Crispy Morning Rock Hopping

Climbed this via the ascent up the Fox's Rock from the Long Woman's Grave. Took the direct route up (steep and slippy!) on a crunchy January morning. The light and the views were magnificent. If you intend making it a hat-trick of rocks by also taking in Eagle's Rock, do bear in mind that the dip between Fox's (Foxes? Foxes'?) and Ravens Rock is a bit deeper than it appears from a casual glance at the OS map. As for the gap between Ravens and Eagles, now that is deep so give yourself plenty of time (and light) if attempting all three (and back) from the Long Woman's Grave. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/594/comment/19841/

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dr_banuska on The Ravens Rock

I climbed The Ravens Rock en route to Slieve Foye via The Foxes Rock, see that entry for start of route from the parking facility in the Windy Gap. Initially I followed the same wireless fence downhill again from the small cairn atop The Foxes Rock, before it died out - watch out for bits of wire underfoot. Navigation was pretty straightforward though I made sure not to wander too far to my left (really E towards the sea), afraid of ending up on the broad ridge of Carlingford Mtn and bypassing TRR. The terrain continued to be strewn with boulders, a geologist's dream, and I remember at least one enormous one here. I passed at least one pretty little mountain lake as mentioned by Simon, partially frozen with the recent cold weather. The map only shows one here but looking back at my photos there may have been two.

As I ascended the views continued to open out over the Mournes and south Down coast to the north, while Slieve Gullion appeared behind Clermont Carn to the west and Dundalk could be seen to the south. As with other hills in this area you can clearly make out the huge Crowne Plaza hotel and the nearby wind turbine at Dundalk IT. It wasn't until I reached the small summit cairn that the entirety of Carlingford Mtn appeared, with Slieve Foye at its southeastern extremity, sprinkled with snow, and Barnavave beyond. I must admit it struck me that Foye itself didn't seem as imposing when seen from this aspect, and the remainder of the trek looked like a doddle from here! Still, there was a pretty view down to the small lakes in the valley between TRR and Carlingford Mtn, and the next target would provide a decent enough workout as it turned out. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/594/comment/4443/

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simon3 on The Ravens Rock

Ravens Rock has a fine view of the 1.5k ridge running SE to the summit of Slieve Foye. Ravens Rock is part of the broad ridge from Windy Gap to the Carlingford Mountain area. There's an interesting col between Ravens Rock and Carlingford Mountain. Certainly in June there's an abundance of bog cotton in the area which is called the White Bog on OSNI maps. There's a classic mountain lake with reeds etc. All very photogenic. There was even two large black birds - the ravens perhaps - perched nearby. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/594/comment/3204/

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pdtempan on The Ravens Rock

(Continued from Foxes Rock) There were noticeably fewer walkers on Ravens Rock. The peak lived up to its name, as a raven croaked and circled overhead shortly after I left the summit. The name of the hill is related to the nearby townland of Spellickanee (from Ir. Speilg an Fhiaigh, 'rock of the raven'). Another interesting name is the Split Rock. I think I may have found the rock in question (see photo) at the end of the ridge just NW of Eagles Rock. From a distance it looks as though it is split by the hand of nature. Then, as you approach, the weird line of the split gives the impression that it must have been caused by human action. And when you come right up close, you see that it is not really a split at all, but rather a seam consisting of a different type of rock. Eagles Rock, unsurprisingly, did not live up to its name! Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/594/comment/3804/

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eflanaga on The Ravens Rock

With light fading as I left Foxes Rock, I pushed on as fast as possible to the summit of Ravens Rock, which has another small cairn on its small flat summit. A few photographs, one of the sun setting over Dundalk, and it was time to beat a fairly hasty retreat to the main Carlingford-Newry road via Ballinteskin. I had no sooner hit the main road (dark at this stage) than a very kind gentleman called Derek from Rostrevor stopped and offered me a lift. I gladly accepted as I didn’t fancy the 6K walk back to Cornamucklagh, especially in the dark and on such a busy & dangerous road. This walk enabled completion of all the Cooley hills on the MV site. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/594/comment/2901/

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