Beautiful Ireland 2

Beautiful Ireland from Church Mountain

Last Sunday I was returning the long way from a swim in the river and happened upon three mountain-cyclists about to head over the pass between Corriebracks and Church Mountain. On their encouragement I followed their route this afternoon, parking my bike on the way down to walk (barefoot of course) to the summit of Church Mountain. The last time I climbed this mountain was many years ago - I think in the snow with my younger daughter who was so small the snow kept coming over her boots so I had to carry her.  

I strongly recommend this route to anyone who enjoys the outside. We live somewhere close to those lakes you see in the panorama above. Like I said before - Wow! We are so blessed to have places like this within walking or cycling distance! 

My new road bike has aluminium rims and I thought might not like the stones and ruts, so I used my trusty "mountain" bike (aka my old road bike promoted).

Courtesy Google Maps: Yellow = cycling, Red = walking
(Click on image to display large version)

So here are some more pictures from the trip:

You can see the track over the hills and far away

Looking back, and the typical track surface

Half-way up - looking towards Hollywood

My trusty mountain bike and one of the many gates to negotiate

The pass summit - looking south

The pass summit - looking west towards Church Mountain

Here I left my steed and climbed on foot - literally

View from the summit of Church Mountain

The cairn enclosing the remains of a church

In memory of someone or other who also loved these hills

Last glance back at the summit

The descent towards Donard

On the way home through Hollywood Glen