| It has almost become routine now to leave work and drive straight to The Mournes for a camp. I had spent some time through the day trying to decide on which summit to camp. The forecast was for light wind throughout the night, no more than 20mph which meant I could camp on any totally exposed peak without the need for shelter. I set my mind on Slieve Corragh. I set off along Trassey Track and up to Hares Gap. There was no rain but it was very misty / cloudy. I was well into thick cloud long before I even reached Hares Gap. For some reason I left the car without my gaiters, thinking I would not need them. That was a clear mistake as I started hiking along the Brandy Pad and very quickly the bottom of my walking trousers became covered in mud. I took a left off the path and decided to start heading directly uphill to meet the Mourne Wall which I could then follow to the summit. There was still some snow along the wall as I got closer to the summit. The summit of Slieve Corragh is large and mostly flat with a little raised section at the end closest to Slieve Commedagh. This is where the summit cairn is located and where I was able to pitch the tent. |
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 Hares Gap was in a blanket of thick cloud. |
 I got pitched right on the summit beside the small cairn |
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| The evening was largely uneventful. I had my usual Chilli Beef Pot Noodle snack. The wind was very light which is always a pleasant change. Sleeping was not a problem. I have a metal camping mug which was beside me in the tent. In the inside pocket of the tent I had the bag from the tent itself. This bag has a plastic buckle which was hanging out of the pocket and dinging against the side of my camping mug as the tent moved in the light wind. It sounded like a bell but I didn’t work out what it was until morning as I was too comfortable to roll over and investigate through the night. I think the noise became part of my dreams at one point. |
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 The excellent work to restore the Mourne Wall. |
 Probably the last of the snow for this year. |
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| The forecast the next day was for sunshine so I had been hoping that maybe I would wake up to the stunning view down across Ben Crom reservoir. Unfortunately the cloud was even thicker the next morning and I was not treated to any view at all. On the hike down I noticed an area of the Mourne Wall where the excellent restoration work was being carried out. There was also still some snow along the wall despite being well into April. | |||
| Check out my long term plan to camp on all of the Mourne 500’s here | |||