Northern Ireland Outdoors Forum - Hiking, camping and more
Information => Outdoor News and Events => Topic started by: seanbranagh on June 02, 2014
-
Have many of you done this?
Just how tough is it?
I am thinking of doing it his year, in August as part of my preparation for Kilimanjaro in October.
I climb Donard once or twice weekly via the Glenn River, return trip in around two hours from Donard park and I was happy enough last year with the UK 3 peaks 24 hours challenge, but I have not to date taken on anything that is as continuous as the seven sevens.
-
I've had a few goes and failed, will certainley by having a go again this year. Sounds like you have the fitness required, just don't get lost and you should be all right ;) and of course there's always the zero sevens if anyone fancies a walk without the summits ;D
for more info on previous years see here
http://www.ni-wild.co.uk/forum/exercise-fitness-training-competitions-and-general-health/mourne-seven-sevens-2013/
http://www.ni-wild.co.uk/forum/outdoor-news-and-events/mourne-seven-sevens-sat-4th-aug-2012/
http://www.ni-wild.co.uk/forum/outdoor-news-and-events/mourne-seven-sevens-sat-6th-august-2011/msg24433/#msg24433
http://www.ni-wild.co.uk/forum/northern-ireland-hiking-walking-running-orienteering-and-geocaching/seven-sevens-on-the-twelfth/msg10976/#msg10976
-
The sevens really is a tough race, good luck to everyone that gives it a crack!
-
I set out yesterday to climb Bernagh, Meelmore and Meelbeg because they were the three of the sevens that I was not already familiar with.
I went from Donard park as that is the starting for the seven sevens. When I got up to the saddle I decided I may as well go over Commedagh on the way to Bernagh instead of around it.
When I got to the top of Melbeg I decided to just keep going and do all seven so I got across to Binnian, then Lamagan and Donard to finish on the way back. I done the whole lot in about 10 hours.
What an amazing day it was too.
At least now I know exactly what to expect in August (although I will climb Donard first next time).
I think the worst bit of the whole route is getting from Meelbeg across to Ben Crom dam, across the bog.
-
I forgot to ask yesterday;
Is there any sort of path at all to get across from Slieve Meelbeg to Ben Crom dam?
I just went as he crow flies and it was absolutely the worst bit of the day, across the bog.
Is following the Ben Crom river any easier?
-
@sean, it wasn't you we were talking to on top of bernagh about the seven sevens?
-
Nope, not me; I was alone at the top of Bearnagh on Sunday.
I was chatting to a couple at the top of Commedagh though, from Co. Cork who were also doing the seven's on Sunday.
Might have been them?
-
no, we were talking to a guy who was out scouting for the 7x7s as well, on bearnagh. he planted a seed in my head to give it a try, i'm way way off the fitness levels at the moment.
-
I wasn't sure if I was fully up to it either. That was pretty much why I tried, before actually entering the official event.
I was very happy to complete it in 10 hours.
Hopefully in August I will cut a good bit off that time, now that I am familiar with the route.
-
:-[
-
I forgot to ask yesterday;
Is there any sort of path at all to get across from Slieve Meelbeg to Ben Crom dam?
I just went as he crow flies and it was absolutely the worst bit of the day, across the bog.
Is following the Ben Crom river any easier?
Hi Sean, I did the seven sevens a couple of years ago with WhoRya.
We made the mistake of going straight down from the summit of Meelbeg and heading for Ben crom, like yourself we ended up having a bit of trouble and got caught in the bog of dispair!
It's hard going climbing up, over and through all those peat hags and marshes.
We new we were off track so cut across to our right hand side and followed a small path that follows the course of the Ben crom river, we took this route down to the crags at Ben crom and then cut across left to the damn, there are some small paths that can take you across to the damn.
Next time I do it il follow the rest of the walkers and carry on following the wall over Meelbeg, then turn left at the saddle between it and slieve loughshannagh, this will lead me down to the river path.
The river will be on my right.
Hope this helps and beware of the midges!
-
I forgot to ask yesterday;
Is there any sort of path at all to get across from Slieve Meelbeg to Ben Crom dam?
I just went as he crow flies and it was absolutely the worst bit of the day, across the bog.
Is following the Ben Crom river any easier?
here's the recommended route if visibilty is good, if vis is poor then i'd go to the saddle ;)
but its hard to decide when to leave the river and cut across for the dam
(http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd496/landyliam/Mobile%20Uploads/bencromroute_zps270dd14f.jpg)
-
Thank's for that guys. I remember looking across at the Ben Crom river (while I was in the bog) and wondering if perhaps that would be a better option but it was quite a distance away even to get to the river so I just kept going straight in the direction of the dam.
I am going to do the whole route again, at least one more time before August so I will try again and hopefully it will be easier.
-
The photos I took while doing this on Sunday, was an amazing day;
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4234598960518.1073741833.1751767728&type=1&l=d3072ae6da
-
I done it last year. Its tough!! Got the first 5 out of the way easy enough then Binnian nearly broke me and the lamagan did break me. It was like a slow death march up Lamagan. Then head down to the finish, i havent decided on it this year. It took me 7hrs 20mins i think i could go under 7hrs if i dont hang about on any of the summits.
-
I am planning on trying this. I am a wide load who will be aiming to just complete the bloody thing - I don't care at all about my time!!!
I have walked various sections of it but never the full thing. I have done the trek along the Ben Crom river in both directions (when deciding which was was best way round to do the course). If you do it the way round so that you end up heading from Ben Crom to Meelbeg then finding the paths is obvioulsy very easy, but I have to say walking up that valley really pissed me off :-) Walking down it is much easier, but finding the path takes a while. There is a path that appears somewhere halfway up Meelbeg that you can follow down to the river, and then when I did it I actually followed a path on the right hand side of the river whcih then crossed over to the left somewhere further down. That may sound complicated but basically as long as you hit the river you will find a good path.
LandyLiam - that map is good, is it from GPS when you actually walked that? As for where to cut off for the dam..... last weekend we were walking this route and asked a guy we met who runs the route..... he said you follow the path by the river down until you get to a point where you are directly between the top of Doan and the first crag you can see on the left of Binnian (it looks like a clump of rock with a gap in the middle). Again I am useless at explaining, but its actually a very handy way of working out where to go (and this is all the explanation I had last weekend and worked it out OK when you see the actual trerrain in front of you - it was a clear day obvioulsy :-). You end up on a very good path that leads you all the way down to the dam. Also I noticed at one point someone has piled up a few white rocks that sort of marks out that section of path :-)
-
Good on you for having a go, sure if things get too tough you can always skip out Binnian quite easily. The map I posted is mainly from my gps, the bit down from Meelbeg summit was estimated though, from the river onwards was my actual track. Good tip on where to leave the river, just be wary about following someone, I have led a few people the wrong way before 8)
-
Guys, Thank's again for even more detail.
I am going to be giving the 7's another go either tomorrow or Saturday and I just got that Viewranger app for my phone to record so hopefully I find the right track this time..
-
Well tomorrow's the big day, weather looking ok for the morning, possibly cloudy which could make the navigation tricky in places, afternoon could be wet with wind picking up :( , I might just try for the 6 of them 8)
-
Looks like the forecast was a bit off ::) and a heavy rain warning has now been issued, think i'll stay at home today
(http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd496/landyliam/wxr020820140800_zps6d4a2edc.jpg)
-
So did anyone have a go?
-
Yep I did it. Seemed a bit mad starting off as I knew it would be raining all day, but did it with a few others and they all wanted to go ahead anyway. Totally soaked but ended up being a better day than expected :-) Cheated by landing in with another group getting between meelbeg and Ben crom - it was really misty but they seemed very confident and were happy to adopt us for a bit :-)
-
Well done Kingsley, I'd say you were ready for a pint and some dry socks by the end of it!
How'd you find the walk?