Mourne Mountain Seven Peaks Challenge: A Thank You
CLIMB HIGH. GIVE BIG.
On Saturday 12 September 2026, I completed the Mourne Mountain Seven Peaks Challenge for Action Cancer: 15 hours on the mountains, approximately 45,000 steps and considerably more questioning of my life choices than originally planned.
I began with a fundraising target of £500. Thanks to an extraordinary amount of generosity and support, the total now stands at £1,195—and it is still rising.
This is the story of a dark and very wet start, two chances to stop, one extremely long final mountain and the complete stranger who sat beside me on a bus at 4.15 in the morning.
Why Action Cancer
Earlier this year, I contacted Action Cancer hoping to align Milk & Honey with a Northern Ireland charity making a tangible difference within our local community.
The Seven Peaks Challenge had always been something I wanted to do, so when the opportunity arose through Action Cancer, I took it.
Milk & Honey has been established on Belfast’s Lisburn Road since 2008. We work closely with our clients around skin health, confidence and long-term wellbeing, so supporting a local charity providing vital screening and therapeutic services felt both meaningful and appropriate.
This was an opportunity to take that support beyond the clinic—and considerably beyond my comfort zone.
1.30am: Questioning My Life Decisions
The alarm went off at 1.30am. It was a little like trying to sleep before an early flight—which, for me, means not sleeping at all.
I left Belfast at 2am and arrived at Old Town Car Park in Annalong at 3.15am. I was the first person there. Waaaaaaay too early.
It was dark, it was raining and the forecast was quite literally the sort that would normally discourage you from going anywhere near the Mournes.
I had three litres of water, enough food to feed a small family, a head torch and full waterproofs. Shortly after 4.15am, just under 90 participants boarded two buses to the Ott car park, where the challenge would begin.
I took a window seat on the left-hand side. A gentleman walked past, stepped back and asked whether the seat beside me was taken.
That was Liam, an Irish history teacher from Armagh.
His opening line was:
“Are you questioning your life decisions right now?”
Yes, Liam. Thank you. I very much am. I’m Joanne—nice to meet you.
Liam had signed up for the Seven Peaks Challenge on a whim. The whim, apparently, involved wine.
Like me, he had arrived alone and knew no one. He was friendly, full of chat from the beginning and exactly the same with everyone he met throughout the day. Liam also used the phrase “long story short” quite a lot. It never once resulted in a short story.
I was number 48 and Liam was number 61—part of the safety system used by Outdoor Concepts to account for everyone at the checkpoints. Those numbers would become increasingly useful later when some of us were struggling to remember far more basic information.
Head torch on, full waterproofs, good to go!
Into the Mournes
At 4.45am, we began walking in darkness and heavy rain, following a trail of head torches into the mountains.
The rain was at its heaviest during that first hour. As daylight arrived, it became much less noticeable, although the wind was rough at points.
We walked close to the Mourne Wall for shelter, with what sounded like the sea roaring on the other side. For all its relentless ups and downs, the wall certainly had its benefits that day.
Our Planned Route
The planned challenge covered 30.5km with more than 2,500 metres of ascent:
Contour around Ott Mountain and Slieve Loughshannagh
Slieve Meelbeg
Slieve Meelmore
Slieve Bearnagh
Hare’s Gap
Slievenaglogh
Slieve Corragh
Slieve Commedagh
Slieve Donard—the highest mountain in Northern Ireland and somehow not the hardest part of the day
The Brandy Pad
Contour beneath Slieve Beg
Cove Mountain
Slieve Lamagan—where tired legs, loose rocks and poor life choices finally meet. I could have said worse!
Slieve Binnian—when “one mountain to go” turned out to mean crossing half the Mournes
Finish at Old Town Car Park, Carrick Little
There were two points at which we could choose to retire from the challenge: after Slieve Donard and again after Slieve Lamagan.
My best moments of the day were not dramatic summit celebrations. They were simply making the decision not to stop at either one.
Find Yourself a Liam
Liam told me that he had lost his mum and sister to cancer, that his dad had died following a stroke and that his brother had also passed away.
Fifteen walking hours after meeting on that bus, Liam and I completed the challenge together.
We later agreed that neither of us was entirely sure how the day would have unfolded if he had not chosen the seat beside me.
We moved through every checkpoint together. We chatted, but we also walked in silence many times. Liam knew when to speak and, equally importantly, when to be comfortable with the silence. He was kind, respectful and supportive throughout the entire day—with zero tears from either of us, although more than a few expletives.
Had we each been walking alone for long periods, I think the mountains might have started to close in on both of us. We were surrounded by an experienced support team and always safe, but companionship can make an enormous difference when the hours, weather and exhaustion begin to accumulate.
The lesson? Resilience—and find yourself a Liam.
When “One Mountain to Go” Means Binnian
By the time we reached Slieve Binnian, our feet were sore, our calves were tight and we had both been genuinely broken for a very long time.
This was my lowest point of the day and the quietest I had been—probably not a bad thing.
During the climb, I started counting my steps to 50 simply to stop myself from walking five steps and stopping again. There had been a few slips and falls along the way—the usual Mournes—and more than one reference from me to “old people things”, a phrase that would prove more relevant than either of us realised at the time. Binnian required a very particular kind of determination.
One line from the late Nirmal “Nims” Purja kept playing internally:
“Giving up is not in the blood, sir. It’s not in the blood.”
There were moments when I genuinely forgot my own name. I definitely forgot Liam’s name a few times. It was fortunate we had numbers to keep track of ourselves.
At the checkpoints, people had even started accidentally giving their phone numbers when asked for their number, which gives some context to the general state of everyone’s brain.
I began pointing out animal faces in the rock formations on Binnian. Liam called me delusional. What he really meant was that I was hallucinating. To be fair, I think he may have been right the first time.
As a wise old owl said to me while I was descending Binnian:
“Remember the cause you are doing it for. Your pain is temporary; the pain of the people you are supporting is ongoing and potentially long term.”
She was right, though.
Liam and a much-needed rainbow on the descent from Slieve Binnian.
15 Hours Later
We reached Old Town Car Park at approximately 7.45pm—15 hours and around 45,000 steps after setting off.
We were not the fastest, but we did finish. In fairness, the group behind us had taken a sip of whiskey at every summit. Neither a good nor a bad idea, I thought.
Kelsey and the Action Cancer team, together with Outdoor Concepts, were waiting at the finish. There were medals, goodie bags with food and water, celebrations—and, most importantly, somewhere to sit down.
I felt relief, pride and disbelief, but more than anything, I simply wanted to sit.
I was also very conscious that I still had a 75-minute drive home. My sister spoke to me for the entire journey, bringing a very long and extraordinary day safely to its end.
£1,195—and Still Rising
My original fundraising target was £500. At the time of writing, an incredible £1,195 has been raised for Action Cancer, and donations are still coming in.
Collectively, 103 fundraisers and 1,690 donors have raised more than £61,100—over twice the original £30,000 campaign target.
Every donation can make a real difference:
£25 helps to run Action Cancer’s Big Bus
£55 pays for a therapeutic session
£60 pays for a counselling session for anyone aged five and over
£120 pays for a potentially life-saving breast screening or skin cancer detection
There is still time to donate through my Action Cancer fundraising page.
A Thank You
Thank you to every person who donated, shared the fundraising page, sent kind words or supported me in any way.
Throughout the challenge, I received voice notes, texts, WhatsApp messages and replies to the Instagram Stories I managed to post along the way. Knowing that so many people were following and encouraging me genuinely helped.
A special thank you to Kelsey and everyone at Action Cancer for the opportunity and for meeting us at the start and finish line.
Thank you to the Outdoor Concepts team for their utmost professionalism, encouragement and constant focus on safety. Every participant was accounted for and everyone came safely off the mountains.
Thank you to my sister for talking to me the entire way home.
And Liam: thank you for choosing the empty seat beside number 48. As you so perfectly put it, “we took each other over the line.” ❤️
Joanne Reynolds
Milk & Honey x Action Cancer
251 Lisburn Road, Belfast, BT9 7EN
www.milkandhoney.co.uk