Happy Valley

Today’s walk starts at Happy Valley in the Mourne Mountains about thirty minutes inland from the coast of County Down. Clare is walking with Kelly Hargie who, for very personal reasons, launched Wild Women Events as a way of encouraging female walkers to explore the countryside of Northern Ireland. Kelly has long understood that escaping into the wild helped her greatly with postnatal depression and recovery from injury and she wanted to share this discovery with like-minded women. From Happy Valley they head steeply up towards the 7th highest peak in the Mournes, Slieve Meelmore, partly alongside the Shimna River. This is the second of two back-to-back hikes in the Mournes, recorded on the same day. The first walk was broadcast last week and began – in great contrast to today’s route – at Bloody Bridge.Grid Ref for their starting point: SB 379 857Presenter: Clare Balding Producer for BBC Audio in Bristol: Karen Gregor