Location: Mourne Mountains (Ireland)
Elevation Gain: 2,789ft (850m)
Slieve Donard is the Highest Mountain in the North of Ireland. It stands at 2,789ft (850m) It is the 5th Highest in Ireland. Today I climbed to the top with my bike. Why because I had not climbed it before and these days my bike goes everywhere with me. The photo below is looking towards the Summit of Slieve Donard. You can see the Mourne Wall that leads to the top in this photo.
The photo Below shows the path I took on my way to the Top. "The Brandy Pad"
The Path I travelled through the mountains is called the Brandy Pad. "The Brandy Pad" a track created by the boots of smugglers and the hooves of heavily laden ponies, particularly during the 18th and 19th centuries. Illicit cargoes of tobacco, wine, spirits, leather, silk and spices would be spirited through the mountains from the east coast to be distributed inland. So popular was the trade that by 1835 in the village of Hilltown, almost half the houses were pubs.
Above is some of the Mourne Mountain Range and Mountain Sheep Grazing.
The view from the summit of the Mountain
Above is the mourne wall at the top of Slieve Donard.
The photo above is Slieve Bearnagh. This is another mountain in the Mourne Range and a really nice mountain it is. The Mourne Wall is again visable in this photo as many others. The Wall which was constructed to enclose a reservoir's catchment area in the Mourne Mountains, Northern Ireland. It was built between 1904 and 1922 by the Belfast Water Commissioners to enclose the water catchment in the Mournes.
The wall was crafted from natural granite stone using traditional dry stone walling techniques. On average the wall is about 1.5 metres high and 0.8 to 0.9 metres thick. It is 22 miles (35 km) long and passes over fifteen mountains. The wall took eighteen years to complete.
The photos above and below show one of the reservoirs inside the wall. This is Ben Crom Reservoir.
The Valleys all collect water that is processed for drinking mainly for the Belfast area.
There is more photos in the album listed here: Mourne Mountain Photos I did not want to fill the Blog with the photos.
Michael, awesome countryside. I really think that you have been given with a great present in Ireland. The mountains, the views, the space feeling, and MTB !!!!
ResponEliminaXavi that is true. I am also starting to appreciate it more as I get older. I spoke to a couple of walkers yesterday and they agreed this landscape is some of the best in the world. Small mountains but beautiful.
ResponEliminaMTB, MTB, MTB, a aquest espai els vols de Drac són, és al lloc on té més sentit, un vol molt baix, a molta velocitat, on els matolls són raspallats per les panxes dels nostres Dracs.
ResponEliminaBons crònica Michael, bones imatges, i de ben segur, molt bones sensacions.
MTB, MTB, MTB.