Mourne 500s II - The conventional way by unconventional means!
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| Do ya feel lucky, punk? Well? Do ya? |
Combining my new found love of mountain biking with my age old affinity to all things mountains, (throw in the desire to complete another challenge before the end of summer) I felt the Mourne 500s required a revisit. The question of whether it had been successfully completed on bike before made the challenge all the more appealing. I knew Rick & David came close using different spec bikes to the one I was intending to use (and carrying significantly more pizza than me), but could it actually be done? After a few interesting recces on my new wheels I decided it was worth a shot, nothing ventured nothing gained!
With my bag packed, weighed down with mainly food but also bike spares and tools, I set off from Ott car park at 7am (ish) on Friday 26th August. I was keeping things simple and following the UTMB orderly Mourne 500 route. The summer weather had come to an abrupt end and on the first climb I was greeted with drizzly mist with low visibility. The short push up to Slievenamuck was followed by a nice fast grassy downhill to Spelga. On reaching Cock mountain North after a short bike carry, the mist almost had me flying off to see the Hen below! I quickly corrected my line then pushed up Cock south and there I took in the views.
Heading now downhill for the Pigeons was fun using a few nice trods linked by different tracks. After reaching pigeon south summit in the mist I turned and started heading back to the wall. However the noise of the traffic on the Moyad rd sounded too close for my liking. I had slipped away from my outward trod and so needed to readjust my line to get back to the wall. After this slight navigational wobble, a rewarding downhill section along the wall to Moughanmore ensued. I then had two tough bike carries up Moughanmore and Eagle to contend with, stopping midway up Eagle to put on a raincoat - now acknowledging that the drizzle was more like proper rain!
From Shanlieve cairn I followed the track down onto the plateau where I veered left following bits of tracks, trying my best to peddle as far as I could. However this was not a wise move “one simply does not wing it across Finlieve plateau when the clag is down.”Indeed winging it didn’t work, I ended up finding myself descending too soon off the plateau being too far east. I looked around and started the traverse, pushing the bike across peat hags and bogs, heading for the highest ground. From here I picked up the more familiar looking trod and pushed on up to Finlieve summit. Nearing the summit I could smell the sweet aroma of banana which was awakening my appetite. At the top however I discovered the said banana was completely squashed in the side of my backpack and inedible. Feeling dejected, hungry and cold at this point it really was a case of Gibney 0 - Finlieve 1. The descent off the summit was incredibly fast along a great track, stopping only to open and close a gate. Upon reaching the road I realised my finger tips had started to go numb. The next few miles were on tarmac so I figured if I peddled fast enough I should warm up. I passed the wee shop in Attical, very tempted to slip in for a coffee and wondered would that count as being self sufficient! I got to the track leading to Binian quarry much warmer and feeling a bit more positive so I stopped for a break. The next few climbs were really tough with my neck and shoulders starting to ache from the bike carrying. At the top of Lamagan a group of hikers appeared out of the mist and asked was I lost? In my head I was thinking yes, a long long time ago! From here though the route eased with no more bike carrying and a few nice downhill rides. A combination of bike pushing and riding got me along the brandy pad and down the mourne wall. A quick push up rocky was rewarded with a great descent back to the wall. Next up was Spences at which point the cloud cover was lifting and the day starting to clear.
From Chimney rock summit I managed to pedal across the ridge heading back in the direction of the mourne wall. Passing the last tor I could see some walkers at the stile watching my progress. Of course with an audience this is not the time to come off the bike or over the handlebars but with this added pressure I managed to oblige! Not being close enough for anyone to recognise my face I picked myself up unscathed and pushed hurriedly down and round, contouring Donard and onto Crossone. At the shelter stones on Crossone summit I sat and refuelled with the other half of my breakfast soda and tin of coke (food of champions). I was elated to also find an iced bun in my bag which I had totally forgotten about. Feeling refreshed with a full belly I was psyched to take on the steepest most technical bike carry climb of the day. And indeed it was just that. The pain of it was broken momentarily when a large hare appeared out of the boulders and sprinted away from me.
Not a sinner was to be found at the top of Donard to my relief. With morale booming at this stage the next sections all the way to hares gap were very enjoyable.
At this point In the day I knew the round was achievable under 20 hours, with only the rollercoaster that is the mourne high line between me and the end point. The first gel of the day was taken here to fuel the long steep bike carry climb of big bad Bernagh. The descent pushing the bike was only moderately easier than the climb.
Bearnagh had used up all my water supplies so I now had to deviate from the plan and follow the mourne wall in search of the pipe on Meelmore. Easier said than done! Carrying the bike up steep slabs and along a narrow cut wedged between rocks and the mourne wall was certainly a challenge! The pipe however was well worth it, here I drank a litre of the pure stuff and refilled the flasks. Bagging the Meels and Loughshannagh I now headed for the Ben Crom river. Crossing it back and forth and getting bogged down a few times I veered off following the trod to Ben Crom mountain, hoping to summit it and be back over the river before dark.
I managed this just about and it was then a slow bike carry over rough ground heading for the path leading to Doan. After a quick turnaround on the top of Doan carrying the bike down its rocky summit, I stopped at the path and got my head torch out. I was pleased to have got this far without the need for it. As things were getting really serious now, a bag of squashies also emerged! Sugar fuelled l, I enjoyed the last few pushes up Carn and Muck, passing a few wild campers along the way. At The trig point on Muck I switched my head torch off to locate Muck South. “Having it in my sights” I pedalled off following a lovely trail all the way to the small cairn on its top. Contouring back to the wall around Muck was easier than I expected in the dark. This just left a wee bike push and contour of Carn mountain to get onto the path up Ott. I seemed to miss all the black and white posts along the trod up to Ott but managed to summit it nonetheless. Feeling jubilant I had a great downhill ride off the top of Ott, keeping my eyes on the said posts whilst also trying to avoid the psycho sheep that were not for moving out of my way! I arrived back at Ott car park 16 hours and 1 minute after setting off, clocking over 47 miles and 14,000 feet of elevation, feeling very happy and much fresher than when I ran it. Job done. Thanks to Rick McKee for the challenge. 
