A nice outlier

Viisited on Wed 24th Feb in brilliant sunshine, out and back trek from Mullaghcarn not too bad Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/1466/comment/20449/

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Like a bad 80's band (Wet Wet Wet)

I ventured up here during the recent terrible spell of wet weather, which had left me stir crazy in the house. I decided that rather than avoid the rain, I would go hill walking regardless, and that I would enjoy experiencing all the types of weather the hills could provide. Lashing rain and high winds meant the camera had to be safely enclosed in a thick bin liner inside the camera bag, and there wasn't much opportunity to take it out for the whole walk. Wrapped up in warm, waterproof clothes, the initial part of th walk from the B18 up the access road to the masts on Mullaghcarn was actually strangely enjoyable - not many people get to experience such extremes of weather in the hills. Visibility was very poor however, and the large masts on Mullaghcarn only revealed themselves through the cloud when I was about 20 meters from them. From Mullaghcarn the walk southwest to South Top was less enjoyable. With a fenceline on my left side, I struggled through peat hags and sodden ground, badly churned up by some type of vehicle. The ground seemed to continue to rise beyond the summit as marked here (although it was difficult to tell in near zero visibility) so I continued southwest until I reached an odd, low scaffold structure, maybe the remains or beginnings of a fire tower. I risked taking the camera out briefly here so someone might recognise its purpose from the photo. There seemed to be a high point on the other side of that fence to my left so I crossed to stand on it, and it might be a rival for the summit location. Difficult to tell as I couldn't see the official summit through the cloud. I returned to Mullaghcarn on this side of the fence most of the way, encountering some peat hags of epic proportions, and my boots were submerged several times. By the time I got back to the bottom, even my waterproof over-trousers had failed and I was completely drenched. Despite it all, I was glad I ventured out, and on a good day after a dry spell, this would be an easy walk with decent views. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/1466/comment/18390/

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