ESCAPES & ADVENTURES
02 ESCAPE TO THE MOUNTAINS OF MOURNE
Slieve Binnian, County Down | 6 miles | 4.5 hours | Challenging
Severe weathering during the last Ice Age sculpted Slieve Binnian and its neighbouring peaks into a playground of towering tors and stooping slopes, says Helen Fairbairn
Northern Ireland’s Mourne Mountains were created in the midst of a deep winter. The entire range owes its form to the scouring movements of vast ice sheets, which only began to melt some 13,000 years ago.
Yet not all the peaks were covered by ice; the very highest summits protruded above the frozen wasteland. Slieve Binnian was one such landmark, and the massive, frost-shattered tors that erupt from its tip were once nunataks – lonely towers of rock that withstood the elements above the icy expanse.
INTO NARNIA
The scenic splendour of these mountains is well known. After all, this is the landscape that inspired CS Lewis to create Narnia. The walk that lets you explore this magical realm is just four hours long, but involves 600m of ascent, so demands hillwalking experience and mountain
