[RWD version 1 ] Walking past the Ben Crom dam on the descent of another walk a couple of weeks ago, I had looked at the wall of Ben Crom itself looming over the dam and wondered whether a route into or out of the hills from here was possible.... I could find no tracks on MV that either ascended or descended this way .... there may well be, but in my quick look I found nothing.... I did find however, in Adrian Hendroff's 'The Mourne and Cooley Mountains', one route which ascended contouring around the cliffs of Ben Crom before climbing Ben Crom and Doan.

I attempted this route in reverse, adding in Slievenaglogh, which i was surprired to find I have never climbed. The result was a pretty good day out. Slievenaglogh is a bit of a bitch to start with, for all its 445m. The route then descends along the Mourne Wall to the Banns, along there to LoughShannagh, before summiting both Doan and Crom as out and backs.

From Crom, I retraced my steps until I outflanked the cliffs on its western side, over rough ground, losing height where i could while being aware that the Ben Crom Reservoir is higher than the Silent Valley one, until i could see the river between the two reservoirs. Finally the dam itself opened up and they way ahead was looking ok, when I dropped into a path running steeply down all the way to the dam.

From there its just a trot back to the Silent Valley carpark.

Great day out ... btw, apropos of nothing, while i was clicking on random green dots as part of my 'research', I came across Simoburn's track 2672 .... now that is a walk in the Mournes!