Turn off the road at J102 163 A and drive up a telecommunications track.Room here for 10 cars. A short walk after parking your car next the summit masts. Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/434/comment/5193/

This visualisation of Black Mountain also shows the rest of the high ground on the Cooley Peninsula. (It doesn’t show the roads running over the top or the masts though).

Claude Wall {Mountaineering in Ireland] calls this area the Cuailgne Mountains. He described a fine walk from Narrow Water ‘.. over Anglesey (1,353), Clermont (1,465), Clermont Carn [Black Mtn](1.674) and Carnavaddy (1,568) “the carn of the hound,” reputed burial place of Bran, the mastiff of Fionn MacCumhaill, to the Windy Gap.' Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/434/comment/861/

Continuing our route from Slieve Foye, we took a path through the October ferns just across the road and north of the car park at Windy Gap. Heading for Carnavaddy there is a climb for 150 metres across mixed terrain until a plateau is reached and then a long gradual rise to the first summit along the route to Black Mountain. From here on there is a pleasant path which was being used by mountain bikers which leads up and down to a further mini summit before Black Mountain is arrived at as shown in this photo which was taken at J 112 142 B. We enjoyed the wide angled views from the summit in the company of others who had the luxury of driving in cars all the way to the top. They were interested in our trip from Carlingford and offered us a lift back but at this stage our day was only half done. The trip back to Windy Gap was along much the same route as we came but we enjoyed the exellent views to Warrenpoint, Rostrevor and Carlingford Lough and also as we neared the gap we were able to select a homeward route along the southern slopes of Slieve Foy as visibilty was excellent at this stage. See return route to Carlingford village on Slieve Foye webpage. Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/434/comment/2022/

The summit and surrounds of Black Mountain suffer visually from a number of things. The photo shows the telecommunications tower – to the right of the picture there is also a TV mast. The left of the picture shows a car which was burnt out . When I visited in Feb 2004 there were at least another 6 burnt out cars near the summit, one still smouldering right beside a forestry plantation. Attempts have been made by Louth County Council to limit damage by off-road vehicles which is also prevalent. Nevertheless this must be one of the most environmentally impoverished 500m summits in Ireland. It may be difficult to control due to the proximity of the summit to the main Dublin-Belfast road and the Border which is about 1500m away.

There is a megalithic cairn at the top known as Clermont Carn, just beyond the towers in the picture. Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/434/comment/860/

The views from the Cooleys must be amongst the best from any mountains in Ireland. This photo taken from near the summit of Black Mountain shows Warrenpoint, Rostrevor and Carlingford Lough. Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/434/comment/2023/

Having woken early, I hopped into the car and took the relatively short spin up the road to Clermont Carn. Cheated on this one in that I drove all the way to the top - surely one of the few mountains where you can attain such height without having to break a sweat at all. Arrived at the top while it was still dark and had the privilige of watching daybreak from atop the summit. The views from Clermont Carn are superb - the flickering lights of Warrenpoint and Rostrevor gave way to a superb view of the sun rising behind Slieve Foye and lighting up Carlingford Lough. Amazingly, being so close to the urban centre of Dundalk, not one other person was there to witness such a magnificent show. Views from Clermont Carn extend across the Cooley range and on to the Mourne Mountains with Donard visible in the background. I had a bit of a wander around the summit which obviously suffers very much visually from the masts within the large enclosure - the combination of such masts and the humming from service buildings always gives me the creeps on any summit they adorn! All in all, a handy way of attaining such height - for anyone with young children, I'm sure it would be a superb spot for a picnic on a good summers day. The easiest way to find the service road is as follows.. Coming from Dundalk direction down the M1, take the Jonesboro exit. Go right at the top of the ramp (across the motorway) then take the first exit at the roundabout (onto the old N1). Take the first right turn off this road and after around 1.5 miles, there is an unsigned road to the right (looks more like a lane). This will bring you up by the mast and offers a superb drive back into Carlingford (down by Windy Gap). Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/434/comment/3389/