Asking you all to sponsor me for having a fun weekend away seems a bit unfair so for 2010 i'll be doing something MUCH more challenging, I will attempt to camp on the 7 highest summits in Northern Ireland before the end of September (and i'll be walking to each one!) all over 700m high (2300ft). Everyone is welcome to come along, just make sure you bring your own tent ;-)

keep an eye here for updates, if I raise £2500 i'll walk in fancy dress, if I raise £5000 i'll walk up Donard barefoot!!

 

Camp 1 - Slieve Meelmore - 23rd August 2010

wonder if i'll make it up before dark?

 

nope, but at least there was a full moon to light my way

 

dawn on meelmore

 

sunrise gives a mordor effect

 

had to get the land rover in somewhere :-)

 

Camp 2 - Slieve Meelbeg - 25th August 2010

that's meelbeg off to the right

 

 

nearly up meelbeg and i can see meelmore's summit

 

 

my flying friend who kept me company

 

 

not bad as far as sunsets go

 

 

 

getting dark now and the cloudless sky means it'll be cold !

 

 

 

sunrise with some lifting valley fog

 

 

 

6.30am (i had a lie on) , time to go home

 

 

 

Camp 3- Slieve Binnion - 28th August 2010

this time i had compnay :-)
but as space on summited was limited to a tent or two we had to camp a little bit down
as we had 10 people staying over

Chucks magic blanket

 

 

we need heat (it was very windy, again)

 

getting there

 

this campfire has potential

 

misty morning on a mourne mountain

 

my little tent struggles with the wind

 

 

 

 

Camp 4- Slieve Bearnagh - 1st Sept 2010

this was a tricky mountain to climb as the last section was quite steep so had to use the hands a bit to hold onto the rocks, the heavy rucksack made it hard to keep balance and as i was alone i had to be VERY careful i didn't fall !

Sileve Bearnagh ahead in the distance
(the rocky one on the left)

 

the meelmore stile again, this time its t shirt weather

 

found this little emergency shelter but the weather was way too good to consider using it

was a bit breezy on the top so camped on the north tor rather than the actual summit
as the wall was on the "right" side

 

as the sun sets i get a good view of the fog rolling in over the valleys

and i also see a bit of a fire very near tollymore forest
(it didn't get any worse than that and was out again by midnight so may have been a controlled fire)

 

the sun rises over Commedagh so time to go to work

 

even more fog in the valleys, my car is parked in there somewhere

well thats 4 done so i've passed the halfway point now

 

 

 

Camp 5- Slieve Commedagh - 3rd Sept 2010

 

A lovely sunset over the wall at Slieve Commedagh

 

Slieve Bearnagh provides the backdrop

 

The wind was howling along the direction of the wall so no shelter ther, however Commedagh has a sort of bombhole at the top which suits me nicely

 

hard to imagine all this came in one rucksack

 

come on Liam, get up and and see the sunrise

 

no, its all foggy out there

 

 

should have stayed in bed
(wel i did lay on til 7.30am as it was a saturday)

 

Camp 6- Slieve Lamagan - 10th Sept 2010

A nice dry and calm evening, what more could i ask for, well i had a new tent and i was actually looking forward to some wind and rain to test it out.

Lamagan dead ahead, couple of miles to walk first though

 

 

hmmmm, the path looks a bit wet after todays rain

 

 

woohoo, half way up

 

 

some interesting cloud over Slieve Bearnagh, changed by the minute

 

at the summit and a great view of Silent Valley and Ben Crom reservoirs

 

 

supper

 

 

checking the map in the marquee

 

 

sunrise at the summit

 

 

glad i left early (7am) as the top is now fogged out

 

TOTAL PLEDGED SO FAR IS APPROX £500
(no danger of me having to walk up Donard barefoot then)

 

 

 

THE LAST ONE - Slieve Donard - 24 Sep 2010

Well the mournes weren't going to let me forget them easily, it was a bitter cold night (min of 2 degress IN the tent) with a strong wind outside giving a wind chill lower than MINUS 12

I wasn't able to take too many photos as my hands were soooo cold, i even had to break my camping rule of "never eat in the tent" and when i was in the tent i had to put my feet in the sleeping bag to keep warm.

Slept wearing 2 pairs of good socks, 2 pairs of gloves, long johns and trousers, 2 tshirts and fleece jumper, buff and a balaclava, along with my 3 season sleeping bag, i did warm up eventually but the wind kept waking me during the night :-(

at the ice house about 1/3rd way up, now i know why they call it the ice house :-)

 

nearly at the top, actually looks quite warm in the photo

 

brrrrrr its cold as the sun sets

 

clear skies mean cold nights

 

aha, this'll warm me up

 

the sun rises through the stile

 

WOOHOO
thats it, 7 summits completed
time for a warm cup of tea and a big fry :-)

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Now I had had to celebrate this achievement in style, and my 40th birthday is in 2 days time, so my ever so lovely wife got me a helicopter trip to the Mournes!

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I wonder if he'll let me fly it

 

keep her level please, i've just had a big fry

 

they look a lot bigger from this angle

The Trassey Track

 

Spelga Reservoir

 

Spelga Dam

 

 

Lough Shannagh, Ben Crom & Silent Valley Reservoirs

 

 

Ben Crom

 

 

Bloody Bridge path

 

Glen River path

 

 

my house, somewhere in that lot

 

The Ballydorn Lightship "Petrel", lovely place for a pint
fitting to fly by that as its another strange place i've slept :-)

 

 

 

back on terrafirma with a big smile on my face

 

and what better way to end this blog with a pic of the Land Rover fire engine and a Discovery :-)

 

now don't be forgetting wjhy i did all this so please sponsor me a few pound by clicking the donation page link somewhere on the left

 

finally i'd like to thank

all the lovely kind warm hearted people who sponsored me
my lovely wife Donna for pampering me when my legs were sore and booking me helicopters
the nutters at ni-wild for making this summit camping sound easy !
Davy Downey for lending me his camera to get some great pics
God for making the weather sort of half decent, although i questioned him a few occasions!
and most of all,
the people that built the Mourne Wall, for without them my tent would have blown away (probably with me inside it) may times

so what will i do next year?

 

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