Spelga

On Saturday evening the husband and I decided to take a drive up into the Mourne Mountains to see how low the water level in the Spelga Reservoir had become due to the hot weather we have been having. We travelled from Rathfriland to Hilltown and then took the B27 up into the mountains. We passed a field of horses on the way so had to stop for some photos.

 

 

There is a really bad hairpin bend that I hate driving round as the road is also very steep. At the side of the reservoir there is a car park where you can stop and have a look at the beautiful scenery. However we continued on along the road to a T-junction further on. We took the road to the right which goes to Kilkeel and then, just as we passed the end of the reservoir, we took an old, narrow road to the right. There’s room at the end of it, where it is fenced off, to park about half a dozen cars but we were the only ones there apart from a couple walking their dog.

I don’t think I have ever seen the water so low. Although the old road is fenced off so you can’t drive any further, you can walk down to the edge of the water. This old road is what was originally the road through the mountains from Kilkeel before the Spelga Dam was built and the area flooded. At times when the water level is low you can see the old road, no longer submerged, wending its way into the reservoir.

 

 

There’s also a bridge that at times becomes visible. These little stone bridges are built along all the roads in the Mournes to allow streams to run down the mountains and under the road.

 

 

Do you see the lengths I went to for a photo?

 

 

It was tricky crossing the stream on those wobbly stones!

 

Made it in the end - I wasn't wearing suitable shoes!

On this occasion we were able to walk along the old road for probably half a mile. It is broken up quite badly in places now but still recognisable as a road. The husband took lots of photos so you can see what it is like. It’s actually quite an eerie place, especially once we’d walked out as far as we could go.

 

 

Almost there....

 

 We reached the water's edge.

 

 

Of course the husband refused to be in any of the pictures so I'm afraid they're all of me. I hate being photographed but had to endure it! So you'll have to endure looking at them now they're taken.

 

Time was going on (and there isn't a lot to do once you get to this point) so we turned and made our way slowly back to the car.

 

We passed a little culvert that is normally under the water.

 

 

Someone had written in the drying silt - DON'T STEP HERE. A sensible warning I think.

What is normally under the water of the resevoir was drying up and starting to crack.

The husband took his opportunity and wrote the name of my blog - except he didn't quite get it right!

What direction to go round the stunted tree?

To the right.

 

The mountain you can see in the picture above is called Slieve Muck. It comes from the Irish Sliabh Muc which means Mountain of the Pigs. It is 2211 feet (674 metres) high. The husband and I have walked to the top a few times as there is a magnificent view on the other side.

 

Time for home, back down the B27....

 

...and round the hairpin bend.

 

Finally heading back home to Rathfriland from Hilltown.

For some reason seeing the old road reminded me of a poem I love even though it isn't really about the same thing - except that it's about a road. But I'll include it anyway as it's really good. It's by Robert Frost and is called The Road not Taken; I'm sure a lot of you will know it. Enjoy.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference.