The weather was beautiful today - mostly clear and not too cold. Perfect for a hike up Slieve Donard, the highest peak in the Mourne Mountains.  Today's adventurers consisted of Calvin, Kate, Stef, Eva, Kelley and, the youngest member of the troops, Evie. From the centre, we started at around 10:30 am for the walk up the side of the bubbling Glen River through the green forest up out onto the open heath land, past the old ice house, and up to the saddle between Slieve Commedagh and Slieve Donard. On the way, we met lots of hikers (and crazy runners!) and their dogs, we saw great views of Newcastle and the shores of the Irish Sea, we had several snack breaks, and we were entertained by the antics of 5-year old Evie. For the first time, Kate was enjoying walking in her shoes - the new ones she bought in Belfast. She was quite impressed (and excited) by how grippy they were too!  We stopped on the saddle for lunch (simple fare of potato farls, crackers, apples and fig rolls) before we headed on up the steep ascent to the top of Slieve Donard. It was a very windy on the ridge as we followed the wall up to the peak - the old, weather-beaten stone wall was a good wind break though there were a few sections where it had crumbled a bit. Once we made it to the top, Calvin placed a stone on the cairn and climbed the stile of the wall for some photos. If it was windy before, it was like a hurricane up the top! We celebrated by eating our KitKat 850 m above sea level. Little Evie impressed us all by making it to the top all on her own and she did her classic "adventure girl" pose for the photos to prove it. Despite it being a mostly clear day, the wind had blown a cloud overhead when we were on the summit so we couldn't see much at all. Heading back down, we took it slow on the rocky and steep steps. It was starting to get quite dark by the time we reached the forest so we took the road through the forest back to Greenhill. Evie only needed a little piggy back towards the end. After some bug farewell hugs from Evie and Kelley, Eva, Stef, Calvin and Kate cooked a much welcomed dinner of pasta with a vegetable sauce. We were all pretty tired so were happy to laze around. One of the current volunteers, Neesha, knocked on our door and invited us to a party around the fire pit - they were having a welcome to Greenhill party for the 6 new volunteers that had arrived over the weekend from mostly France and Germany. Calvin, Eva and Stef went up to meet the volunteers. Neesha also showed us around the new volunteer accommodation which was a converted chalet. What used to be bare cement walls and lino floors was now a cosy looking place which definitely looked like a place where a lot of late teenagers and young twenty-somethings have made into a home. We didn't stay at the fire for too long as Christina came by one last time to say goodbye. We retired to the cabin and reminisced about the past, the other volunteers in our year and had a lot of laughs (particularly when taking group selfies!).