Ireland day 0697. Saturday 26 August 2023- Slieve Foye Recce *

Ireland day 0697. Saturday 26 August 2023- Slieve Foye Recce

Today’s summary	Picked up a couple of friends from Portmarnock then drove up to Carlingford to climb Slieve Foye as a recce for September DWC walk. V lucky with the weather and stayed mostly dry
Today’s weather	Bright and breezy with long spells of sunshine, punctuated by occasional heavy showers, most of which missed us. Moderate to strong northerly wind. Appx 17C.

Today’s overview location (The grey mark shows the location of our route)		Close-up location (The orange line shows where we walked) (Click button below to download GPX of today’s walk as recorded, or see interactive map at bottom with elevations corrected): Slieve Foye Recce

Commentary

(Summary blog only. Last full blog was Day 0368).

I have volunteered to lead a Walking Club trip up Slieve Foye, the highest peak in the Cooleys, this September. As the date is getting worryingly close now, I thought I ought to go up and have a look at the route. Three friends from the Walking Club agreed to come along and join me mon my recce today.

I had first done this walk back in March last year, but wanted to go along again to see if anything had changed. So I collected a couple of the friends from Portmarnock at the ungodly hour of 8:30 (on a Saturday morning!!) and pointed the Trusty Yaris in the direction of Carlingford, where the fourth member of out team joined us.

Our first port of call was, of course, the coffee shop (which is run by a trainee tattooist, I believe). Once primed with caffeine and calories, we headed on up Slieve Foye following the same route that I had used last year. It’s a straightforward and very enjoyable walk most of the way, though the steeper section up from the bealach to the summit is a bit bouldery. But we all breezed up with no difficulty, assisted no doubt by the uplifting vistas which were opening up all around us as we gained height.

Once on the top, we found a sheltered spot out of the stiff breeze, and settled back to enjoy our sandwiches. At this point, the group split into two – two of the group deciding to go back down the way we had come up, and me and one other heading on along the ridge, to find the route down via the Two Mile River.

I’m pleased to report that both halves of the group made it down safely, and even more fortuitously, we all avoided most of the rain – which was pretty amazing as we could see heavy downpours hitting the land all around us. The Mournes out to the east seemed to be getting a particularly severe soaking.

There was just time for coffee and doughnuts back the car park, then we set off to make our way back south. I’d say the recce was a great success, and everyone seemed to enjoy it. I’m just hoping it will be as good in September.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Obligatory start to the day, in “Finca” café, Market Street, Carlingford	Looking up Market street after coffee. I think my lens needs cleaning

*Heading up to the bealach* between Barnavave to the left and Slieve Foye to the right**	*On the steeper section from the bealach* up the the main approach ridge to Slieve Foye**

From close to the top, looking down Carlingford Lough. If you enlarge thus photo and look carefully at the horizon, you should be able to see the silhouette of the Isle of Man	Back in Carlingford at the end of the walk, at the monument to commemorate Thomas D’Arcy McGee, who was born in Carlingford in 1825 and went on to become one of the founding fathers of Canada. He was murdered in Montreal by a Fenian Brotherhood member in 1868

A bit windy on the top of Slieve Foye, as the flying hat confirms!