[RWD version 1 ] It's seriously handy having an outdoor resource such as the Mournes, even if winter does dictate some slightly anti-social alarm times in order to make the most of the daylight. And so it was that the cohort of the bleary-eyed congregated at Meelmore Lodge on a calm, cold Sunday morning.

Up the lane behind the lodge we walked to the stile leading onto the Mourne Way, then cut round onto the Trassey Track as the light grew stronger. A short messy pull up one of sundry unfocussed paths brought us to Hares Gap, and the realisation that today was likely to be a good day...the most benign of December conditions had manifested themselves as utterly razor-like visibility, and many sneaky photo stops were had on the shlep along the Brandy Pad and beyond.

On reaching the 'Slieve Beg junction' it was time to go to work, and grind out the climb up to the wall on Commedagh, one of the esteemed Bleck Cra's favourite training venues...a steepish slope largely devoid of paths but sufficiently consistent underfoot to allow one to practice building a rhythm. From there a romp over Corragh and Slievenaglogh got us back to the Gap, then the more varied climb up Bearnagh constituted the second fitness test.

The descent to Pollaphuca is never fun no matter how many times you do it, but the ensuing climb up Meelmore via the Famine Wall feels like it undoes the physical damage somewhat. The sensible retreat from here would probably be down the Mourne Wall back to Pollaphuca before following the clear path back to the Trassey Track, or possibly more directly past the eyrie of Spellack. But sense was in short supply (there were quite a few folk operating remote controlled cars on the summit) so we headed even more directly down the slope to the stile on the Mourne Wall.


This was great fun, if your idea of fun is loose detritus and gopping vegetation draped all over dank slabs. Poor Francis took a nearly very nasty fall at the bottom of the slope, so I'd recommend referring back to the end of the previous paragraph.