03/08/2015 – We had a few days holiday spare so decided to make the trip to Ireland to visit Slieve Donard. A big hill with a couple of cairns on top sounded good to me. I’d had my eye on this trip since looking across at the Mournes from the Isle of Man a few years back. Good to finally make it.
Starting from Newcastle (great place to stay, ice cream and chippy heaven) it’s a pretty straight forward climb through a lovely wood and then alongside Glen River up to the Mourne Wall. From there the path steepens to the top of Slieve Donard. I’m a bit under the weather at the moment but even on a good day I think I would have found the climb hard going. The last 200 metres gain was tough and I was glad to reach the top. Great Cairn on the summit is quite a size and the view was amazing when the cloud lifted for a brief time. Better still to walk the short distance north to Lesser cairn, great place for a sit and quieter than the top