My offering this week comes from the epicentre of the renowned Gap of the North, or to be more precise a comfortable armchair in the lobby of the Carrickdale Hotel, Co Louth.
Here, the Ring Dyke of Gullion, almost, but not quite, shakes hands with the western extremity of the Cooley Mountains. The resultant small gap is a place where history has been shaped by local landforms.
Now peaceful, the gap has been turbulent up to recent times and has acted historically as a conduit for invading armies traversing north and south since the pre-historic cattle raid of Cooley.
My mission here is to reach the summit of Armagh’s highest mountain, so this morning I set off uphill from the Slieve Gullion Courtyard centre by following signs for a forest drive through stands of delightfully mixed woodlands.
Slieve Gullion has been dubbed the "mountain of mystery", and its myth-making potential soon becomes apparent. Beyond the tree line it was immediately clear how its winsome outline dominates the counties of Cavan, Monaghan and Down, while below was the magical Ring Dyke of Gullion.
This string of low hills describes an almost perfect circuit of Gullion and was created by a huge up swelling of magma during intense volcanic activity 60 million years ago. Beyond are the dark hills of Monaghan and these remind me of a quotation from the poet Patrick Kavanagh: "My black hills have never seen the sun rising, Eternally they face northwards towards Armagh."
Reflecting that Kavanagh’s hills are compensated for their sunless location by a captivating vista over Slieve Gullion, I reached a parking place which was my cue to swing right. A path now doglegged upwards with relative ease to pass by a stone shelter before decanting me on the summit plateau.
Here, an exploration of the Neolithic burial chamber that adorns the top and represents the highest of its kind on these islands took a few minutes. Then it was north along a whaleback mountaintop with wonderful 360 degree views that, today, encompassed the deeply snow-laden Mourne mountains.
Next to capture my curiosity was an unreflecting mountaintop lough. Adorned with tales of a local witch who tricked Fionn McCumhaill into entering these moody waters, the Calliagh Berra Lake is said to instantly transform all who so dare into elderly people. Fionn’s golden tresses immediately turned white, but such a consequence would no longer be off-putting for me as I head for the Bronze Age cairn on the northern end of the plateaux.
Here half of Ulster is laid out beneath my feet and I can make out the hills above Belfast and the shimmering outline of the Sperrin range.
Abandoning the way-markers pointing north, I now tag a faint track west and downhill towards a point where the Slieve Gullion Drive doubles back on itself. Keeping to the high road of the drive then returned me to the parking place of earlier.
Retracing my steps to the courtyard centre, I concluded that Gullion offers bewitching views comparable with any of Ireland’s highest mountains as a return on much more economical effort.
Startpoint:
From the A1 just south of Newry, take the B113 and follow it for about three miles. Go right at the junction signed Courtyard Centre.
Terrain:
Occasional rough underfoot going demands sturdy footwear, while being well kitted out is required to cope with the high, exposed terrain
Time:
3-3.5 hours
Map:
OSNI, 1:50,000, sheet 29
