Slieve Gullion, County Armagh

On my final day in Belfast (Thursday), I decided to go out to the Ring of Gullion area to check out the scenery. It did not occur to me that I would be climbing Slieve Gullion. That idea took over when I got there. 

Slieve Gullion (Culann's Mountain) has more associations with Irish mythology than any other place I have seen. To begin with, it is said to be the place where CuChullain single-handedly fended off the army of Queen Meabh. It is named after Culann, the Smith, and is thus connected with how CuChullain got his name.  It is also the place where the divine winter hag, the Cailleach Bhéara, was said to live. Right at the top is a passage tomb the locals called the Cailleach Bhéara's House, and the small lake named after her, where she tricked the giant hero Finn MacCool into taking a swim, which turned his hair grey. She had her reasons. 

So, I got to the bottom of the mountain and began to climb, knowing I would not make it the whole way up without missing the last bus to Newry, and this, my chance to get back home to Belfast. But you know how these things go - as the summit comes into view, and it really doesn't look that much further, I scaled another ridge, and another, and I could see people up ahead, and if they got up there, I wondered, how hard can it be? And then it was four in the afternoon and I was on top of the mountain, and there was no chance I was getting the last bus back to Newry. I asked some locals to give me a lift, and fortunately they happened to be driving right through there, so I was spared a very long wet roadside walk. 

Slieve Gullion is only 537 meters, not even as high as Mt Lofty, and definitely not a Munro. Bu it felt like a long way from the road to the top, a along and winding way, and I was very tired at the end of the day. Total walking distance about 12 miles, that day.