Slieve Bearnagh

“I yearn to see County Down in the snow, one almost expects to see a march of dwarfs dashing past. How I long to break into a world where such things were true.” -- C.S. Lewis

The heat wave smothering Ireland continues, and at 86 degrees Fahrenheit, today was hot and downright muggy.  Again!  This weather is highly unusual here: most years Northern Ireland doesn't see a single day with temperatures this high, yet today is the second day in a row to break 30 degrees Celsius, and the pattern is forecast to continue.  The high humidity, combined with smoke from fires, made for hazy, almost smoggy conditions in the Mourne Mountains.  Not exactly ideal for another day of rugged hiking, but... we're here, aren't we?  Tomorrow we drive north.  We have to make hay while the sun shines.  

When we walked through Newcastle on day 1, jet-lagged from not having slept since Connecticut, making a bleary-eyed exploration of the town before checking into our hotel for showers and afternoon-tea-for-early-dinner-then-bed, we stopped in the tourist information office to pick up maps.  We got trail maps for both Slieve Donnard and Slieve Binnian.  We hiked Slieve Binnian the day before yesterday and loved everything about it.  But we were still waffling about Slieve Donnard...  Did we really want to climb it simply because it is biggest?  We enjoyed Slieve Binnian so much: the rocky outcrops, the relative solitude.  We worried that in comparison, Slieve Donnard might seem crowded and rather plain.  Slieve Binnian is at the southern edge of the range, and the summit offers commanding views over the rest of the High Mournes.  From there, we could see another craggly-looking peak with rocky outcrops on the other side of Ben Crom Reservoir.  Maybe that would be more up our alley?

So I did a little research.  The peak we were looking at was Slieve Bearnagh, the fourth tallest mountain in Northern Ireland.  WalkNI.com and the trail guide I'd bought, Helen Fairbairn's Northern Ireland: A Walking Guide, each included routes up Slieve Bearnagh.  However, both described longer hikes that combined Slieve Bearnagh with other nearby summits, meaning neither was exactly what we wanted.  Nevertheless, we could easily use those maps as reference to cobble together our own, slightly less ambitious route.  We would essentially follow the WalkNI.com route for Bearnagh and Meelmore, except we would omit Meelmore, turning right at the col between them and returning to Trassey Track via the track past Pollaphuca.  Yasss!     

We started at the Trassey Car Park, and almost immediately climbed over a gate onto a rocky track.  Although at a glance this looks similar to the start of the Slieve Binnian hike, the gate keeps cars out, so we weren't continuously breathing dust.  Plain air is much, much better! 

one of several kissing gates

these loose cobble stones are fine to walk, but I don't advise running

Slieve Meelmore (right foreground) and Slieve Bearnagh

When hiking in an un-treed landscape, the route ahead is plain to see.  The flat dip in the ridgeline in the picture below is Hare's Gap.  We would climb to Hare's Gap, then turn right and follow the Mourne Wall up the ridge to Bearnagh's summit.

looking back the Trassey Track from the start of the climb up to Hare's Gap

view from Hare's Gap

our path forward from Hare's Gap - notice the staircase climbing around the outcrop on far left

the stairs are extremely steep

a level spot before another steep section

the Mourne Wall is massive

Climbing again... none of these pictures really show how steep this ascent is.  Trust me, it is STEEP.  I find climbing with views like this to be exhilarating, but did I mention it was hot?  We sweated buckets on this part of the climb.  Poor Erwin kept panting, I think we're almost there, long before we were truly almost there.  Not exactly helpful. 

Then we came to a section requiring scrambling, and Erwin just wasn't interested.  He decided to go around, but Frankie wanted to stick with the wall, so he and I did.  The kid loves scrambling.  At this point, maybe we really were almost there.  

NOW we're almost there

just one final scramble up onto the North Tor

We didn't see Erwin again until the lower summit, the North Tor, where we stopped for a long break and sandwiches.  We also spent a lot of time lounging and taking pictures.  I couldn't stop beaming.  What a place!    

Finally we packed up and headed down into the miniature col, and then up and over to the main summit tor. 

he still has energy to burn

Summit Tor of Slieve Bearnagh (with Slieve Binnian visible behind and to right)

Erwin stayed by the Wall with our packs while Frankie and I scrambled up onto the Summit Tor. 

Erwin waving from across the summit

view from the Summit Tor over Ben Crom to Slieve Binnian (left); the Silent Valley (center); Doan (right)

Then we started down, following the Wall west-northwest into the deep col between Bearnagh and Meelmore.  This descent route is even steeper than the ascent, and challenging, too, because of all the loose rocks.  I found this to be the most difficult part of the hike.  The sun was blazing and I felt like I was cooking. 

Frankie still had energy to spare

Once we got to the col, we climbed over the stile and sat in the shade of the Wall for a few minutes, just to get out of the sun briefly.  I refilled Frankie's water bottle from a spare in my pack.  I was rationing for myself at this point, but not for him -- I made sure he had as much as he could possibly drink.  Then onward.  It would all be downhill from here.

back below Hare's Gap

Erwin was again getting anxious about missing dinner.  We were both fantasizing about the amazing seafood chowder we'd had last night at the Maghera Inn.  It was about 7 pm and they don't close to 9:30 pm, so I didn't see any reason not to go back for another round, but Erwin is a worrier.  He didn't think we could make it.  Ha!  All I had to do was suggest to Frankie that we try to beat his Dad back to the car, and once again, he was off like a rocket.  Seriously, this kid has reserves... he was all out hauling, just to "win the race."  I had to beg him to ease up twice.  Running the part of the track with the loose cobble-sized stones was killer on the knees.  Erwin didn't stand a chance in this race, but at least he got his chowder. 

MapMyRide logged this hike at almost exactly 6 miles with just over 1,600 feet elevation gain.  It is a fantastic loop and I'm glad we chose this over Slieve Donnard.  Which is not to say I don't wish we climbed that one, too, because of course I do; I want to climb them all.  Yup!  I'm greedy like that.  However, with our limited time here, we could only do two big hikes in the Mournes, and I think we chose wisely.  I'll just have to come back again to hike more of the Mourne Mountains.