There are things simply not worth doing. Cove Mountain summit. Galtymore. The Bluestack Mountains in the mist, the Commeraghs in the rain, Slieve Donard in the lightning ....
... but there are things simply not worth doing .... that are.
Gruggandoo is one. Gruggandoo from the Irish, possibly Gruagán Dubh - black rushes.
I came to Gruggandoo by way of a long loop 'round a wild no man's land except it is some man's land because it is worked and maintained.
Start/Finish East Coast Activity Centre which isn't on the Coast and where there was no activity - at all; by Slieve Roe, Ballyvally Mtn, Carnadranna, Mullaghgarve, itself - and rounded off with the raggedy Roosleys and Leckanmore.
What this does, is offer a big and interesting off piste walk - although gentlemen - accoutrements - count them out and count them in - some prickly barbed wire challenges await you.
I have played amongst the big Mournes for over 20 years and there would barely have been a return journey home from the Eastern tops, ex Bryansford and Hilltown where I wouldn't have pondered the mystery of those sun glistered crests of an alien land ahead. Off the map of Mourne experience but confident clean shapes, bold and beckoning.
"Am I wrong to believe in the city of gold that lies in the deep distance?"
Never have been. Never will be.
From here you can frame all the Mourne divas - and from a new and unsettling perspective - but best of all you will be doing something simply not worth doing, that is. Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/863/comment/19791/