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Young country diary: We walked to the mountains but they were on fire

The Guardian UK Saturday 23 May 2026, 10:00 UTC 1 min read
Key Points

A group of walkers in the Mourne Mountains, County Down, encountered a wildfire while on a hike near Hen, Cock and Pigeon Rock. Initially noticing smoke in the distance, the walkers soon observed a ring of flames and could hear the fire across the valley. The incident occurred during a period of unusually dry weather.

Mourne Mountains, County Down: At first it didn’t seem like much so we carried on, but then it got worse – we could hear the flames across the valley

It all started at around half past 10. We were at Hen, Cock and Pigeon Rock which is a good route with views of the Mourne mountains and the sea. We were walking up a path when we saw smoke in the distance. It wasn’t very much so we kept going. It has been unusually dry here, and the top grass was crispy, with squelchy mud underneath. We saw tadpoles in a puddle, but the puddle seemed small.

As we were going up one of the mountains, we saw how much smoke there really was. Soon after that we could see a ring of flames. We weren’t close, but and we could hear it across the valley. The smoke was starting to block out the sun.

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Originally published by The Guardian UK Read original →

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