’t take long until waterproof jackets started coming off. We turned onto a short road section which connected to another gravel lane which appeared to be taped off at the top.
When we arrived at the tape we were greeted by the sight off a rally car being towed out of a ditch by a Land Rover. It didn’t take too long to realise that the one day we wanted to walk through Tollymore there was a car rally on! I showed our route map to the marshal hoping he could indicate which tracks were being used, but he rather unhelpfully said they were all being used and we wouldn’t be able to walk on them.
We were told that once the Land Rover had cleared the crashed car the stage would be live within 10 minutes and last for at least an hour. Not wanting to end up taking a major detour we decided to hot foot it up to the view point at Curraghard and then break out of the forest onto the open mountain side on the back of Slievenabrock. I must admit that I was holding my breath the whole way up the hill and listening keenly in case a rally car was headed our way. Thankfully we made it to the top and hopped over the wall with about 5 minutes to spare until the first MkII Escort came tearing down the course.
Running parallel to the wall that forms the perimeter of Tollymore was a nice piece of single track which we followed until the Spinkwee/Cascade River. Here we climbed over the wall and dropped back into the forest before finding a suitable place to cross the river. We then made our way back to the forestry track having cleared the rally stage and descended through the forest towards Parnell’s Bridge. From here it didn’t take long to leave Tollymore Forest Park behind us and pick up the Trassey Track heading for Meelmore Lodge. As we headed up the track we watched as the cloud rolled dramatically over Spellack on Slieve Meelmore before it engulfed the mountain altogether.
Making our way over the stile towards Meelmore Lodge the weather closed in and it was back on with the waterproof jackets as the rain started to fall. We met Matthew at the Lodge as arranged and decided to have lunch before continuing. Some Duke of Edinburgh participants were in the café enjoying fry ups and watched us from behind steamed up windows as we got the Jetboil going in the rain for a quick brew.
It must have been around 3pm when we headed back up the lane from Meelmore Lodge and once again joined the Mourne Way heading towards Fofanny Dam. The trail follows a pipe track which leads to the reservoir which supplies water to Belfast. We ended up coming off the track slightly early to avoid a boggy section by the side of Fofanny, choosing instead to follow a short section of the Slievenaman Road before entering the Ott car park.
The next section of the Mourne Way from the Ott car park is not way marked and heads up a reasonably steep incline to the summit of Slievenamuck. The weather had really closed in at this stage with the rain falling heavily and visibility greatly reduced by the cloud cover. We headed down the back of Slievenamuck and were supposed to head for the summit of Spaltha, but instead we had what can only be described as a “navigational lapse”.
The result of this lapse was arriving at the Kilkeel Road slightly earlier than planned, finding ourselves at the head of Spelga Dam. We made our way down the Kilkeel Road for about a mile before re-joining the Mourne Way where it crosses the road. The worst of the weather had lifted by this stage as we made our way through the Spelga Pass and rounded Hen Mountain via. some boggy single track before eventually joining an off-road track that followed the Rocky River.
By around 6.45pm the light was fading fast, so when we came across an ideal spot we decided to strike camp before it was dark. The flat, grassy area was on the banks of the Rocky River and we pitched our tents close to a very small brick building that seemed to serve a small weir. I needed to top up my water bottles and having spotted a sheep skull in some run-off I decided to venture slightly further up steam! Unfortunately boulders in a river all look much the same under head torch light, which probably explains why I didn’t notice that I was about to put my boot on one covered in wet, green moss. This became abundantly clear to me when I slipped and found my rear end plunged into the river, but thankfully I made it back to the tent intact clutching my two bottles of water.
After cooking up dinner on the usual mix of multi-fuel and gas stoves we all retired for the night at about 9.30pm. Not very rock ‘n roll, but it sure gets cold when the sun goes down and you’ve no fire to huddle around! Kat had repeatedly reminded us that temperatures were going to drop to around -2C overnight, which incurred a bit of teasing throughout the day. Poor Kat... if it’s not banoffee pie it’s the weather forecast she is getting stick for!
Day 2
Rocky River to Rostrevor - 8 miles
As the sun came up I woke to the sound of Mark packing away his tent. Mark had to leave us early on Sunday and had left his car in Hilltown the previous day. I had slept fairly well through the night and only woke on several occasions when I felt chilly and needed to cinch down the draw cords on my sleeping bag. It had certainly been a cold night but I wasn’t quite prepared for when Kat exited the tent at 8am and exclaimed the inside of the tent door was covered in ice. After pulling on my clothes I was confused to find my feet wouldn’t fit in my boots, before realising they had frozen overnight. I eventually forced my feet into the boots before emerging from the tent only to be confronted by the landscape (including our tents) covered in frost and ice. I guess it really had dropped to around -2C overnight!
After breakfast we began to pack away our frozen tents whilst the sky was still a beautiful shade of salmon pink. As warm sunlight gradually started to spread across the land, highlighting the rocky tors on top of Hen Mountain, we struck out towards a point where the Rowan Tree River meets the Rocky River. Unfortunately at this stage we suffered another “navigational lapse” and somehow managed to miss the turning where we should have headed up to a saddle between Rocky Mountain and Tornamrock. I think we had just got carried away with following the track in what was turning out to be glorious weather and only realised something was awry when we reached the end of the track unexpectedly.
Checking the map we knew we needed to head in a westerly direction and spotted a saddle between two peaks which we decided to head for. We hoped to be able to spot the tree line of Rostrevor Forest from the top of the saddle but unfortunately had to do some off-piste walking through thick heather and bog to get there. Reaching the top of the saddle we realised that we were staring at Pierces Castle on the other side of the valley and had followed the trail much too far along the banks of the Rowan Tree River. To correct our mistake we had to head cross country, descending towards Rocky Water, before ascending the southern flank of Tornamrock. Finally we were able to drop back down to an off-road track before being re-united with the Mourne Way close to Leitrim Lodge.
It's worth noting at this stage that on Sunday morning I picked up a text message from another forum member to let me know there had been a helicopter crash close to Leitrim Lodge. As we descended towards Leitrim Lodge we were passed by two Mountain Rescue Land Rovers on their way up towards Altataggart Mountain. There were also two Police helicopters flying back and forth from a field close to the car park. Only later that evening did we learn that 3 people had sadly been killed in the helicopter crash.
As we picked our way along the trail into Rostrevor Forest the sun had not long passed midday and the sunlit areas were very warm. In the shade, however, the ground still lay frosted and icy. The trail initially started with a pleasant walk over a rooted track between the woods, but disappointingly this soon gave way to more forestry gravel roads. Sadly the forestry track was to last for the remainder of the Mourne Way, some 4 miles until the finish line in Kilbroney Park. Thankfully the Kilbroney Park Cafe served up a delicious sausage, bacon and egg bap which more than made up for the last couple of hours walking on hard, gravel trails. With some time to kill until our bus arrived we sat on the pavement by the bus stop, staring out over Carlingford Lough as the traffic passed by.
Afterword
In many ways the Mourne Way turned out to be everything I had hoped for. It provided a great linear walk that allowed for a weekend backpacking trip without having to travel any great distance from my home. The route passed through some beautiful areas, much of which I probably take for granted having been there many times in the past. I did, however, get to walk through areas I hadn't previously visited including the area around Slievenamuck, and between Hen and Rocky Mountain.
Of course, I can't really comment on every aspect of the Mourne Way as we didn't complete the entire route to the letter. Partly this was our fault due to our lax approach to navigation, but it was also unavoidable due to the car rally. One thing I would point out is that if you are used to way marked trails such as those found in Scotland, then the Mourne Way may come as a bit of a surprise. The way marking can often be as lax as my navigation and sometimes even where there is way marking it can rather vague in its instruction! Of course the open mountain sections have no way marking at all, but I am fully in support of that. After all, we don't want out precious mountain sides becoming yet another town planners playground, littered with instructions and warnings!
I suppose the only real disappointment was the final long slog into Rostrevor on that forestry track. It truly is hard on the feet and rather uninspiring to say the least. Indeed its more with relief than awe that you lay your eyes on Carlingford Lough as you begin to get closer to the finish line.
I do feel that the Mourne Way is a bit of a misnomer, as the route really misses out on the very heart of the Mournes by totally avoiding any of the territory that lies within the Mourne Wall. Perhaps, then, it would be better named the "Alternative Mourne Way". Which brings me neatly to my final point. Would I walk the Mourne Way again? Yes, I would. But I would have to take a look at the map and plan my own "Alternative Mourne Way" that used less forestry tracks and much more of the natural terrain on offer.
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Topic: Trip Review - Mourne Way (Read 12793 times)