Northern Ireland Outdoors Forum - Hiking, camping and more
General => General Chat => Topic started by: Mourneman on April 03, 2012
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Well another super day in the Mourne’s yesterday with Ed , “ The Hobbit “ & his pal Terry.Picked the guy’s up from Newcastle bus station & drove round the coast to our starting point at Carricklittle carpark.It was a sort of “ do anything day “ in regard of the weather so we were all packing waterproofs,we made our way through the stile & along the wall ascending Binnian.Ed had mentioned that he had never been able to read a map or take a bearing so we took ten minutes & did some map & compass work with the old faithful OS 125 activity map & silva type 4 compass.Within minutes Ed was taking & reading six figure grid reference & taking bearing with ease,a natural !
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Reaching the summit tor Ed fired up his stove & we enjoyed our first brew of the day with a selection of chocolate for good measure,serious guys ” Ed’s a bloody hobbit “ I’ve never seen anyone carry as much food in my life!With a fog covered summit we made our way down via the Back Castles & North torr.Reaching the Binnian ,Lamagan Col we turned right passing Blue Lough & down to percy caves.
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Reaching the caves the guys got themselves ready,again I tried getting my fat arse into the second chamber,but no joy, ‘ one of these days ‘ Ed & Me watched as Terry disappeared into the darkness,having had a good look around we left the caves & made our way onto Lower Cove which always pull’s the legs out of you.
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Reaching the Lamagan,Cove col we carried on the lower trek circling Cove mountain passing the gully Craigy123 & I climbed a fw weeks ago, ‘ nuts ‘,then down the very steep descent from Cove to the babbling stream on the Cove beg col,then up the short ascent on Slieve Beg to have a wee look at the notorious ‘Devil’s Coachroad ‘next down Beg & onto the Brandy Pad,think the guys really enjoyed this part of the walk as the Castles of Commedagh are very impressive if you’ve never seen them before,thinking we could do with another break we stopped at the ‘ Saddle ‘ fired up Ed’s stove & ate all his sandwiches chocolate & availed of his handy hip flask, ‘ on medical grounds ‘.we then hoped over the stile
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Were we met a Southern chap taking his son’s out for a walk up Donard’s,unlucky for him then climbed Commedagh first thinking it was Donard,fair play to them then still did Donard as well,having run out of water we showed them the stream on the saddle & Ed give the some water purification tablets.
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So can’t belief I’am going to say this but the work the M.H.T have done does seem to blend into the enviroment, still hate that bridge!Anyway the new path at time vears into the scotch pine tree & stays clears off that nasty boulder field at the forest line.Reaching the Ice-house I think we were all wishing for a quick fitter for new knee’s so we cut into the forest at the first chance,reaching Newcastle we were tortured by the smell of fried chicken & popcorn. we done over 15 miles & we were tired ,but the crac was great & the food was plenty,anyway what else would you be doing !
here's a video of our day out -
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Looks good, great vid also, bit of serenity with the music
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Was a cracking day out! Knees are a touch stiff today though!
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Great write up Mourneman,that was a decent walk ! :)
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another great write up and the pics give a great feel for the day, shame on that man for wearing jeans though ::) ;D have to out out for a walk with you someday but i've think i've now got that fatigue thing you had recently, can hardly get up the stairs at the moment :o unless there's a bar at the top 8) hmmm, maybe i'm drinking too much, that could be it :D
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In the seventh photo down (Panorama 212) is that the entrance to the Percy Bysshe caves beside where the boys are standing?
Think I might be able to find that, it has always escaped me before.
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i couldn't find it first visit either, but when you do get to it you see an obvious path!
some more info here http://www.ni-wild.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=1189.0
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Good photos and video, Mourneman. The weather seemend to have just ok. I haven't been in those caves for awhile. I don't think i would be able to fit into it now.
.... shame on that man for wearing jeans though ::)
I noticed that too. Glad the weather was ok because it could have been extremely uncomfortable had it been raining and possible hyperthermia.