For a change from the usual lovely beach-y-ness, we drove up through Newry yesterday and into the Mourne mountains. With the help of directions from a Newry resident friend, we went along the northern side of Carlingford lough, through the lovely villages of Warrenpoint and Rostrevor before heading off on a wee country lane for miles and miles before finding a car park at the base of Slieve Binnian. Binnian is the third highest peak in the Mourne range, but is apparently one of the favourite for hill-walkers. It’s tough enough going, at 747m tall and yesterday’s weather was a selection of everything. We caught some heavy showers and it was very cold in the frighteningly strong wind at the summit. But it was totally worth it. There was laughter and there were tears (mostly from me), but I’m very proud of my four kids, especially my 9 year old daughter, for making it all the way there and back, and I think they’re very proud of themselves too. The going got very steep towards the top, and it was pretty slippy in the wet. I was also worried about the dogs at first, but they proved themselves to be very capable and I think they probably covered 4 or 5 times the distance we did, running back and forth between the leaders and stragglers. Needless to say, we all slept well last night.