Ireland day 1034. Sunday 28 July 2024- Cooleys Again DWC

Today’s summary	Picked up a friend in Malahide then we drove up to Carlingford this morning for a Club walk in the Cooleys. A really enjoyable day out with a good group of eleven and decent weather. Climbed Carnavane and dropped in to see the Court Grave megalithic tomb and famine village on the return leg. Salad from Clonsilla market for dinner.
Today’s weather	Bright dry and sunny most of the day though some thick mist briefly on the tops in the early afternoon.

Today’s overview location (The green 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): Cooleys from Carlingford DWC

Commentary

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

We have a bit of a mixed relationship with the Cooleys. They are a fantastic range of hills about an hour up the motorway from Malahide, and we have done some great walks up there. But most times when we visit, the weather is awful. Cold, wind, rain or fog – and more often than not, all four. So as we set off north this morning, it was not without some trepidation.

First though, we picked up a friend from Malahide then together we drove up to Carlingford to join today’s Club walk in the foothills of Slieve Foye. Our first port of call was, of course, the Four Seasons hotel for our obligatory coffee and scone.

Eventually the Group was assembled, coffees were finished, and we set off. We skirted the centre and headed up to the south of the town, climbing into the mist and Queen Maeve’s Gap. It had been warm and sunny when we set off but by the time we got to the col, it was much cooler and a thick fog suddenly descended, blotting out the world with its clammy embrace.

Luckily the mist soon dispersed and we were back in the sun by the time we reached the upper slope of Barnavave, where we paused for lunch. A quick pull up the hill after we’d eaten soon took us up to the cross at the top – a perfect spot for rugged outdoorsy photos to be posed.

From there we headed down the path to Carlingford, dropping in at the Court grave and the deserted village on the way back.

We were back at the cars all too quickly, it seemed. It was such a pleasant day today, we really didn’t want it to end. We weighed up the relative merits of drinks at the hotel versus returning to Malahide and hot showers, and in the end, ablutions won.

So we are back in the flat now and enjoying Clonsilla farmers market salad for dinner, which with a glass of red wine makes a great accompaniment to the Olympics on the TV. The diet, by the way, didn’t get off to a great start today, after my coffee and scone incident this morning. Anyway, tomorrow is another day and every journey starts with the first step, as they say. I’ll get that beach body in the end, I’m sure.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Heading up the path from Carlingford. It was sunny only ten minutes ago	And the mist thickened as we climbed

Thankfully, though, it quickly dispersed once we got up to Queen Maeve’s Gap	Starting the descent to Carlingford, alongside the forestry plantation

On the slopes of Barneveve – the megalithic “Court” grave. I don’t think anybody knows who was originally interred here, or why – and we probably never will	The deserted “famine” village above Carlingford

Looking south from the top of Barnaveve – with Co Louth laid out beyond