...."OF MOUNTAINS AND MEN"......There are some things in life that require intimacy, and others distance. I have learned to my cost that you cannot really photograph a mountain from its summit: it is about as informative as a picture of your own nether regions. But unless you have lived a while in its undulations and crevices, your attempts to describe its virtues and vices will be no more accurate than a Confession given on your behalf by your elderly Aunt. True knowledge, of men and mountains, comes from both intimacy and distance. On Sunday (1st May 05) the Zulu-esque party of "braves", of which I formed part, sped up Slievenamiskan and onto to Cock Mountain just in time to have a thick blanket of Northern Irish Mist pour down upon our four heads. We could hardly see one another , never mind the menagerie about us. So we didn't dwell on the Hen , the Pigeon or the Pig as others have done, admiring the siblings. No. We dwelt on the hallowed ground beneath us, and fumbled for the GPS...which had been left at home. Out came the compass and the struggle to hold the flapping map in the howling wind. This preceded a surreal funereal single file trek across a marsh toward the Pigeon (maybe we erred a little on the Dam side). The Zulu in us abated and we felt that humility that comes from wondering if you will ever see home again. I thought I had died and gone to Hades...well Wicklow at least. All that squelching and curves. Ugh!! But sure enough, the compass got us as far as Pigeon Rock and up ole Batt's Wall (the sheer INDUSTRY of these northerners-did they ever sleep!) to the top. As we slurped brunch the mist lifted and revealed the watering hole below, and all about the western Mournes lay sleeping, not pointy like the Zwinglian sharpies to the east, but gentle and welcoming. It was only when we crossed the road and ascended Muck that some brief moments of sun illuminated the great canvass and we saw where we had walked blindly --guided by one of the invisible forces that flows through our universe, our Home. Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/447/comment/1676/

The picture shows one of the fine tors on Hen mountain, the north-western outlier to Cock mountain. At only about 360m, it has the feel of somewhere much higher particularly on a misty day. The other summits of Hen are also worth visiting.

You can get to Hen and Cock starting from the car-park at J 233278 A. There are no guarantees about the safety of car-parks anywhere but there is a house directly overlooking this one. Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/447/comment/1358/

There’s one difficulty with this mountain as regards Mountainviews. Currently we send a monthly newsletter, in which we include a list of the mountains that people have put in a comment for that month. When this mountain is included we get a spate of replies from over-anxious corporate spam filters. For example this one from a bank “Contains a word that is breach of our mail policy. The mail has been quarantined”.

The view shows the dual summits of Cock viewed from the north-east side of Slievemoughanmore.. Hen mountain’s tors are visible to the left, silhouetted against the fields of the land near Hilltown. Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/447/comment/1357/

PHOTO: Looking down onto Hen Mountain from Cock.

Start at Letrim Lodge Car Park and walk a loop following Bat’s Wall over Hen, Cock, Pigeon, Eagle and back over Pierces Castle, Altataggart mountain, Rocky River and along the minor road to complete the loop. The climb up eagle pushed me and challenged my fitness level. The descent along Bats wall was very steep. The large boulders were sharp and slippy, making it quite dangerous in places.
Crossing 'Castle Bog' to Pierces Castle was very boggy. Every footstep had to be carefully chosen with the odd one bringing the black stuff just over the edge of the boot unto the ankles. It was simply a matter then of ´joining the limestone track and crossing Altaggart Mountain, past the little disused reservoir from the former Newry Country Council, across Shankys River and back to the car.
That's 5 mountains and a 16km walk in 6 1/2 hours. Highly recommended for a hot summers day. Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/447/comment/1380/