With weather forecasters predicting strong winds with sunny skies this week-end, yesterday's walk saw me taking in 3 of the lower mountains in the Mournes: Slieve Beg, Chimney Rock and Slievenagarragh. It had been a long time since I walked this region. The route is best summarised as follows: dull walking with great summit views. Slieve Beg offers a great aerial view of the Annalong valley. Chimney Rock's panorama of Binnian to Donard is arguably the best view in this sub-range and Slievenagarragh offers great views of the Irish Sea. From the car park I followed a good track beside the river to the Mourne wall. I climbed the stile and picked up the brandypad to take in Slieve Beg. After admiring the views I returned to the stile for lunch. After a short break, I made my way to Chimney Rock. The only negative was the track disintegrates to pathless terrain. After descending to Slievenagarragh I returned to the good track I had followed for the ascent. Total walk distance was 15km.
Donard and Chimney from the start of the walk:
Retrospective view of Irish Sea en route to Mourne wall:
Rocky, Chimney and Annalong valley from Slieve Beg:
Slieve Donard from Slieve Beg:
Donard and Chimney from Slieve Beg:
Commedagh from Slieve Beg:
Annalong Valley from Brandypad:
Slieve Beg and Upper Cove from brandypad:
From Slieve Beg to Binnian from Chimney:
View towards Annalong from Chimney:
Donard, Commedagh, Beg, Cove and Bernagh from Chimney:
Binnian, Lamagan and Rocky from Chimney:
Beg, Cove and Lamagan from Chimney:
Irish Sea from Slievenagarragh:
Retrospective view of Donard and Chimney: