CAVES IN THE MOURNE MOUNTAINS
CAVES IN THE MOURNE MOUNTAINS
And yes, there’s one shaped like a dog!
Big thanks to Stephen Reid for this one, for:
a) Suggesting we go find the caves in the first place, and
b) Fearlessly leading (squeezing) the way through the claustrophobia-inducing caves when we found them 😲
Also joining us on this adventure was Michael (from The Bearded Candlemakers) and his Springer Teddy (A.K.A. Be More Teddy).
THE ADVENTURE BEGINS
We’ve been on this path many times before – it’s a great route for getting to the top of Slieve Binnian. This time though, about halfway along the normal route just after the woods, we took a small path off to the right.
In no time at all, it felt like we were in the middle of nowhere.
Sweeping hills filled with large boulders; patches of heather, brown with the season change…
Roaming sheep and a strong gale would come out of nowhere – a reminder to keep your wits (and dogs on leads) despite of how calm and isolated it felt.
COVE CAVE, MOURNE MOUNTAINS
As we got closer, the gaping hole in the side of the cliff grew larger. If you were an 80’s child, you might think ‘Castle Grayskull’ from The New Adventures of He-Man.
Getting into the cave is a bit like what you find at Belfast’s Cave Hill. A steep walk up, then having to climb a near-vertical wall to get in.
And made all the more difficult by the recent rain and a micro-river/waterfall where we clawed our hands and feet.
Inside this cave, there’s nothing more than large boulders, seemingly stacked from a previous ceiling collapse. With daylight shining through, we had hoped to climb up and through the hole – but at this time of the year there’s a lot of wet moss making it only possible with climbing gear.
However, turn round to look at the cave entrance and it’s a different picture.
A DOG-SHAPED HOLE that wasn’t even remotely visible on the way in! Credit to Stephen for initially spotting it.
After admitting defeat to climbing on through the cave, we made our descent again and found a spot for some lunch al fresco…consulting the map for where we were headed next.
Mr Reid even brought a freeze-dried pasta bolognaise for us to taste. Surprisingly nice!
And check out how tiny those rock climbers are in comparison to the cliffs – they turned up just as we were leaving.
PERCY BYSHHE
Just where we had previously veered off the main track – and about 5 minutes up another small hill near Blue Lough – we spotted a small opening in the rock face.
Pitch black, wet, claustrophobia-inducingly-narrow….Torches on!
Make sure you watch Stephen’s video further below, for what we found inside (he went in the furthest, fearless)!
WHEN IN ROME…
By this stage, a good few hours had passed, but knowing how close we were to the beautiful Blue Lough and stunning Ben Crom Reservoir, we weren’t ready for our day to end just yet.
So up, up and up some more we went…
STEPHEN’S VIDEO FROM THE DAY 👏👏👏
And to think it was raining when we started our adventure at 6am that morning!
Mournes, you were good to us 👍
Big thanks to Michael, Teddy and Stephen for this little joint adventure.
Creds to Stephen too for the videography. Make sure you follow him on YouTube.
Wonder if we should start doing group adventures….hmmm…..
SAFETY NOTES
If you want to see the caves yourself, go with friends. Be VERY careful when climbing/descending. A small trip and sprained ankle is a lot worse when you’re in a remote location like this.
In the second cave, make sure one of you stays outside while the other ventures ahead. Just in case something goes wrong and someone needs to go for help.
And as usual, tell people where you’re heading before you even leave the house.
