Slieve Binnian

paulocon

Hoping to take a trek up Binnian at the weekend. Intending to hit the hills early.

Couple of queries - I think Silent Valley carpark only opens at 10am, any suggestions on where else I could park (Carrick Little?).

Also, any suggestions on routes - hope to have 6 to 7 hours to spend up there.

Cheers in advance,
Paul

fergalr

paulocon wrote: »

Hoping to take a trek up Binnian at the weekend. Intending to hit the hills early.

Couple of queries - I think Silent Valley carpark only opens at 10am, any suggestions on where else I could park (Carrick Little?).

Also, any suggestions on routes - hope to have 6 to 7 hours to spend up there.

Cheers in advance,
Paul

Hey there,
Not sure of silent valley opening hours.

You can climb binnian from the south east. Afaik, it's a gentler climb, nice gradual slope. There's a fair sized carpark that's very suitable.
I don't have a map at the moment to give you a grid-ref, but it's very easy to see on the OS map - it's almost in a line south east of the summit of binnian, and south west of the southwest tip of the nearby forest. It's very easy to see on the map.

You can park there, walk in along a fairly distinct trail (heading north), then just follow the wall up (heading northwest) to the top of binnian. It's a nice gradual way to gain the height, and it's very hard to go wrong with the wall.

As far as I remember, that carpark doesn't have a barrier or anything on it to close (may be wrong, but it's a fairly remote carpark, would be surprised if it was shutting), and is very easy to find and park in, and it's very straightforward to find your way up from there.

It can be very cold on the top of binnian, and be careful on the summit, could be very icy/slippy.

Edit:

Also, any suggestions on routes - hope to have 6 to 7 hours to spend up the

Climbing routes, or walking routes? If your going ice climbing, I don't know
If you mean walking, well, 6/7hours is a long time to go up and down binnian, you could get a lot more done than that?

paulocon

fergalr wrote: »

Hey there,
Not sure of silent valley opening hours.

You can climb binnian from the south east. Afaik, it's a gentler climb, nice gradual slope. There's a fair sized carpark that's very suitable.
I don't have a map at the moment to give you a grid-ref, but it's very easy to see on the OS map - it's almost in a line south east of the summit of binnian, and south west of the southwest tip of the nearby forest. It's very easy to see on the map.

You can park there, walk in along a fairly distinct trail (heading north), then just follow the wall up (heading northwest) to the top of binnian. It's a nice gradual way to gain the height, and it's very hard to go wrong with the wall.

As far as I remember, that carpark doesn't have a barrier or anything on it to close (may be wrong, but it's a fairly remote carpark, would be surprised if it was shutting), and is very easy to find and park in, and it's very straightforward to find your way up from there.

It can be very cold on the top of binnian, and be careful on the summit, could be very icy/slippy.

Edit:

Climbing routes, or walking routes? If your going ice climbing, I don't know
If you mean walking, well, 6/7hours is a long time to go up and down binnian, you could get a lot more done than that?

Cheers fergair,

Thanks a million for that. We will have 6/7 hours to spend in the area - hoping to get down early. As regards routes, talking about walking routes - have some experience but would like to stay on the beaten path so if you have any suggestions of routes that are easily navigable around that area, would be appreciated. If all else fails, we could do Binnian and then drive down to Newcastle to take a walk up Donard (went up before from Bloody Bridge).

Cheers again,
Paul

fergalr

paulocon wrote: »

Cheers fergair,

Thanks a million for that. We will have 6/7 hours to spend in the area - hoping to get down early. As regards routes, talking about walking routes - have some experience but would like to stay on the beaten path so if you have any suggestions of routes that are easily navigable around that area, would be appreciated. If all else fails, we could do Binnian and then drive down to Newcastle to take a walk up Donard (went up before from Bloody Bridge).

Cheers again,
Paul

All of it can be a bit tricky navigationally if it's foggy - routes that follow a large part of the wall are probably the best bet - it's fairly easy to find and follow!

That carpark I was talking about is the P symbol on the map at:
336 221


You can follow the wall up to Binnian from 'Carrick Big', which is a grand steady climb, walk along the top of Binnian, the steeply down (rock and bog, sometimes scrambly) to the saddle between Binnian and Lamangan. You could just turn around here, and walk back SE, then S along the track by the forest to the carpark.

Or you could go on, up Lamangan (steep climb, quite rocky).
Then from lamangan down to the path just west of cove lough, and follow that path down, past blue lough and that crag (think it's percy byshee, not marked on this map online) and out along that path.

That's mostly on the beaten path, in the mournes, although if the conditions aren't good, any of it could be tricky.


If you want to err on the side of caution, but still want to climb Binnian, then, as I described first, up Binnian, up past north tor, down to the lamangan saddle, SE and then S back along the path along the edge of annalong wood is a nice walk, mostly on tracks, just mind yourselves on the descent from Binnian to the saddle (it's not too bad, but can be a little boggy and scrambly at times). Maybe a bit short for 7 hours, but better a bit too short than too long (which is great advice for internet forums, but have difficulty managing this myself).

It'll be plenty cold up Binnian, lots of warm gear, group shelter, food, water, spare map, compass etc.

Hope this is some help,
Fergal

paulocon

Fergal,

Smashing' advice there - thanks very much for that.

We will see what the day is like. Including Lamangan sounds ideal but if the day is anyways dodgy, we'll take the shorter route.

Cheer again for taking the time to post that - much appreciated.

Paul

fergalr

paulocon wrote: »

Fergal,

Smashing' advice there - thanks very much for that.

We will see what the day is like. Including Lamangan sounds ideal but if the day is anyways dodgy, we'll take the shorter route.

Cheer again for taking the time to post that - much appreciated.

Paul

How'd it go in the end? You make it up to the Mournes?
Get down in one piece?

paulocon

fergalr wrote: »

How'd it go in the end? You make it up to the Mournes?
Get down in one piece?

Fergal,

Went great. Smashin' walk and very enjoyable.

Followed your route up from Carrick Little car-park. Had some cloud cover which cleared as we approached the summit to reveal the awesome Tor. We were like a pair of kids exploring the summit - definitely the most interesting I have been on. Walked along to the North Top. The climb down to the saddle with Lamagan was exactly as you'd described - met quite a few people coming up that way but it looked something of a trudge in places. First time out this year so decided not to go up Lamagan and took the path back by Annalong Woods.

All in all, a very enjoyable walk.

Thanks again for the route suggestions. Much appreciated.

Paul


BTW: Are you familiar with the area. We are looking at spending a couple of days walking the Mourne Wall in the summer. Only problem is where to leave the car overnight - Obviously, Silent Valley isn't a runner as that place shuts up each night..

Parking in the Mournes can be risky, car break ins are common, if leaving a car overnight, I would suggest the camp site, on the Hare's gap side, they may charge a few quid, but worth it

paulocon

Thanks dursey,

I will check out the campsite. Done a search and think it's called Meelmore Lodge so will contact them in relation to it..