Three Summer Days in the Mournes with a Bivi

Day One – Newcastle to Chimney Rock

With the weather forecast looking good and some annual leave needing burned off at work, a multi day trip to the Mournes was looking very tempting indeed.

As I was only free from early afternoon on Saturday, I spoke to JC and we planned something short and handy for day one, playing days two and three by ear. We both intended to bivvy rather than carrying a tent for three days, that at least helped keep the weight down a little.

We started with the familiar sight of Donard Park, and the hills looked very welcoming with the blue sky behind them.

The walk up through Donard Park was very warm and muggy. I was wearing a Thrudark Oryon hot weather base layer that I picked up earlier this month, and I’m glad I had it. It’s quite good at drying out as you go, without getting to the point where it’s saturated and clinging to you.

The walk up the Glen River trail was warm but breezy and there was a steady stream of people coming in both directions. It was great to see so many people out with their children too, hopefully planting the seed of a lifelong hillwalking hobby.

We set a conversational pace up towards the saddle. There’s a time and a place for going hard at it, and I usually save my zone4/zone5 training in the hills for when I’m down for a day walk. I’m not sure I’d have wanted to race on past views like this anyhow, even if we weren’t to be here for two nights.

Before long we were at the saddle and stopped for a few minutes for a quick snack and a chat. I tried a Real Meal bar for the first time, having stumbled on some Instagram ads earlier in the week and being tempted by one of their variety packs. I was getting a bit hungry by this stage as I hadn’t had a huge amount for lunch, and the 600 calories in the Real Meal bar really got the job done.

We climbed the stile at the saddle headed over towards Chimney Rock. It was a leisurely dander, no elevation of any kind involved and very handy track, great for a gentle end to day one. As the sun started to get lower, everything started to take on that beautiful golden hour glow of syrupy amber. I really like this point in any trip, even day walks, but it’s particularly enjoyable during a camp to look around you and know you’ll have this view to enjoy for the entire evening.

There was a decent breeze in the air as we headed over to the wall at Chimney Rock and we were definitely encountering fewer other walkers at this stage.

We settled on a spot on Chimney Rock quite a bit down from the summit. Over the wall there was a lot of strong wind, and the summit looked like it might be a bit windy for an evening sitting chatting. It took a little bit of scoping out to find a suitable pitch, but we got sorted not far from the plane crash site.

The sky took on that nice pleasing inky blue hue as the sun started to go down, and we got our bivi bags out for the evening. I was trying out the Terra Nova Jupiter Lite for the first time. I’ve slept for hundreds of nights in the now-discontinued Terra Nova Titan, but picked up a Jupiter recently after seeing it reduced in an online sale. A hooped bag seemed like a nice compromise between tent and flat bivi in terms of headroom, and it would at least have two things I’ve always wanted to see in the Titan – peg loops and a midge screen.

I had a decent night’s sleep. I was zipped in for the first couple of hours, and there was a fair bit of condensation in the morning, to the point that the outer of my sleeping bag was wet in places. Note to self for night two, midge net only in dry weather, with the head right up at the end of the net – let the breath out.

Day Two – Chimney Rock to Blue Lough via Annalong Wood and Binnian Summit

Two of JC’s friends were due to head up Binnian today as a part of their ongoing weekly training for the Mourne Mountain Marathon coming up next month. We decided the night before to meet up with them on Binnian for day two. It would include a summit in the walk, and would be a bit of craic.

I woke up early and had a coffee and another Real Meal bar. This time the peanut butter and cacao flavour. It was good, I’d say second in terms of flavour to the coffee / hazelnut version. Ever so slightly drier too.

My MSR Reactor struggled to light, it took about six attempts, and it kept blowing out. It’s clear that a fault of some description has developed with it. I’ve had this stove for almost thirteen years now, having reviewed it for HikersBlog here. In those thirteen years the Reactor has been on hundreds of trips and boiled thousands of litres of water. I’m sorry to see the end of its life, but nothing lasts for ever and after such a long period of heavy use, it certainly doesn’t owe me anything.

We were headed towards Annalong Wood by contouring along the slope of Long Seefin, enjoying absolutely spectacular views along the way. It was shaping up to be another fantastically sunny and warm day, so we both applied a fair helping of sunscreen.

We passed a few other walkers as we headed over towards Dunnywater. Some would say hello, some would stop for a brief chat. It’s no surprise that people you encounter in the hills are usually pleasant – they’re out doing what they enjoy doing and have every reason to be in good form, particularly on a day like this.

We headed around to the back of Annalong Wood, joining the nice gravel path with the view of Lamagan.

We strolled up through the wood, stopping a couple of times to fill our Water to Go bottles (click for review) up from the Annalong River. I continue to bring mine on every trip, as it spares me the weight of having to carry an entire supply of water for my journey.

When we left the wood, we joined the Carrick Little Track and headed headed down towards the wall for the walk up Binnian.

There were a LOT of people heading up Binnian. On a day like that it was certainly no surprise. Lots of folks were heading up and down at the wall, it was great to see.

It was a tough enough pull up along the wall towards the summit on on our second day in the hills with packs, and I was certainly feeling the decision not to take in lunch before heading up Binnian. We stopped for a look around us at one point, enjoying the view over towards Donard and Commedagh. We noticed the rescue helicopter briefly setting down on Donard – presumably to drop off a doctor to attend to someone injured. I hope they’re doing ok!

We stopped briefly not far from the summit to make a quick coffee. I decided to have a Huel Ready to Drink at this stage just to get some calories in. The oily texture of it just did not feel right going down, and immediately started to make me feel a little nauseous. I decided to ignore it, and we finished off the last wee push up to the summit.

We got to the top and everyone sat around for a while resting, or walking back and forward enjoying the view. The Huel RTD did not agree with me at all, and (TMI Warning!) came back up. Your mileage may very with Huel shakes, but for me they’re decidedly off the menu from now on. I had plenty of water and a fistful of wine gums, and we got moving again.

We headed over Binnian’s back castles towards the North Tor. There was a very strong wind, which had me thinking a couple of times about reaching for my hardshell. I opted not to, instead enjoying the freshening effect it had on my base layer, which was still managing to resist getting saturated.

I was feeling a little bit tired and achey at this point, and probably could have done with taking on a few calories, but just did not feel the appetite at all. Walking in the heat has a heavy suppressing effect on my appetite, and sometimes I really have to force myself to take enough in. At least it was mostly down hill, so the energy requirement is less in that regard.

We were still encountering lots of walkers at this point, either coming up past the North Tor and Summit Tor and down the wall, or coming back the way they came.

We headed down past Buzzard’s Roost and made for the Blue Lough, which we had decided would be our camp site for night two. The strong winds made sure that this spot would not make us an all you can eat midge buffet like it ordinarily would. Before long we had the bivi bags in place, feeling tired but gratified.

The blue lough had quite a few people swimming in it when we arrived (I took care not to include any in the photo below) and it looked like the perfect day for it. The water was shimmering in the sun, with the sun-kissed green hills behind it acting as the perfect backdrop.

I was feeling quite depleted, so JC produced a thousand calorie double sized dry meal for me to try. It was an absolutely brutally large feed. I had no interest in it, but decided to start eating it anyway, once I started into it, I was ravenous and thoroughly enjoyed it.

This was a useful option to have, and it very quickly had me feeling restored. I’m always mindful of recommending anything food related on taste basis alone. I’m not a picky eater, and when you’ve burned off lots of calories your perception of food can be more agreeable. That said, I enjoyed this one and it definitely got the job done. It was nice to have something hot too.

After a long day’s walking, we decided to hit the bivi bags as soon as the sun went down. We both slept soundly, and with the Jupiter bivi open all night condensation was minimal.

Day Three – Annalong Valley, Brandy Pad & Glen River Trail

We woke up on the morning of day three surrounded by fog, but feeling refreshed after a solid night’s sleep. We split a third Real Meal bar between us, had a drink from our water to go bottles and packed up to get moving.

The breeze was stiff, so I threw on my hard shell for the first little while. The Aclimatise Osprey that I reviewed 11 years ago was starting to show some signs of wear and sadly they’re no longer operating. I decided to replace it with a Thrudark Aigis, which I’ll share a review on in due course, once I’ve had the chance to put it through a winter’s abuse. If it can hold a candle to the Aclimatise it will be doing well, as that was an absolutely unreal jacket. We shall see.

The fog that we woke up in stuck with us for most of day three, but I still took my hard shell off after the first ten minutes of moving. The breeze was refreshing, and the misty air wasn’t clammy feeling at all, it was a nice change from walking in direct sun for two days!

The views as we walked along the back of Lamagan, Cove and Beg were great, and the fog rolling past is still beautiful in its own right. It wasn’t raining, although even if it was I don’t think we’d complain after two days of heat and sun.

We hooked up onto the Brandy Pad, and very much enjoyed the easy walking that it involves. There’s nothing like a good path when ankles are feeling tired. We encountered a couple of walkers who split from their party to head along the Brandy Pad while they went over the summits of Commedagh, Corragh and Slievenaglogh. Having been over that route many times I’d say the views are spectacular, but on such a foggy day these hikers reckoned they weren’t missing the view, just the exertion. On this incidence I’d be inclined to agree!

When we reached the saddle we took a good drink, had a handful of sweets and layered up again for the sharp breeze dropping down the Glen River trail. I threw on a fleece, a Thrudark Heritech Moorland that I bought last month. Expect a review on it some point around midwinter.

Dropping down towards Donard Wood was uneventful, not many photos were taken due to the general absence of much of a view. It did start to clear as we got down, and I was happy for the walkers who passed us on their way up, as they would surely see the veil lift by the time they reached the summit.

We arrived in Donard Park, stashed our gear in the car and strolled into Newcastle for a bite to eat and a coffee before the drive home. Long ago I got into the habit of leaving a nice pair of lightweight driving slippers and a change of socks in the car, rather than driving in sweaty socks and muddy boots. I was glad of them on this occasion for sure!

This was our first multi-day trip in quite a while, and it really did scratch that itch. What a fantastic three days in the hills!