{"id":567,"date":"2012-12-15T01:08:47","date_gmt":"2012-12-15T01:08:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/?p=567"},"modified":"2012-12-14T23:14:26","modified_gmt":"2012-12-14T23:14:26","slug":"robber%e2%80%99s-table-sperrin-hills-co-tyrone-n-ireland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/?p=567","title":{"rendered":"Robber\u2019s Table, Sperrin Hills, Co. Tyrone, N. Ireland"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>They were getting ready to clip the sheep in Lisnaharney glen, and we had to look sharp to avoid a woolly stampede as we walked through the farmyard at Eskeradooey.<script type=\"text\/javascript\">window.onload = setupZoom; function popwalk(walk) {var url = \"\/Walks\/amap.php?f=\"+walk; varwalkwindow=window.open(url,\"walkwin\",\"height=730,width=850,resizable=yes,scrollbars=yes\"); if (window.focus) {walkwindow.focus()}}<\/script>First published in: The Times <a href=\"javascript:popwalk('RobbersTable.jpg');\" rel=\"nozoom\" title=\"Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window\">Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window<\/a><\/script><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8319\/8032385067_89c3b73e73.jpg\" title='standing stone by track from Eskeradooey'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8319\/8032385067_89c3b73e73_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8039\/8032386537_9f2590a394.jpg\" title='Jane, Inga, Harry on track from Eskeradooey'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8039\/8032386537_9f2590a394_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8315\/8032387141_01ed0ce6cc.jpg\" title='The Professionals motor at the Robber&#039;s Table'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8315\/8032387141_01ed0ce6cc_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8456\/8032386744_0c83ea0a98.jpg\" title='Inga, Jane at the saddle, overlooking Owenkillew Glen'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8456\/8032386744_0c83ea0a98_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8036\/8032388282_cd510187f2.jpg\" title='Harry and Inga'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8036\/8032388282_cd510187f2_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8311\/8032389048_fcebd7951b.jpg\" title='abandoned Owenkillew farm 1'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8311\/8032389048_fcebd7951b_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8449\/8032390492_d7d491ef2a.jpg\" title='Owenkillew sheep'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8449\/8032390492_d7d491ef2a_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8460\/8032393377_2b7152fede.jpg\" title='grasses in Lisnaharney Glen 1'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8460\/8032393377_2b7152fede_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nFacebook Link: <script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/wordpress\/?p=567\" layout=\"button_count\" show_faces=\"true\" width=\"200\" colorscheme=\"dark\"><\/fb:like><br \/>\nCounty Tyrone hill farmers work hard for slim rewards, but the man leaning over the gate had spare time and humour enough to invite us to help him with the shearing. It would have been great fun, but Jane and I were headed for the hills along with our friend Inga and her old chum Harry, a crazy-coated and toothless terrier some 20 years young. He scampered and ran all day, fossicking and questing through the rushes and grass, as keen as a puppy. What an example to us all!<\/p>\n<p>The mountain road over the pass behind Eskeradooey is a stony and ancient highway, coursing south to north against the grain of the east-west Sperrin Hills. The view from the saddle is utterly spectacular \u2013 back south to the green lowlands around Omagh, north across the deep cleft of the Owenkillew Valley to the billowing uplands of the central Sperrin range, bulges of hills with gallopingly musical names \u2013 Mullaghasturrakeen and Mullaghclogher, Craignamaddy and Mullaghbane. Inga, a resident of County Donegal, was able to point out a tiny cone in the north-west, clear against the sky, and confirm that it was indeed Mount Errigal, the highest peak in Donegal, forty miles away.<\/p>\n<p>Harry sniffed over the ruins of an ancient Chrysler that some bright sparks had driven up the old mountain road and failed to drive away again. It could have been The Professionals circa 1978, judging by the cut of the old wreck\u2019s jib \u2013 flash, chrome-rich and cheap, just the sort of motor that CI5 agents Doyle and Bodie loved to corner in with a squeal of Firestones and a burst of .357 Magnum fire. Other hard men had hung out at the pass in times past, too \u2013 the pair of flat-topped domes that rise out of the bog here are dubbed the Robber\u2019s Table, though no-one seems sure of the identity of the \u2018rapparee\u2019 or robbing rogue to whom the name refers.<\/p>\n<p>Harry and his consort decided to turn back. We waved them goodbye and went on down into the Owenkillew Valley past farmsteads under orange-rusted tin roofs, abandoned in overgrown gardens \u2013 testament to the difficulty of getting a viable living nowadays out of these pared-to-the-bone mountain farms. \u2018You can\u2019t eat the scenery,\u2019 say the farmers \u2013 but what scenery, the magnificent beauty of the rolling Sperrins that enfolded our path back across Curraghchosaly Mountain and down to the long green glen of Lisnaharney once more.<\/p>\n<p>Start &#038; finish: Gortin Glen Forest Park car park, near Omagh, Co. Tyrone \u2013 NB \u00a33.50 cash (OS ref H 485822)<br \/>\nGetting there: Bus: Ulsterbus 403 from Omagh. Road: Signposted off B48 Omagh-Gortin road.<br \/>\nWalk (7\u00bd miles, moderate, OSNI Discoverers 12, 13. NB: Online map, more walks: walkni.com, christophersomerville.co.uk): Return from car park to B48; left for 100m; right up Lisnaharney Road. In 1\u00bc miles pass side road on right marked \u2018Lisnaharney Public Right of Way\u2019\/PRW); in another \u00bd mile, turn right (\u2018Eskeradooey PRW\u2019). In 200m, right to farmyard at end of lane. Between buildings and farmhouse bear left up stony lane for 1\u2153 miles, past Robber\u2019s Table\/RT and down to road. Right (\u2018RT\u2019) for nearly \u00bd mile; right up track (\u2018Lisnaharney PRW\u2019, \u2018RT\u2019) past Curraghchosaly Mountain and down to road. Left for 1\u00bc miles to B48 and forest car park.<br \/>\nLunch: Picnic<br \/>\nAccommodation: Mullaghmore House, Old Mountfield Road, Omagh (028-8224-2314)<br \/>\nMore info: Omagh Tourist Office (028-8224-7831); <a href=\"http:\/\/discovernorthernireland.com\">discovernorthernireland.com<\/a><br \/>\n<A HREF=\"http:\/\/www.ramblers.org.uk\/\">www.ramblers.org.uk<\/A> <A HREF=\"http:\/\/www.satmap.com\/\">www.satmap.com<\/A> <A HREF=\"http:\/\/www.LogMyTrip.co.uk\/\">www.LogMyTrip.co.uk<\/A><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>They were getting ready to clip the sheep in Lisnaharney glen, and we had to look sharp to avoid a woolly stampede as we walked through the farmyard at Eskeradooey.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-walks","category-3-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}