Slemish mountain is not for the faint hearted...As we were approaching in the car I thought, oh this looks tiny, but believe me when I say it is hard work! First of all there is no pathway up the mountain and why should there be? It is a mass of spiked rocks which one has to maneuver around and climb over...and onto, by the time we reached the bottom of the rugged steps to get up the highest part of the mountain I was gasping for air. At first I thought I was very unfit until I noticed a rambler leaning against a tree doing the same thing. It sounds insane, but I think the altitude is the problem for I was getting light headed, ears ringing, funny eyes etc. I climbed to the middle point and decided to return to the bottom, my brother continued on to the top. As I was descending the mountain my legs were shaking and I had one main objective- not to slip! I was also carrying a rather fidgety small dog...
I reached the bottom, stumbling over rocks with the strong winds whipping my hair every which way and obscuring my vision and sunglasses that wouldn't stay on...and then I decided, I'm either going to be sick or fall flat on my face! I lay down on the grass completely worn out, probably looking like a dead body and my parents, who were waiting at the bottom began to laugh at me. Well....my mum climbed to the bottom of the mountain and had to return and my dad was worn out! So you see, it really is a nightmare.
The scenery from the top is amazing, you get to see the patchwork fields and Sperrin mountains in the background. And then the dark clouds moved inward and it began to rain heavily. At this point my dad was up the mountain and I was locked out of the car, bliss.
So, after a scenic drive home I shunned some ice cream and headed for bed. Slemish really wore me out!
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