The Tale of Five Slieves

Have you ever wondered what it might be like to climb five mountains in five days?

Me neither.

But that is what myself and my friend Sam found ourselves doing on my recent trip to Northern Ireland and Donegal.

These mountains were:

1. Slieve Croob (535 metres)

2. Slieve Donard (850 metres)

3. Aghla More (581 metres)

4. An Earagail (751 metres)

5. Slieve Binnian (747 metres)

Of course, as I am sure you have already noticed... not all of these mountains were called a Slieve. Alas, 'The Tale of Three Slieves, one More, and an An' does not quite have the same ring to it.

Lace up those boots, let's get climbing.

1. Slieve Croob - aka 'The Sunrise'                                            

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟

When I booked the tickets, I jokingly said to Sam that we should watch the sun rise on top of a mountain. Of course, just like Chekhov's gun, we had no choice. Unfortunately, we decided to book the trip during the summer solstice.

After potentially a couple of beers too many, noting that the weather forecast had changed every single time we looked at it, Sam and I decided there was nothing for it but to give it a go and set our alarm clocks for 2:15am. Yes, you read that correctly.

We woke to a sea of cloud, unable to see a single star in the sky. A bad omen.

Forging on, Sam and I chugged our coffee and set off for the smallest of our summits for the week. 

With only a gentle incline we were soon at the summit... far sooner than Sam had anticipated since we ended up arriving forty-five minutes before sunrise!

Our spirits remained high.

We could see the Mourne Mountains in the distance, there were slight gaps starting to open in the clouds, and we had found ourselves a lovely little... not at all comfortable... rock circle to shelter from the wind.

We settled in, each passing minute bringing us closer to what could be the pinnacle of our trip. 

How wrong were we.

The time was 4:35am. The sun would rise at 4:42am. "Is that rain?"

We climbed out of our rocky trench to confirm what we already knew. Visibility had decreased to about ten metres and we were soaked.

Our fairy tale sunrise was ruined.  

We did not care.

Of course, it would have been lovely to watch the sun rise over the Mourne Mountains... but the hilarity of the situation was more than enough for us.

We laughed all the way back down the 'mountain,' drove back to Sam's house and fell asleep on the sofa with the front door wide open.

2. Slieve Donard - aka 'The Big Boi'                                          

Rating:🌟🌟🌟🌟

After the failure of the morning at Slieve Croob, Sam and I naturally decided to go and climb the highest point in Northern Ireland. Sitting at 850 metres from sea level, Slieve Donard would not even be considered a munro by its Scottish neighbours. However, rocking about three hours of sleep, this was still a reasonable challenge.

Of course, anyone who has visited the Mourne Mountains will know that most of the trails have been intricately maintained with cobbled paths right to the summit. Hiking truly has never been so accessible. With my dreams of adventuring through the wilderness crushed, however, I charged up the mountain in a time of 1 hour and 15 minutes. 

Regrettably, in my attempt to set a good time on Strava, Sam was left behind somewhere between 700 and 800 metres. He took it about as well as you can expect.

Here is a photo of grumpy Sam at the very top so you don't think too ill of me.

3. Aghla More - aka 'The One Beside the Wagon in the Woods' 

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

This one was my favourite. 

Having driven round the top of Northern Ireland to tick Giant's Causeway off the bucket list... we crossed over the border into Donegal and pulled up at our AirBnB for the night.

The 'Wonder Wagon' was the cheapest accommodation we could find. However, we would have booked it regardless.

Sleeping in bunks beds just barely the length of our bodies, immersed in our own little 'In the Night Garden' style patch of woodland, the only sounds coming from the nearby stream, the wind through the trees, and our resident neighbours, Indian Runner Ducks... bliss.

As we unpacked our stuff, we were met by our lovely host Marion. Though we were gifted an impressively rancid bottle of UHT milk, I will say that the homemade scones were a nice touch - jam first of course.

It was here that our host told us about a path through the woods and up a mountain littered with lakes, the best view in Donegal - Aghla More.

Naturally, despite it being 5pm and the pangs of hunger already setting in, Sam and I went and climbed said mountain straight away. Though... Sam was a little more reluctant than I... especially when the path gave out only about halfway up.

Finally we were 'properly' hiking. It was worth it. (Sam even thanked me later!)

4. An Earagail - aka 'The Pointy Boi'

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

For those of you who know me a little better, you will likely know that I don't do too well with heights. In fact, thanks to an especially traumatic childhood tree-top experience in Center Parcs, I used to be absolutely terrified. Not anymore.

Driving along the West Atlantic Way, approaching a mountain that must have been named by Tolkein, there was absolutely no indication that it would even be possible to climb. It really was a sheer point. We were not confident. 

Thankfully, a third dimension gradually took form as we ventured further round the mountain.

Once again, an incredibly well-maintained path had been carved right to the summit. With all my hours on the stairmaster in the gym, this was not an especially physically-demanding exercise.

Unbeknownst to me, however, my efforts in the psychological therapy of 'flooding'... aka pretending I am fine, even when I am definitely, 100%,  not fine... had meant that I was also mentally equipped for the task. 

We scrambled to the top and filmed a birthday message for our friend in New Zealand. Not that even she was able to tell this... you couldn't hear a thing over the wind that was threatening to topple us back to the bottom.

5. Slieve Binnian - aka 'Best 'til Last'

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Now, to clarify, Slieve Binnian was not the best mountain. The hike, however, was incredible.

Having opted for a popular circular route - the aptly named 'Slieve Binnian and North Tor Circular' if you wanted to check it out on All Trails, this would be our longest hike of the trip at a distance of 11km and an elevation of 603m. With this also being the fifth mountain we would climb in the space of five days, we had planned to take it a little slow.

We did not take it slow.

Starting from Carrick Cottage Cafe, the first quarter of the hike was practically a straight shot up the mountain following the tracks left by sheep. Sam needed to stop a couple of times. I begrudgingly waited... all too aware of the toll that my actions had taken on our friendship back at Slieve Donard.

The moody landscapes on the way to the top had us in awe. The spell of rain at the top, less so.

Thankfully, it cleared up for our journey back down the mountain. We were very quickly met with blue skies and significantly improved visibility.

The hike took us past rivers, waterfalls, lakes, woodland... it had everything. So much so, my phone very quickly died from a combination of recording on Strava, mapping on All Trails, and taking pictures.

What did we learn?

• The obvious one. Be safe. Even if you can climb a mountain in Crocs, you probably shouldn't. Likewise, you can't predict the weather, you can never have enough snacks, and you probably should bring that extra water bottle, especially if your friend drinks like a camel on the way up - looking at you, Sam.
   
• If you want legs the size of tree trunks? Climb mountains. Honestly, in two years of consistency at the gym, I have never seen the immediate progress that I saw after those five days of climbing mountains.
  
  
• If you want to improve your mental health or even simply give yourself space to think? Climb mountains. Your problems seem very far away when you are 850 metres above them.
  
  
• If you want to keep your friends around? Don't ditch them half way up a mountain.

There you have it. Enjoy the mountains!

Stay Safe.