Leinster MPC - Coolies
5th - 7th May 2000

Above: Patrick Kelly, Ian Griffin, Derek Ryan (3rd Scout Troop) and Colm Ennis at the summit of Sliabh Fea in the Coolies. (Photo: Gavin Daly, MPC Staff)

Before they turned up on the 2000 MPC/Sionnach events list, we had never heard of the Coolies, let alone walked in them. So after the success of the local Galtees MPC/Sionnach, we decided to give the Coolies a try. However we did eventually figure out that the Cooley Hills were the site of the famous Tain Bo Cuailgne (The Cattle Raid of Cooley) and so we accepted the invitation to "stand where the mighty Cuchulain stood, walk in the footsteps of Conchubar and the Red Branch Knights or yell your battle cry as the champions of Queen Maeve before, when these most ancient of warriors fought in these hills for the possession of a great brown bull". David Marshall in 'Best Walks in Ireland' goes on to describe the landscape of the Coolies as providing "a subtle and truly pleasurable mixture" thanks to "the intimacy of deeply incised stream valleys with luxurious vegetation, slightly exotic wildlife and great open vistas from the sites of Ireland's earliest human habitation". How could we resist?

Above: Derek Ryan descends down into the Windy Gap.

Billy Collins and the 7th were also due to go along but due to unforeseen circumstances they had to pull out at the last minute. That didn't stop Ian Grant turning up at the den with all his gear and if the Unit had bought/stolen a new minibus, he could have come along. However the 3 man patrol from the 3rd troop bravely stuffed themselves into a 106 for the 370 mile round trip. It would have been impossible but for Colm abandoning the usual 100 litre rucksack in favour of a 50 litre and only Paddy Kelly broke the 75 litre mark. After the long spin in the car, we were more than happy to start hiking as soon as we reached Ravensdale post office. On the way up, we noticed that the MPC staff had removed the tyres from the escape bus, just in case any teams got cold feet. They were also perfecting a new way of carrying Motorola walkie talkies on the roofs of their cars. At base camp, the new Vango Hydra 300 got its first ever airing, although the Unit Treasurer is demanding to know how the 3rd managed to buy it from their subs.

Above: Ian, Derek and Paddy on Black Mountain.

The Coolies aren't the highest mountains we've ever climbed, but we can report a number of strange features including lots of rocks painted yellow for no apparent reason; lots of stone circles/graves, a weird strong breeze which stops and starts every five feet you move and a great big communications mast which is right out of the nightmare of an anti mobile phone mast protestor. Apparently the mast is used for broadcasting Network 2 into the North. The mast is right on top of Black Mountain (508m) which had some fairly impressive views out onto Carlingford Lough and back down to Dundalk.

Above: Members of the Thomastown Scout Troop on the 2000 Leinster MPC in the Coollies.

On top of Black Mountain is Clermount Cairn which is a national monument, contains the remains of a megalithic passage tomb and is considered to have been a meeting point for megalithic cultures. From Black Mountain we followed a series of spot heights until we eventually dropped down into the Windy gap. On the way Paddy Kelly was up to his usual mountain vandalism/ecologically unsound hiking, when he picked up a milk carton from Armagh and then said he lost it - but we know he just tossed it away. The sun was blazing by the time we reached the Windy Gap, so it made a good spot for lunch.

Above: One of those classic set the camera on the timer and run to get into the shot, photos.

After an extended lunch break, we made a quick ascent onto the Foxes Rock and by now we were in second place out of the 12 teams, having started 11th, due to us being too lazy to get out of bed. The MPC is of course neither a race nor a competition, but we wanted to get a good camping spot. After climbing the Ravens Rock, we dropped down into the White Bog which is a valley containing three smallish lakes. It was just gone 3.20pm when we arrived, which left us about eight hours to do nothing but eat. When we weren't eating we cooked, tried our hand with a spot of illicit bouldering (without the crash mats), went in search of water and threw rocks in the lake.

Above: Derek Ryan and Ian Griffin try to figure out a technical bouldering problem in the Coolies.

Trangia's were never meant for frying, but if you try to fry up on them, it helps if you bring along some cooking oil or fat instead of having to use badly melted butter. Derek's fish fingers fell to pieces, although the chicken burgers didn't look too bad. Paddy had a feed of barbecued chicken, we're not quite sure what Ian ate and Colm wished that he had brought the old reliable half pound of sausages. Back on one of the first MPC's in the Comeraghs in 1992, a team from the Unit carried an enormous Camping Gaz stove with one of those big blue canisters so that they could heat up tinned stew. The stew was horrible but if we had had the stove this time around we could have cooked a sheep or something even bigger. The sheep in the Coolies are definately not as intelligent as those in the Comeraghs so we would have had no problem catching one.

Above: Who needs cooking fat or a non stock pan when you can cremate your fish fingers and get someone else's mother to clean the Trangia.

That evening we got some great views of Carlingford Lough and across the border to Rosstrevor and Warrenpoint and after another shot at bouldering, we called it a day. It was the event co-ordinator, Andy Ward who woke us up at 8.00am the next morning. The weather was going to be fantastic yet again and not even sour milk could spoil the morning. After a scout's own and the usual badge grabbing, we headed off in the direction of the Eagle's Rock before following the ridge along onto Carlingford Mountain and Sliabh Fea. On Sliabh Fea we took a photo of some of the MPC staff which we promised to put on the internet but we have to apoligise as it genuinely didn't come out.

Above: The campsite in the White Bog with climb onto the Eagles Rock in the background.

The last leg of the route brought us down onto the Tain Way and eventually back to the road. We were the first team to check in and while we were waiting to be ferried back to the cars, we managed to snare a dog. The route over the two days covered everything that the Coolies had to offer and they are best described as a relaxing mountain range. They're not a bad set of hills, they'll just have to make them higher! After recovering the car, we decided to make a quick raid across the border to Newry so that Ian Griffin could get stung for a £10 ice cream. The trip back included a few wrong turns and missed exits on the motorway in Dublin, so the 3rd's plan to next buy a GPS out of their subs is perhaps not such a bad idea after all.

Above: Ian Griffin and Patrick Kelly at the end of the MPC with Carlingford Mountain in the background.

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