Northern Ireland Outdoors Forum - Hiking, camping and more
General => Meets, places, trips and reviews => Topic started by: LandyLiam on December 21, 2011
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the plan is to do a nice easy walk to suit the kids, or the adults that have to carry them ::)
hen mountain seems to fit the bill, only 354m high, handy car park on the sandbank road with picnic tables for brunch (lunch will be at the summit) i'll be going at an easy pace as i'll have kids as young as 7, all welcome, just make sure you keep an eye in them at the top (especially if windy) as there are a few large drops :o
meet at 10.45am for 11am start, all welcome
provisional date of thursday 29th dec, but a bit flexible on that
(http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45611000/jpg/_45611514_img_0994.jpg)
http://www.northern-focus.com/places/hen-mountain/
http://www.explorethemournes.com/hen-mountain.html
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I dont have a kid, but could bring Angela if we went for the 30th
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Potentially up for this ;D
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I dont have a kid, but could bring Angela if we went for the 30th
do your wee legs need an extra day to recover from the turkey trot ;D
not deciding on any final date til next week but if peple could amend there posts with the dates they are available, 28th-30th suits me as my wife will be working so i'll have to bring the kids anywhere i go
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Na I'm working on the 29th
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im up for it. never done this before. were is car park
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im up for it. never done this before. were is car park
go to this link http://www.explorethemournes.com/hen-mountain.html
then click on "read more" then "where can i start from" then "view here" and you'll see a map for the sandbank road car park, there's also the option of starting from the spelga car park but its a lot boggier that way
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cheers for that almost sure to be there will keep in touch through thread
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Another link and map here. Although we'd only be interested in the first part ;D
http://www.walkni.com/Walk.aspx?ID=578
I'm easy with dates as I'm off all week :)
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Yep! Me + another adult + 6 Possible 8 children.. age range 3 - 11... so far.. :)
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Another link and map here. Although we'd only be interested in the first part ;D
http://www.walkni.com/Walk.aspx?ID=578
I'm easy with dates as I'm off all week :)
That looks excellent!! but i dont think my 3 year old woudl be able for it :)
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from the walkni page
Leave Hen car park and cross the Sandbank Road to Hen track, directly opposite. Follow Hen track up to the gate. After the stone wall follow the well worn track cross country to ascend Hen Mountain.
but i certainley don't remeber a well worn track up to hen, did i miss it?
also from same link
Getting to the Start (by Car):
The walk starts at Hen car park. To get here follow the Kilkeel Road out of Hilltown for 2.9 km, turn right at the Sandbank Road crossroads and continue for 1.4 km, Hen car park is on the right hand side.
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There is a sort of rough track which ascends from the gate to the summit. Its really more of an erosion scar and it is poorly defined in places.
Fred
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I got myself a new pair boots yesterday so am definitely up for this ;D
I'll have two young 'uns with me.
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looks like it'll definitely be the 29th (28th has wind warnings and 30th i'll be away in the cooleys)
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I can't make it sorry gotta work.
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still looking good for me and chloe
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just got jetboil flash and lifeventure mug so will have to test them on trip. chloe made me make her indoors a cuppa with it . 2.40 mins. cool
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For all those Geocachers there are at least two in the area ;D
One in the car park and one at the summit; perfect :D
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Just to clarify we are meeting at the carpark marked on the map immediately west of hen? J 233 277
yes thats the one, hopefully start walking at 11am but we know what its like with kids so anyone running late wanting us to hold on a few minutes just call me on 07753 880167, probably be late myself ::)
(http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd496/landyliam/2011/20111229hen/start.jpg)
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Decimal Degrees (WGS84)
Latitude Longitude
54.183783 -6.112283
Degrees, Minutes & Seconds
Latitude Longitude
N54 11 01 W6 06 44
GPS
Latitude Longitude
N 54 11.027 W 6 06.737
or via sat nav
32 Sandbank Road Hilltown BT34 5XU
What's weather / wind conditions likely to be for tomorrow?
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Looks to be dry and windy
There's a joke in there somewhere :D
If it stays reasonably dry I'll be happier. Nothing worse than wet kids :o
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still like a busted sofa with cold so chloe and myself will have to drop out, have a safe one
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so am i right in saying we currently have
myself + 2 (6 & 8 yr old)
cerbera147 (+ kids)
flipmeb (+ daughter)
annieanne (+ half of castlewellan)
wee gaz (there in spirit only :( )
forecast looks very windy
Forecast for The Mournes for Thursday
Cloudy with outbreaks of rain becoming a little brighter for the afternoon. Gale or severe gale force westerly summit winds.
i'm considering a plan B just in case, any ideas? tollymore forest/coco's ::)
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so am i right in saying we currently have
myself + 2 (6 & 8 yr old)
cerbera147 (+ kids)
TypoOn (+ daughter)
annieanne (+ half of castlewellan)
wee gaz (there in spirit only :( )
forecast looks very windy
Forecast for The Mournes for Thursday
Cloudy with outbreaks of rain becoming a little brighter for the afternoon. Gale or severe gale force westerly summit winds.
i'm considering a plan B just in case, any ideas? tollymore forest/coco's ::)
Lol! Half of Castlewellan has the cold :( so its only my two and maybe my next door neighbours children?
Its still raining here and very windy >:(
Tollymore forest might be better?
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Please not coco's ::)
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I'm going to have to back out of this one :'(
Bags are packed and ready to go but I think the weather's scuppered us :-\
Definitely up to try again though, maybe this weekend if the weather's better ;D
Sorry all :(
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It's not very often I would say this but I am glad I am working and not out in the hills. The weather is terrible.
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Thats such a pity Cebera :(
How about the climbing wall?
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climbing wall is closed today :(
weather is just too bad to take little uns up the hill so i'm going for tollymore instead, meet at top car park (near back entrance so you can park in bryansford if you like and walk in) i'll be in a silver mondeo estate ykz5528 with 2 kids screaming "take us to coco's" ;D i may be a wee bit late, 1115am at latest
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climbing wall is closed today :(
weather is just too bad to take little uns up the hill so i'm going for tollymore instead, meet at top car park (near back entrance so you can park in bryansford if you like and walk in) i'll be in a silver mondeo estate ykz5528 with 2 kids screaming "take us to coco's" ;D i may be a wee bit late, 1115am at latest
No bother.. see you then!
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had a great walk with dave, anne and kids, so very glad we didn't do hen mtn, we did do a little hill at the edge of tollymore (the hill with no name just below slievenabrock) to get a geocache, and it was wild up there, but in the forest it was just about bearable :)
walk details:
500m ascent
start 1115, end 1530
7.8 km (4.9 miles)
2hr12 moving
2hr3 stopped
moving ave 3.5kmh
(http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd496/landyliam/2011/20111229hen/gpsroutemap600pw.jpg)
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the pics
(http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd496/landyliam/2011/20111229hen/P1110214Small.jpg)
first stop, the hermitage, if you haven't been here before its a magical wee spot that reminds me of rivendell from lord of the rings
(http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd496/landyliam/2011/20111229hen/P1110215Small.jpg)
we planned to cross the first set of stepping stones but they were fenced off as the last few sytones are falling into the river!
(http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd496/landyliam/2011/20111229hen/P1110222Small.jpg)
this was the second set, water runing fast over the top of them, too dodgey for adults to cross never mind the kids :o
(http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd496/landyliam/2011/20111229hen/P1110224Small.jpg)
so we had our first lunch stop at the meeting of the waters (the shimna and spinkwee rivers)
(http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd496/landyliam/2011/20111229hen/P1110225Small.jpg)
interesting log spotted nearby
(http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd496/landyliam/2011/20111229hen/P1110228Small.jpg)
crossing the nameless bridge
then the kids where getting ratty and the rain started pelting down, we very nearly decided to take the direct route home but thought we just try the next hill and see if we could find a good lunch spot
(http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd496/landyliam/2011/20111229hen/P1110231Small.jpg)
so second lunch was had in a more sheltered spot which seemed to revive the little uns for continuing up the hill
(http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd496/landyliam/2011/20111229hen/P1110232Small.jpg)
we passed these folk further up the hill, i could tell dave was more than a little jealous, did i here his daughter saying "dad, why aren't we as cool as that family" ::)
(http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd496/landyliam/2011/20111229hen/P1110240Small.jpg)
eventually we nabbed the goecache up the very cold, very windy hill, it was like bloodhounds round a wounded fox
(http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd496/landyliam/2011/20111229hen/P1110243Small.jpg)
dave and daughter
(http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd496/landyliam/2011/20111229hen/P1110239Small.jpg)
memorial plaques on a hillside stone
(http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd496/landyliam/2011/20111229hen/P1110245Small.jpg)
the rush back to the shelter of the tress
(http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd496/landyliam/2011/20111229hen/P1110251Small.jpg)
a hop skip and jump across the stream
(http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd496/landyliam/2011/20111229hen/P1110252Small.jpg)
one last puddle and the command was given, "kids (& adults) you can get as wet as you want now, we're nearly home"
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What a lovely day! and lovely to meet Dave and all the children! I agree, so glad it was there and not hen mountain! the wind was fierce! Matthew was still shouting that he wanted another walk at 9pm ??? its been many years since ive been in Tollymore!? i'll definitely be bringing the bike there soon. :)
Thanks Liam for organising it! :)
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What a lovely day! and lovely to meet Dave and all the children! I agree, so glad it was there and not hen mountain! the wind was fierce! Matthew was still shouting that he wanted another walk at 9pm ??? its been many years since ive been in Tollymore!? i'll definitely be bringing the bike there soon. :)
Thanks Liam for organising it! :)
Ps ... The childrens feet were lovely and dry :) wish i could have said the same for mine :(
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Great stuff, sorry I missed this, Tollymore is a lovely walk but not buggy friendly for us unfortunately..