2012-02-14 22:26:21
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County Donegal Urris Hills/Mamore Gap
The Hilltop Harrier's love the hilltops but also love veering off the beaten track so we ramble just where we want.The Urris Hills are stunning for sea views, the Forty Shades of Green where the original lyrics were supposedly penned etc. We spent 6 different days taking in all this hill has to offer., there are several places to park depending on what way you want to go up. On the Leenan side i.e North side there are several tracks also which follow around the hill for most of the way until you come close to the coast.We went up from the South side in the Gap and followed the old track around it then got lost to the heather so we had to climb Northward before progressing over the rocky face in the photo. There is a lot of loose stone and a bit of a climb as the photo shows and there are several such climbs until you reach the peak. It is great leisurely walking on the top but of course extremely cold from the sea wind and dangerous at the best viewing points. The views of Crunlough Lake and Lough Fad are breathtaking on a clear day. We did not encounter any fencing for the whole of the walk which was brilliant. You views will include Buncrana, Dunree Beach,Dunree Fort,Lough Swilly,Inch, Leenan Beach, Leenan Fort, Dunaff Head on a clear day. A new ramblers trek is being marked out on the Leenan side of the hill and the posts/markers are fixed near the lakes etc. There is also a crash site of a WWW 2 Wellington Bomber where the six crewmen died; this is a geocaching site for anyone interested. We were able to get the co-ordinates for the crash site in the geo-caching site and eventually found it, but that's another story..lol.. Anyway should anyone want to see more pic.s of the area ( I don't want to be over posting here) they can follow this link . https://picasaweb.google.com/102469910929964266311/DonegalUrrisHillsRaghtinMorRaghtinBeag22January2012#
Thanks for reading. Hilltop Harrier.