The Mourne Wall is one of the most famous man-made features in the Irish uplands. Built between 1904 and 1922, this 19.5-mile-long dry-stone wall defines the portion of the Mourne Mountains range purchased by the Belfast City & District Water Commissioners in the 1890s for the purpose of supplying water to the growing city of Belfast. Today, the area enclosed by the Mourne Wall belongs to Northern Ireland Water and is a place where hillwalkers are largely free to roam. Many popular walking routes in the range include sections of the Mourne Wall, while the Wall in its entirety is regarded as one of Ireland's great challenge walks.
Compulsory sections
There are two sections which are common to all versions of the Mourne Wall Challenge Walk. These are marked on the map below. There are generally no access issues along these sections of the Mourne Wall. The gaps in between these sections are where the route variations occur (see route options below).
If you are thinking about attempting the Mourne Wall Challenge Walk, it is likely that you will be doing so as a personal challenge rather than as a participant in an organised event. This gives you some flexibility when choosing which route to take. The three modern-day route options are described in the Walking the Mourne Mountains guide book.
Modern Route Options
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Up-to date routes for the three modern-day versions of the Mourne Wall Challenge are described in Walking the Mourne Mountains by Kieron Gribbon. Please note that the modern routes described in the book are slightly different from the old routes listed below. Walking the Mourne Mountains is by far the most comprehensive walking guidebook ever published for the Mourne Mountains range, detailing 30 routes plus more than 70 variations. |
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Old Option 1
(the "property boundary" route)
The full 19.5 mile long Mourne Wall forms the boundary of Northern Ireland Water's land in the Mourne Mountains. This land includes the entire rainfall catchment area for the two reservoirs in Silent Valley, plus the Silent Valley Mountain Park. The actual route of the Mourne Wall is shown in the map below. This is the purest, strictest, toughest and most bragworthy version of the Mourne Wall Challenge Walk.
Old Option 2
(the "catchment boundary" route)
The majority of land enclosed by the Mourne Wall drains into the two reservoirs occupying the Silent Valley. The catchment area also includes part of the Annalong Valley which contributes to the main Silent Valley reservoir via the Binnian Tunnel. This version of the Mourne Wall Walk follows the full length of the Wall except for an omitted section along the public road to the south of Silent Valley Mountain Park. In place of the road section, this option takes a significant shortcut across the dam wall of the main Silent Valley reservoir.
Old Option 3
(the "organised event" route)
In the past, open-invitation challenge walks have been hosted along the Mourne Wall. The biggest of these was an annual event hosted by the Youth Hostel Association of Northern Ireland. It was last held in 1984. A Mourne Wall Walk was later hosted in 2013. It was organised again for 2014, but was cancelled at short notice due to unforeseen circumstances. The designated route used in the 2013 event is shown in the map below. This option avoids some overgrown and less-accessible sections of the Wall in Silent Valley and Annalong Valley.
Recommended maps
Ireland is covered by a good selection of quality maps produced by a variety of publishers. The most useful maps for walkers range in scale from 1:25,000 to 1:50,000. For the Mourne Wall Challenge, the recommended titles are listed below.
- Harvey Superwalker 1:25,000 - Mourne Mountains
- Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland 1:50,000 - Mournes Activity Map
- Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland 1:50,000 Discoverer Series - Sheet 29
A hardcopy map and compass are the preferred navigational tools used by all competent self-navigators in the mountains and hills. Relying exclusively on a GPS device or phone for navigation is strongly discouraged. The person who follows a dot, crosshairs or a GPX route on a tiny screen is not navigating. They are effectively being led by their device. This involves no skill whatsoever and will only increase that person's reliance on technology. We recommend using hardcopy maps and traditional magnetic compass because:
- their use requires and reinforces an elementary outdoor skill.
- the user is the navigator (this is not the case when using a GPS device, especially one with the day's route loaded in).
- they do not require a power source, therefore have less impact on the environment.
- hillwalking and mountaineering should be about having a digital detox in nature, not squinting at yet another screen.
- satellites, phones, GPS devices and their associated networks and systems are vulnerable to potential outages caused by external factors (e.g. hacking, ransomware, terrorism, solar fluctuations, space junk, etc).
In short, you should always have the relevant hardcopy map and a traditional magnetic compass in your pack when venturing off the beaten track. The convenience of a GPS is not a valid reason to go into the uplands or other wild areas without these two basic essentials.
Local facilities
If you require accommodation, food and drink, or other local facilities while undertaking the Mourne Wall Challenge, we recommend you check out what's available in the following nearby destinations.
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