 Alain_Smeets' Newcastle Travelogues | | | |
|
| Page Views: 883 Last Visit to Newcastle: August, 2003 | Hiking towards Slieve Donard by Alain_Smeets - last update: Aug 27, 2003 |
Or how a hike can be an real adventure The next morning (Saturday 16th August) we used our last 6-Pound Sterling to get our picnic for later this day. When Dirk was doing the groceries, I was waiting for Zuzu to arrive at our hostel, not knowing that this will be the start of an extraordinary day. Zuzu and me were just discussing what to do in the Mourne Mountains, like just a walk through them or go for a hike up towards the highest of them, Slieve Donard (850 metres). In the Lonely Planet they talk about an easy hike towards this mountain. So when Dirk came back we decided to go to the summit of the Slieve Donard. There we have plans to spend the next night in Dundalk in Ireland, we will drive with two cars towards the Mourne Mountains. Zuzu is leading the way and in Newcaslte we stop at the tourist information office to get some information about the hike towards Slieve Donard. |
|  | There is a lady behind the counter and she said to Zuzu: "Did these guys force you to go with them?", "No" replied Zuzu. "Well I was thinking that because of your lipstick" said the lady behind the counter. Zuzu wondered what the lipstick has to do with her capabilities to go on a hike.
We got a good explanation; no we toughed we got a good explanation about the route to follow. She wrote the name of the route on the map and pointed us out were to start. We also get some more info about the secret valley and the scenic drive around the Mourne Mountains, all the things we want to do today. |
We walked back to our cars and parked them on the main parking at the foot of the Slieve Donard and we are preparing ourselves to go on that hike. Putting on our mountain shoes, water and food in our backpack's and off we go. We are following the small river like the lady says and then we have to cross the bridge and follow that route that she mentioned, but it's not indicated there are several other walk leaving from that bridge and we are thinking that we have the good one to follow. Luckily for us we meet a couple with a more detailed map and indeed we wanted to follow the correct walk. | | |
| | The trip starts slowly, it's going up as you can imagine, but Zuzu is not in her best hiking shape so we don't go to fast. The walk is following the river and once out of the forest we have great sights over the surrounding area. Once again we are blessed with the weather, it's unbelievable how much sunshine we already got during these 2 weeks in Ireland. Dirk is walking ahead of us and waits several times on us slower travellers, I stay with Zuzu and we have a good conversation while we walk slowly towards the more heavier part of the climb. |
Zuzu hears and sees now and then some cheep and she can't resist taking pictures of these lovely creatures. Sheep be aware, next time she's wearing your coats. Haha. We see Dirk walking far ahead of us when he starts the heavy climb towards the saddle. It's going steep here, but luckily it's more easy walking due to the good and steady rock bottom, it are all steps. Zuzu is out of breath when we reach the saddle and Dirk is already disappeared towards the summit, he's waving to us so that we go up the correct mountain. We are standing in front that longest stonewall in Ireland and Zuzu wants to wait and take a rest, but Dirk has all our food and the flies are buzzing around our head and are taking some crash landings on our arms and clothes. So I press to go further and take a rest at the top. | | |
| | This should be an easy walk they said in the tourist information office, just follow the wall to the summit. Yes, just follow that wall in the beginning is walking over grass and then we reach those places where one has steps, but on a lot of places these steps are washed away by rainfall. So we have to do some detours or heavier walking over loose rocks and those small stones. Again it will be a more difficult problem when we are going down. I already experienced these things in Coagh Patrick and Mount Errigal. But now it's time to look up and walk to that summit of the Slieve Donard. It's a hard nut that we have to crack. We talk to several people who are going downhill and they all talk about the beautiful sights from the top. |
When we finally reach the summit, we lay down next to Dirk and we start on our late lunch. I guess it's around 2 hours and the trip up costs me 1 hour longer then normal, but who's complaining we have all the time in the world. The views from here are amazing; we even see the Scottish coastline far away. We enjoy our lunch picnic, bread with some slides of turkey meat or slides of chicken. Some nice water and some chips, pringles. Zuzu had bought some peaches just before we entered Newcastle and now we are having them as dessert. After the lunch we lay down and relax in the sun, but the time for taking pictures is also not forgotten and we still have to go downhill. |
> Add to your Custom Travel Guide [What's This?]
| Alain_Smeets' Newcastle Travelogues | | | |
|
 Comments for Alain_Smeets about Newcastle | | | | |
ronaldbarr Sun Jan 2, 2005 12:49 UTC
That I have been to your country and you to mine connects us in some way. It was great to discover your pages here and I have enjoyed them very much. Well done. Most interesting - especially the Donard trip! One Zuzu remembers I'm sure? | Carmela71 Wed Aug 27, 2003 22:19 UTC
So she did all this to meet a handsome irish guy???? hahaha, just kidding, yes I also spoke with her,a nd feel much better, hope she is lucky with the job interview. Well written.... what an adventure!!!!! | Beach_dog Wed Aug 27, 2003 22:13 UTC
Poor Zuzu, I spoke to her by phone last weekend and she was a little happier, lets hope she makes a quick recovery. |
|
|
email me
add as friend
