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          We made our way to the Banns Road car park following the very precise instructions that Louis had printed for us, we arrived before the appointed time of 10.15 AM. The day was reasonably good even though it was overcast with thin cloud and there was a gentle to playful breeze blowing from the North. When Marion and I arrived there were some folks waiting for us in the car park so we knew we were at the correct place. Others arrived soon after making up a good crowd of walkers on this my first outing with St Mary's. Some were obviously experienced walkers and others to my relief were just ordinary people hoping for an enjoyable walk to Lough Shannagh amid the splendour of the Mourne Mountains. The walk is not a long one and suits inexperienced walkers as there is a well defined path from the car park to the lough. The round trip is about 9 kilometres and should not take more than three hours depending on the time you spend picnicking on the shores of the lake. While the path may be well defined it is not well surfaced and good comfortable shoes are a minimum. Boots are better as they give some ankle support in the event of giving the ankle a twist.

This walk should not cause a beginner any problems at all as you hardly notice the rise. This walk gets you out into the fresh air in a beautiful place and it brings feelings of being in nature rather than stressing you out. I brought just my basic walking kit the same clothes as I use for archery with the addition of two small bottles of wine. One for Marion and one for myself. Marion only sips sweetish white wine while I enjoy gulps of very dry red so that is why I had two bottles in the backpack.

The starting altitude for the walk is approximately 200 metres and the maximum height of the walk is a mere 400 metres so you only walk the equivalent 200 metres in actual height. The path leads a few degrees East of North and follows a reasonably straight course almost to the lake shore. The Yellow Water a small river flows South almost parallel to the Banns Path. To the right of the path is Slievenagore which just manages to reach a height of 335 metres a mere hump in mountain terms. There would be little difficulty in taking a slight detour simply to bag it for your list of conquests. The next mountain we pass by on our right is Slievenaglogh which peaks at 445 Metres.
We cross the Miners Hole River using a small bridge and we all stopped for a rest. Some of the group had walked well ahead by this time and Louis made a quick dash to them to tell them what we had planned. Louis returned within a few minutes and we all set off again.
On the left side of the path is Slieve Muck which tops at a more respectable 674 Metres. Ahead of us lies two peaks, to the left, Carn Mountain 588 Metres and to the right, Doan 594, Metres in height, between them lies Lough Shannagh. You can't see the Lough just yet because of the local topography, but walk on and you soon will.

Marion and I soon reached the lake and stopped, others went on ahead to bag Carn mountain and skirt round the Northern end of the Lough and bag Doan as well. I spread the ground sheet in the shelter of a turf wall and raised the umbrella to shield us from the wind. We started to snack on our lunch and opened the bottles of wine. We were having a right old time enjoying the food and wine when the Rector and his wife Gillian caught up on us. He spotted the wine but before he could say anything Gillian said, "I told you to bring some, but Oh no, ...........", and pushed him on ahead.

This is a lovely quiet place well worth the effort. As we left we could see the advance group just getting to the top of Doan about 1,500 metres away. As we descended we lost sight of them but we knew they were on the descent back towards the path. We returned to the car park and about 20 or 30 minutes later the advanced party arrived safely back. This was a good walk, just enough to get you breathless and the heart ticking over a little faster. The views are good and with a little extra effort the next time I visit I will also bag Carn and Doan.

NOTE:- I often abbreviate names on the map and it takes some getting used to:----
Mountain can be shortened to Mt.
Slieve which means mountain can be abbreviated to resd simply S' with the remainder of the name after the apostrophe.
Insted of road names you will find the Road Number such as B27 where there is insufficent space.