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| General | Whatever you want to say that doesn't fit under the comments about mountains or another forum. |
| Post details | Post (Expand pics) | ||
| jackill 2010-09-10 09:38:22 |
Tramps like us, Mr Cra
"I modelled my looks on the town tramp. "Dolly Parton said that so she did, I'm off to Lidl for some socks! |
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| Bleck Cra 2010-09-09 22:22:33 |
EVERY LIDL HELPS, SORT OF THING
Brenno you are such an old grump pot. I am with Frankie viv-a-vis the Lidl hiking treasure trove. In fact I am just back from said emporium 19.99 sterling lighter and the pleased owner of a splendid new waterproof jacket. Let me share my experience. Buy the jacket – it is worth 4X the money. The brown is brown if you like brown; the green is better than in the brochure, the Ladies white is good and blue is mine. Sizes are measured against Pygmies so go much bigger. The boots should be avoided except for very low level stuff: too many bits and no shank, but low level yes. The pantaloons are damned fine if perhaps not as lightweight as in the hilly shop but for a tenner sterling who cares. Look fairly tough too. Fleece good although only for women. Don’t start me. Socks, binos, lamp, rucksacks nowhere to be seen. Maybe you need the lamp to see them hardyharhar. Or perhaps the binoculars Advice: absolutely do jacket and suit yourself about the rest. Luv Cra – your own secret shopper.Pee Ess for the past week, friends and colleagues have been badgering me to get down to Lidl to avail of this retail event. Bad state of affairs when they think Lidl kit would be an improvement. |
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| Conor74 2010-09-09 14:09:10 |
Twelve Bens - Bencorr and Benbaun
Heading to Galway for the weekend. Might try and get 5 or 6 hours walking time in around the Twelve Bens this Saturday. Anyone recommend a good route there, preferably to take in a few of the higher climbs and if possible a circuit. I see 2 walks here, one circuit taking in Bencorr in a Glencoaghan circuit (may be a couple of hours more than I'll be allowed out!) and another taking in and the other taking in Benbaun from Glencorbet. Is there any good circuit or route that might take in the two, in 5 or 6 hours - is there much of a descent and ascent between them? |
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| wicklore 2010-09-07 22:30:02 |
Paul Revere re: Little tin bothy
Paul, your idea to potentially refurbish the tin bothy is admirable. Here is a photo of the current state of the bothy situated roughly half-way along the Bangor Trail. The metal sheet standing against the centre pole is an old information sign. The entire floor to the left of it is quite wet, and ready to break. This is because the skylight above is broken, letting in the rain, and saturating the thin wooden floor. Unfortunately my photo doesn’t show the broken skylight, but the whole perspex panel needs to be replaced. The floor to the right of the metal sheet has the two holes in it as seen in the photo. However I was able to place the metal sheet over the holes and make my bed on it! Also the front door is missing the exterior sliding bolt so it can’t be secured as you leave. It can be loosely tied with some old string on the inside to offer some protection from the elements!It’s a great little structure to have available on the Bangor Trail, but sadly quite neglected. Good luck in your endeavours! |
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| wicklore 2010-09-07 22:06:17 |
Paul Revere re: Slieve Carr
Hi Paul Revere. Your recently updated comment about being able to climb Slieve Carr in 2 ½ hours is as startling as it is interesting. Your local knowledge obviously stands to you as you must know the lanes, trails and paths through the forest and bogs that may not be shown on the map. Slieve Carr is widely held to be the most remote summit in Ireland, and most contributors describe approaching from the north or south along the Bangor Trail. These routes typically involve a full day 28km return hike, or an overnight stay in the remote bog. (See my post on Slieve Carr for the ‘little tin bothy’ story!).All other contributors who have described their route to Slieve Carr have all used the Bangor Trail for approach, and have often climbed the two Nephin Beg summits en-route. In the absence of local knowledge we have to rely on what other contributors have posted before us. At the moment the only routes and directions available on MountainViews for Slieve Carr all involve the ‘long way’ in. If you can post a route or detailed directions for the 2 ½ hour climb it would be a fabulous resource for future walkers. This would indicate a return journey of 5 hours, which would vastly reduce the current 12-14 hour return walk that day trippers must endure. (Or at least offer a choice-some walkers want the long walk!) Slieve Carr is indeed a very remote hill – from the north or south. But in fact travelling east or west from the summit one could reach a road or houses in about 7 kms. It has been the vast bogs and forestry to the east or west that have made these approaches impractical. If you do have a new, quicker, route it would be great to share it on MountainViews and make this fine mountain available to those for whom the full day hike is not possible. (Although there is a romantic quality to having a hard to reach mountain like Slieve Carr!) On a separate but related note, sadly when I was on Slieve Carr three weeks ago I discovered that, remote as it is, it is not beyond the reaches of the graffiti artist. My photo shows how ‘Neary’ had proclaimed his/her presence sometime in 2010. Well done Neary. I hope you’re proud of your handiwork. |
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| Bleck Cra 2010-09-07 22:03:26 |
PIN IT DOWN
Dino - reference the new Mountainviews badges, you are of course right to ask so many pertinent questions. Ever do any work in Quantanamo Bay? Go easy now. This is a completely new venture for the site. "Can't be hard" you might say, but things have not been set up to do any buying or seling. Patience and perhaps things will change. For the moment just order many badges. Deal? |
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| kernowclimber 2010-09-06 17:57:19 |
Through the mist, dimly
‘What a day to be out on the hills!’ I berated myself as we began our ascent up the steep western slope of Rocky Mountain. The BBC weather forecast for Sunday was a work of pure fiction – what sunny intervals?! The day was indeed grim, gusty wind sending huge veils of rain pulsating over a landscape grey, dull and uninviting beneath impenetrable white cloud. My Paclite jacket clung to my arms as if my body had been vacuum-packed inside it. We spied a miserable knot of GoreTex clad walkers set out from the Leitrim Lodge car park, but that was the last we saw of anyone all day. Atop Rocky Mountain it was difficult to remain upright as the wind did its worst, one small consolation being that the rain had turned to mizzle. We did not tarry long, heading south on a trail that had become a rivulet, amazed at the volume of water cascading off saturated peat hags nearby. Amid the swirling mist from a broad platform of granite at Pierces Castle, intriguing vistas flashed before us to be snatched quickly from view: rugged tors, angular slopes, hulks of mountains near and far, a serpentine river far below. Over Hilltown, a watery rainbow shimmered momentarily only to be swallowed in the gloom.Castle Bog then lay in wait: a ghastly other worldly place of drifting mist, brackish water and floating mats of moss that swallowed all semblance of the track we were following. Even the bog cotton had given up the ghost here, trailing sodden heads tinged with green slime. Thank goodness for map, compass and GPS, for in such conditions this place could be a truly terrifying experience. We squelched and sloshed our way to the foot of Shanlieve to follow Batts Wall upwards. An eerie silence fell as wraithlike mist enveloped us and great monoliths and jagged lumps of granite appeared in the gloom as we scrambled our way upwards, the only sound my laboured breathing as my body sweated and strained under layers of GoreTex. Near the summit, the wind returned with a vengeance almost ripping the clothes from our bodies and continued to brutally buffet us as we headed towards Eagle’s summit. We scurried for shelter behind Batts Wall where we passed a barely tolerable 15 minutes to eat our lunch. The wall provided scant cover as we descended towards Windy Gap where another lung bursting climb lay ahead to conquer Slievemoughanmore. Darkening cloud encroaching from the west promising heavy rain prompted us to seek lower ground, so we followed the Rowan Tree River on saturated, slippery ground, picking up a gravel track that ran alongside the Rocky River beneath the rugged tors of Hen Mountain. A brisk walk up the Sandbank Road took us back to the now near deserted car park at Lietrim Lodge after a 16km walk and over 1,000m of ascent. Far from mourning the lack of views, the fleeting glimpses through the mist of an enchanting landscape engendered a sense of intrigue that served to galvanise our desire to return to explore this section of the Mournes. |
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| maclimber 2010-09-06 14:37:10 |
Cra-k up
Seriously your darkness, challenge training? have you lost the last of the tiny grey globules holding the big hairy hed in place I must read these pages more often as the expanding readership is in need of protection or at least some editing! what webpage did you blag the bidean pic from? As you read this look around you for a solid object now cling hard and wait for the white coats....ps MV badges wha???? |
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| dino 2010-09-06 07:58:05 |
MV Badges
Any chance of some more details on the badges now on sale and advertised via the newsletter?A bigger picture would nice and some info on how they fasten. Are they a standard badge or a push through pin with a stud on the back? Would be nice to have an online method of payment too rather than post a cheque. Seems a bit antiquated and not everyone has cheques any more :) |
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| Bleck Cra 2010-09-05 21:55:58 |
THROUGH A GLASS, DARKLY
A black day – not black like the birth of Calvin or Celine Dion but dark and odd. How many Yardis can you get on Eagle Rock? Also – if you set fire to a tree in Commedagh wood, how many can you burn down? Cra’s lost it. Wrong – the answer is six and dozens. A minging black northern day and a jaunt off Donard. Up in the mist to the right, voices. Impossible because up in the mist is Eagle Rock and only idiots would be on Eagle Rock – in good weather. Binos out and 3 or so at are the foot of the Rock and 3 or so are ascending to its face. Blacker than the mist and in the kind of weather-wear you get at rock concerts. White pakamacs; black faces. If someone takes offence at this remark, get over it. We don’t see many black men in pink-skinned Co Down – and certainly not 6 of them on Eagle Rock. So, with binos fixed and mouth hanging open, I trundle sideways and headlong into basecamp comprising another half doz Bros grumbling through curls of sweet brown smoke. (No they aren’t – I wax mischievous), but they did remark, in broad Windies that I should eff off. Hilariously, another 50ms and I lumber again. This time into a fellow Scot, both of us glued to the binoculars. “F**kin’ problem there”, “Aye f**kin’ mountain rescue”, “Aye f**kin’ mental”, “Aye f**kin right mental”. And suddenly the real smell of burnt organic material. The wee deadbeats have set fire to Commedagh wood and it stands scorched, sick and charcoal black. Like a Carry-On movie gag, you have to smile – not at the joke, but at the sheer audacity of it. Thanks to you black humour, in the face of a white winter en route. |
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