ADVENTURES AROUND THE WORLD

© Christopher Earls Brennen

Hike F6. Mourne Mountains

Preamble

In the summer of 1956 at the age of fifteen I joined a group of eight boys and two teachers from my high school, the Rainey Endowed School in Magherafelt, Northern Ireland, for a hiking adventure in the local Mourne Mountains of County Down. The two brave supervisors were the principal organizer, a geography teacher named Raymond Purdy and a history teacher, Arthur Arnold. The idea was a week-long adventure in the Mournes hiking from one youth hostel to another. Youth hostelling was a popular and relatively inexpensive holiday in the days shortly after WWII. Most of the hostels we used in the mountains have now disappeared having been superceded by camping private hostels.

Though my memories of those days have now largely evaporated I have reconstructed an outline of that adventure based largely of an account of one of the other boys, a friend and fellow student by the name of Peter Burton (regretfully now deceased). In what follows I have included (in italics) excerpts from the account that the Peter wrote of the trip that was published in the 1957 annual magazine of the Rainey Endowed School.

The Hike

We spent the night prior to the hike in the Newcastle Youth Hostel.

Mourne Mountains of County Down, Slieve Donard left of center

When morning came, after a hearty breakfast of porridge, scrambled eggs and/or corned beef and luncheon meat, bread and butter, we made sandwiches for dinner and shouldered our rucksacks. We met at the harbour and then set off together up a steep and thickly wooded slope climbing to the summit of Slieve Donard (54.18229oN 5.92204oW and 2796ft). During this journey we often passed slabs of stone. The insets were the places where wedges had been knocked in to split the stone. The split part was then used as a gravestone.

When we were almost at the top of Slieve Donard we sat down and had dinner. This consisted of sandwiches, hard boiled eggs and pop After this we all raced or tried to race to the top. The view from the top was unbelievable. To the east the sea stretched out and in the far distance we could faintly see Scotland and the Isle of Man. To the west the Mournes undulated away ending in the green shades of the neighbouring valley.

At the top we left our names in a bottle on the cairn and then climbed the Water Commissioners tower even though it said "Trespssers Prosecuted". From the summit we descended south to the Brandy Path, a trail used by smugglers to bring brandy on donkeys backs up the B1oody Bridge river from the sea. Mr. Purdy seemed to know this part of the country very wel1. It was even suggested that this was inherited from his smuggler ancesters.

We followed the Brandy Path eastwards past the Cast1es to Hare's Gap; to the 1eft of this Slieve Bearnagh rises steeply (54.18583oN 5.98915oW, 2425ft) . Except for Mr. Arnold, who stayed behind to tend tend to his aching blistered feet, the rest set off to reach the top. The top was most unusual because it was topped with jagged rocks. From the top these there was a marvellous view across the Valley beneath the Castles with the Valley in the the background.

From the Hare's Gap (54.19056oN 5.97434oW, 1380ft), we went down into the valley following a stony cart track and arrived at the Slievenaman Youth Hoste1 (54.21284oN 5.99338oW, 600ft) . This is a very comfortable hoste1 surrounded by beech and fir trees. After we had eaten an enormmous dinner we bathed in a neighbouring stream. At night when we were turning in Mr. Purdy showed some enormous blisters on his £eet. These he said were caused by his insoles deteriorating.

Slievenaman Youth Hostel with Hare's Gap in the distance

In the morning, after we had packed up we walked a1ong the road to the reservoir. From here we struck up over Slievenamuck and down to the Deer's Meadow. Here the Spelga dam (54.13576oN 6.19622oW, 1100ft) is under construction and is very spectacular indeed.Fortunately when this dam is filled the Deer's Meadow will be flooded because this "Meadow" is little more than a marsh and very tiring indeed to walk over it.

Spelga Dam in winter

Soon, we arrived at a river valley. Here we sat down, bathed our feet and ate lunch.

After this we walked round the side of Rocky Mountain and dropped down to the the Rostrevor Road. We followed this for about two miles beside a plantation, cut overland and reached the Knockbarragh Hostel (54.13576oN 6.19622oW, 660ft). This is the most modern hostel we had met with yet, it being equipped amongst other things with showers. These caused a great sensation whilst everybody washed several layers of mud and swaet off them selves.

Knockbarragh Youth Hostel c.1958

In the morning we had breakfast and 1eft (the warden of this hoste1 was an artist and no mean salesman either - £or he persuaded one the masters to part with a lot of money for a painting.) Today was to be a free day for us to do as we liked. So we walked to Rostrevor and then took the bus to Kilkeel. The main attraction here was "juke box" and a cinema, so the amount of money spent can just be imagined..

The next hostel was the Silent Valley hostel ( near the Silent Valley Dam at 54.13576oN 6.19622oW, 520ft ) and was de£inite1y the worst we had been in. The lighting was very poor and almost a11 the primuses were broken. However, we survived and the next morning we started up the road that skirted the 'catchment area' for the reservoir This velley is not called the "Silent Valley" because of the absence of birds as some people suppose. It was however ironically given this title by the inhabitants of the area because of the terrific amount of blasting going on whilst the dam was under construction.

Silent Valley Dam

From here we cut off over the moors and round the side of Slieve Binnian (54.14276oN 5.98019oW, 2449 ft) to the Blue Lough (54.15896oN 5.96886oW, 1500 ft). We stopped here and, after a few of the hardy ones bathed, ate lunch. When this was finished we started again and here we had our second casualty. Mr. Arnold sprained his ankle in a rabbit hole but fortunately the distance to the next hostel was not very great although it was over rough ground. He did, however, just reach the Bloody Bridge Hostel (54.1743oN 5.8739oW, 100 ft) where he recuperated. This hostel was one of the first built in N. Ireland but in spite of this it is in excellent condition and well situated on the hillside.

The next morning we walked down the cart-track on to the Newcastle Road and thumbed lifts into Newcastle.

PETER BURTON, 5U. Text from the 1957 Rainey Endowed School Magazine.

Almost 70 years later my memories of the hiking trip are few and fleeting and so I confine this description to the written account by my late friend Peter.

Bloody Bridge Youth Hostel

Last updated 3/21/16.
Christopher E. Brennen

Notes, Coordinates and elevations: