Blogs from Mourne Mountains, County Down, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom, Europe

Just over 5 weeks to go!! Plenty more things to get planned and worry about. Though the main things are all sorted - visa's, flights and some money! Spending countless hours on internet reading guides and tips thinkin we can retain all the information in our heads! So here is our route.... Depart Belfast 17th October 2010 shiney new backpacks a piece heading for Heathrow. Hang around Heathrow for a few hours then onward to Delhi, India (against many friends views that this is a very bad idea). This section of the route will be mostly planned by Orla!! We spend 3 weeks in India where we will travel south and make our way up the west coast to Mumbai for a flight to Bangkok, Thailand on 7 November. The next 2-3 weeks after 7 November ... read more

On the second week of our vists up the Mourn Mountains we parked the mini bus in a carpark just above FoFanny Dam. We were told to find a stile going over the Mourne wall at the base of OTT mountain and Slevie Loughshannagh and we were not given point as our group instructors only told us were to go, leaving us to find the bearings and set our compasses independitly. i learnt to work wth maps and compasses more confidently.i feel i worked well in a group again as i felt i was a valued member in the group. ... read more

I walked up the trassey track in the Mourne Montains towards Hare's Gap. At the trassey car park we worked out our pace to measure distance. I walked the track until the bottom of Hare's Gap.The skills i learned were how to pace and work out distance. I also learned how to use a compass and take a bearing from the map. I also learned how to get from one point to another on a map. These were all new skills for me and i wasnt very confident at it, i was helped out my other group members who were more able. I improved my team work skills and communication with others. I will need to improve on these skills with practice and hopefully become more confident using these new skills.... read more