- Welcome to Northern Ireland Outdoors Forum - Hiking, camping and more.
Recent posts
#11
Forum News, Information and Help / Re: The Sad Passing of Specima...
Last post by Glenn B - January 20, 2026, 02:37:28 PMRest in peace Dave. The first person I met and camped with when I joined NI Wild. Over the years became a close personal friend and we shared some serious night's craic over more than a few wee toots.
#12
Forum News, Information and Help / The Sad Passing of SpecimanYak
Last post by RedLeader - January 20, 2026, 11:41:45 AMIt is with profound sadness that we share the news of the passing of our good friend Dave on 17/01/2026 after a year long illness.
Many of you will remember Dave as an enthusiastic hiker and camper who we spent plenty of time with around the fire or on top of mountains. It's hard to believe he's actually gone and we will miss his warmth and humour terribly.
If anyone has any fun pictures of Dave then feel free to send them to me and I will add them to this post as a memorial.
Dave didn't want a funeral as such so there is no news on that front at this time.
You can still see the videos Dave made of his numerous jaunts on Youtube
https://www.youtube.com/specimanYak
Many of you will remember Dave as an enthusiastic hiker and camper who we spent plenty of time with around the fire or on top of mountains. It's hard to believe he's actually gone and we will miss his warmth and humour terribly.
If anyone has any fun pictures of Dave then feel free to send them to me and I will add them to this post as a memorial.
Dave didn't want a funeral as such so there is no news on that front at this time.
You can still see the videos Dave made of his numerous jaunts on Youtube
https://www.youtube.com/specimanYak
#13
General Chat / Re: A comment of appreciation
Last post by RedLeader - October 14, 2025, 10:00:04 AMIt's not an impossible task if we could muster the enthusiasm!
#14
General Chat / Re: A comment of appreciation
Last post by LandyLiam - October 07, 2025, 04:49:19 PMDid someone say Christmas Camp!
#15
General Chat / Re: A comment of appreciation
Last post by RedLeader - August 27, 2025, 11:12:01 AMUnfortunately age and life got the better of a lot of us.
There's still people wanting to hike and camp, we could probably get something organised if anyone fancied getting the old band back together
There's still people wanting to hike and camp, we could probably get something organised if anyone fancied getting the old band back together
#16
General Chat / Re: Cable Car ride up Donard
Last post by Ed - August 26, 2025, 08:54:57 AMThankfully it now looks like this is not going ahead.
Sadly it seems a lot of money was spent on it before it even got off the ground, money that could have been better spent on other initiatives (such as helping the Tollymore centre weather their recent difficulties)
I've always seen accessibility as a double edged sword. It's a great thing to make the hills (or parts of them) more accessible to people with health or mobility difficulties. However, by improving ease of access you also increase the flow of people who don't care for the area and leave a collection of beer bottles and festival tents in their wake.
Sadly it seems a lot of money was spent on it before it even got off the ground, money that could have been better spent on other initiatives (such as helping the Tollymore centre weather their recent difficulties)
I've always seen accessibility as a double edged sword. It's a great thing to make the hills (or parts of them) more accessible to people with health or mobility difficulties. However, by improving ease of access you also increase the flow of people who don't care for the area and leave a collection of beer bottles and festival tents in their wake.
#17
General Chat / Re: A comment of appreciation
Last post by Ed - August 26, 2025, 08:47:22 AMI think covid/lockdown hypnotised a lot of people into habitually staying closer to home.
For me personally, that whole timeframe coincided with having a young child at home.
I had subbed my hill walks for greenway walks around Belfast and 1hr slogs on the stair master. Decent exercise, but not the sort of thing you'd rush to discuss with others here.
I'm getting out a bit more now that he's bigger, and sometimes he even comes with me.
Forums belong to that "old fashioned" type of long form communication that I often think is preferable to be honest. Reels and 20 second soundbites have their appeal (ahem, dopamine) but for the most part, I'd say that posts on a forum tend to be somewhat more considered, less given to breaking down into trolling/abuse or 5000 replies of "nice try Diddy".
Yes, the traffic on NI-Wild has reduced somewhat, but I do hope it sticks around
For me personally, that whole timeframe coincided with having a young child at home.
I had subbed my hill walks for greenway walks around Belfast and 1hr slogs on the stair master. Decent exercise, but not the sort of thing you'd rush to discuss with others here.
I'm getting out a bit more now that he's bigger, and sometimes he even comes with me.
Forums belong to that "old fashioned" type of long form communication that I often think is preferable to be honest. Reels and 20 second soundbites have their appeal (ahem, dopamine) but for the most part, I'd say that posts on a forum tend to be somewhat more considered, less given to breaking down into trolling/abuse or 5000 replies of "nice try Diddy".
Yes, the traffic on NI-Wild has reduced somewhat, but I do hope it sticks around
#18
General Chat / Re: A comment of appreciation
Last post by NorthernSky - July 18, 2025, 09:56:28 PMwould be great to see the forums active again, so much local knowledge was here
#19
General Chat / Re: A comment of appreciation
Last post by Rugged Track - November 04, 2024, 02:13:04 PMJust passing too!! I haven't been out much lately myself. Need to get back out more often again!!
#20
General Chat / Re: A comment of appreciation
Last post by LandyLiam - August 20, 2024, 11:24:30 AMJust passing, hi Darran, must have a reunion camp some time. Hadn't camped for a few years but just back from a weekend camping in Donegal so have caught the bug again. I echo your comments. this forum has made major positive impacts to my life, thank you NI-Wild.