Next Out n About Walk is this Sunday inThe Mournes.

From Sandbank Rd – Windy Gap, Slievemoughanmore and Rowan Tree Valley
For this walk, we are right on the western fringes of the High Mournes. It’s easier than the last two walks with more walking on tracks and paths: however proper walking boots are obligatory! For details, please visit our website. See the description below.

A dietary hint: eat a good breakfast, bring plenty of water, a banana, some pasta based food, packets of crisps (they replace lost salt) and some chocolate!

Meet: 10.30am Mynt or Car Park at Sandbank Rd, Hilltown, Co Down at 12 noon

Distance: 10.5km or 6.5 miles approx

Grid ref: J234-278

Leaving the car park on Sandbank Rd, we pass through into the Batt Estate and along a track with Rocky Mountain to the right and Hen Mountain to the left. We make our way over heathland tracks to Windy Gap which forms the col between Eagle Mountain and Slievemoughanmore. We then climb the latter peak (short but steep) and descend along Batts Wall to the col with Pigeon Rock Mountain, and go back to the car park along the Rowan Tree Valley. This valley is interesting. The Batt Estate tenants used to practice transhumance, shifting their stock up into the mountains from the pastures around Hilltown. There is evidence of booley huts, lazy beds and turf cutting. The Batt Family were by all accounts good landlords, donating land to the Catholic Church for the construction of a rather beautiful church on the edge of Hilltown.