Mournes 13Miler From Carricklittle
Park at one of the carparks near the Carricklittle trail. There's a free public carpark but it's often full so park for a few quid in the carpark in the field opposite or in the couple of carparks up the lane. Don't park along the road if the carpark is full.
My favourite way to do this route, is anticlockwise and get the road section out of the way first, it also means you'll have a long pleasant descent from Commedagh instead of a very long climb.
Walk down the road for around a mile and then follow a laneway, at the end of the laneway you'll see a trail leading off to the right.
Follow the trail, climb the stile, turn immediately left and start the first climb up Round Seen. Catch your breath at the top and enjoy the view before following the Mourne Wall on a long slow climb towards Slieve Donard, the tallest mountain in Northern Ireland (850m).
Watch out for the bog of Donard on the way!
Once you suffer up the final steep climb to the top of Slieve Donard, you can relax, the biggest climb of the day is done.
Grab a selfie at the summit before following the wall down to the saddle and begin the much shorter climb up Slieve Commedagh
(850), the second tallest mountain in the Mournes and in my opinion is superior to Donard, better views, better hiking options and less people.
Keep following the wall and enjoy the views on the long descent to Hares gap. Dont' forget to fill up your water bottles at Paddy's pipe, a natural spring just a couple of hundred meters down from the summit on the left side of the wall. (it's now marked on Google Maps)
From Hares gap, turn left and follow the Brandy Pad trail back, almost parallel with your earlier descent.
Before you reach The Castles, turn right and up and over Slieve Beg and Cove Mountain. Keep an eye out for the top of the Devil's Coach road as you go, a grade 1 scramble best tackled from below. Today, you're just passing by.
From Hares gap, turn left and follow the Brandy Pad trail back, almost parallel with your earlier descent.
Before you reach The Castles, turn right and up and over Slieve Beg and Cove Mountain. Keep an eye out for the top of the Devil's Coach road as you go, a grade 1 scramble best tackled from below. Today, you're just passing by.
Descend onto Lower cove and follow the trail back down to where it connects to the Carricklittle trail. If you know where to look there's a cave near by, but be careful if you decide to take a peek.
From there, it's a relaxed 2mile walk back to the carpark.
