On Saturday night I packed my bags and even made my lunch for an early getaway on the Saturday morning. The plan was to leave about 6am and be walking by 9am, just ready for the weather to clear. Nope! Didn’t work out. I woke a couple of times during the night with the storm but at 4am it was howling and thumping down with rain. I couldn’t see how it would be clear early enough to drive safely never mind head into the hills. So, I turned off my 5am alarm and slept on until 8am. The weather at that time convinced me I’d made the right decision. When the boys went out later at 11am for a match they encountered this which further confirmed my 4am call.

My one consolation for spending a 4 day weekend mostly confined to barracks, was the forecast for this weekend. By Wednesday it was pretty clear it was looking good and fast forward to 9:30am yesterday and I was finally parked at the Silent Valley ready to go. Catriona was also heading to a Tryka event in Dublin. She was pretty nervous about it so I planned an hour later than last week so not to disturb her too early

The route I had chosen was #10 from Adrian Hendroff’s excellent book The Mourne and Cooley Mountains. A Walking Guide. He doesn’t provide GPX files for his routes but I found two similar ones on Mountainviews.ie and OutdoorActive that also gave me a digital route to follow.

Packing for this trip I was expecting to be cold. However, it was surprisingly mild at the car park and I quickly decided to swap my heavier merino top for a much lighter option with a couple of optional layers in my bag.

Leaving the car park I was quickly on to a nice little narrow track that wound along the base of Moolieve for a few hundred metres. The easy start was short-lived though as I turned off along the Mourne Wall and straight into a pretty steep climb. The path was clear, winding through the heather and with some nice rocky sections closer to the wall. The wall provided some handy support on the steeper sections. As always a steep climb rewards with quick views.

Moolieve at a modest 332m isn’t recognised as a proper summit but it’s a nice climb with a marker cairn that is a repurposed rock in the right place.

The climb up had been pretty warm and any slight breeze was being blocked by the wall on my right. Looking ahead I knew I was in for similar for most, if not all, of the rest of the walk so the merino top was soon in the bag and I was down to short sleeves. I really didn’t expect that on Halloween!

Still following the wall there is a drop into the col between Moolieve and Wee Binnian. This summit was the reason I picked this route. I’ve been to the top of Binnian a few years ago but it bugged me that we didn’t have an opportunity to get across to the smaller neighbour.

In this col I had the only wet ground of the whole day with a seep spreading across the thin layer of peat over the rocky substrate. Nothing to write home about and I was glad I didn’t bother with gaiters today.

After the short reprieve the climb up Wee Binnian is pretty full on. A very similar path as Moolieve with the clouds coming and going to give me tantalising views of the rocky summit.

Just below the summit there’s a short and very enjoyable scramble across the gritty rocks to a very satisfyingly rocky top. Unmarked due to the nature of the summit but not hard to work out the official highest spot.

Wee Binnian (460m)

Standing on the edge of Wee Binnian, Binnian itself was hidden in the clouds. Looking down the short, steep drop to the col between I could see a group of 3 people. Apart from dog walkers in the car park this was the first people I’d met all day. This time sticking to the right of the wall we passed each other at the halfway point. They were in good spirits, disappointed at the lack of views on Binnian but I think I cheered them with a positive description of Wee Binnian.

Before leaving Wee Binnian I had to make a route decision. The Mountainviews.ie route stayed to the left while Adrian Hendroff and the Outdooractive route chose the right. I opted for the right as it looked more defined as it navigated the rocky summit approach.

The climb up Moolieve and Wee Binnian was just a warmup for the climb up Binnian proper. This was full on and very steep. After a short heather and grass section I was soon into rocks with some small scrambles. A couple of trickier sections were easily bypassed until I finally decided to embrace the climb and tackled all the scrambles head on. I haven’t much experience of this kind of climbing and despite knees and legs that complained about the unusual activity I really enjoyed it. The rocks here are a course, gritty granite and combined with the Mourne Wall, handholds and footholds were extensive and secure.

Eventually, I reached a huge rock that blocked the way and leaving the wall I swung right towards one of the summit tors. There are 5 tors in total and all with their own names.

With the thick cloud it was difficult to work out where the faint path was heading. Relying on the guide book description and my own instinct I ended up climbing the little gulley between Beta and Lower Summit Tors and coming out on the little grassy col between the two.

As this is definitely a route less travelled and in the poor visibility (less than 100m) I first of all took the wrong track trying to get to the summit, had to retrace my steps, took a couple of different tracks and eventually connected with the path that came up the left hand side of the wall! This gave me an easy track to the rocky gap between the main Summit Tor and Gamma Tor.

This all sounds way more difficult than it was and I actually really enjoyed trying to navigate in the bad visibility, relying on the map, ground indicators and direction bearings. I felt confident and safe at all times, positive I could reset if I went wrong.

While trying to find the best route to the summit I could hear voices off in the mist, of people climbing up the usual route from Carrick Little. As I arrived at the gap between Gamma and Summit Tors two young lads arrived just before me to be quickly joined by a woman and two more teenagers. Not often I see a woman (without a male partner) and/or teenagers in the hills and it was really encouraging to see them so relaxed in the environment and really enjoying themselves. Hopefully, all the kids grow up with a continuing love of the mountains and outdoors.

I scrambled up to the summit but no views today. I was just about able to get a summit selfie and had to be content with my memories from my previous visit to this spot just over 3 years ago.

This is a video I made of that previous trip. I’m pretty sure that’s Wee Binnian and Binnian in the second drone shots and the Binnian summit is from 8min 20sec. My first and only experience of a cloud inversion.

The family group were having lunch at the summit so I headed on over the ridge towards the smaller rocky tors called The Back Castles. I found a place tucked in out of the breeze and settled down for lunch. I was rewarded with drifting clouds that lifted and closed giving me tantalising views of the valley below and the higher surrounding summits.

Lunchtime views

Following along the ridge there is a clear rocky path. This doesn’t cross the slightly higher point that is registered on Mountainviews.ie as Binnian North Top and marked on the OS maps as Point 678. On the previous visit I wasn’t aware of it so I made sure to divert across today and tick it off my summit list. It’s a broad, slightly rounded top with nothing specific to mark the highest point so I picked a likely candidate rock and made that my marker.

Returning to the main track brought me to the base of the massive North Tor. This clump of rock towers rises 70m above the track and although it’s another Mountainviews.ie summit I was pretty intimidated. I did know that the best ascent is from the opposite side so I scrambled through the gap in the middle and started up the back with the intention of tapping out if it got too hairy. I was very aware that I was on my own and completely away from the view of the track if I had a fall.

I kept going, scrambling a little bit further and fully expecting to get somewhere well beyond my skills but before I knew it I was just below the top. I’m really not good with exposed heights but one last crawl on my hands and knees and I could see down the steep drop to the track below. I was absolutely elated with myself as I was sure this was not on the cards today.

The North Tor was the last of my climbing for the day. The rest of the route was now downhill. The first section is down to the col between Binnian and Slievelamagan. Although descending sounds like it should be easy this was anything but. A steep and rocky path that descends all the way to Ben Crom Reservoir was very tough on quads and knees, especially after the exertions of all the earlier climbing.

Not long after starting the descent I came across a bag and Tshirt set to the side of the track. The Tshirt was stretched out to dry the obviously sweaty back but it left me wondering what’s the correct response. I’m 99% sure someone left it here to make the rest of the climb a bit easier but a small part of me was worried that could turn into someone out of their depth and maybe lost on the hill without their gear. In the end I just took a photo and recorded the grid reference. My intention was to maybe share it with the police in case anyone was reported missing. In the end I forgot to do this but I’ve seen nothing online to say a walker is missing so I guess it was OK. Still wondering today what’s the appropriate thing to do?

Not long into the descent is the most amazing viewpoint. A large rocky slab gives fantastic views out over Ben Crom Reservoir, across to Ben Crom Mountain and up the valley towards The Brandy Pad. Just stunning.

By the time I’d reached Ben Crom Reservoir my legs were suffering. The descent battered them and my knees in particular were moaning loudest.

The reservoir is stunning from up high but the dam itself is an amazing feat of engineering. Standing at the base and looking up makes you feel very small indeed.

All the climbing and descending was now finally over and all that was left was a simple 4.8km walk back to the car park along the tarmac access road for the reservoir. This should have been easy and enjoyable with the mountains towering on both sides, the sun setting across the water and streams flowing down from Slieve Binnian. However, with tired legs and aching knees it became a bit of an endurance slog. Better planning would have seen me bring a light pair of trainers for this section as my heavy boots were a bad match for the tarmac road.

Despite this last section being much harder than expected I thoroughly enjoyed this walk. It was more challenging than expected but with that comes a great sense of achievement. This is my 5th visit to The Mournes and I have to admit I’m starting to fall in love with this place 💓

Today, while resting and recovering, I eventually gave into temptation and ordered yet another guide book for the area. It’s my third now and I have great expectations as it’s written by someone local to the area. I know I’ll be making frequent visits over the next few years so it’s money well spent!

The Facebook algorithm was also doing its job today and served me up this video.