Walking with little ones, Ott mountain to Lough Shannagh, Mourne Mountains, Co.Down, N.Ireland

Day two of our summer exploring the Mournes.

Today we stopped for lunch at Silent Valley reservoir. It surprised me how windy it was. Thankfully my parents were joining us and they had a few extra layers in the car. We had dressed for a warm day of walking like last week. It was a bit too chilly to take time to explore Silent Valley and I was keen to get started on our trail. But we did take him to throw a few rocks into the water. Is there a child who doesn’t enjoy throwing rocks into water?

Our walk of the day began at Ott Mountain car park. A small car park but a great gateway to the Mournes. Crossing the busy road, we climbed the stile and started along the track. The track is clear and bends right along the edge of Ott Mountain. It doesn’t take too long to see and reach the distinctive Mourne wall, a good place to take a break and take in the view. After a biscuit or two we crossed over the wall and walked towards Doan. Mj and his cousin would have loved to keep trekking all the way to Doan but I felt the little ones had gone far enough. Calvin was v cold as the wind was severe.

Our descent was quick. The older kids able to walk on ahead as they were feeling confident of the route and knew where the car park was.

As with last week I am pleased with how well Ezra can walk and how much he loves trekking ahead on his own.

Calvin needed some shoulder carrying, but that was as much to keep the pace up and to get over the rockier/ wetter parts more easily.

On return home, I asked Mj if we should try another route next week, to which he replied ‘What about tomorrow?’!