Fair Head, Co. Antrim - sunset - National Trust postcard c.2000s

• Postcard

   

• Picture / Image:  Sunset at Fair Head, County Antrim [Northern Ireland]
• Publisher: National Trust
• Postally used: no
• Stamp:  n/a
• Postmark(s): n/a
• Sent to:  n/a
• Notes / condition: slightly larger than 'modern' size 

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Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :

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Fair Head or Benmore (Irish: An Bhinn Mhór; The Great Cliff) is a 5 kilometre mountain cliff, close to the sea, at the north-eastern corner of County Antrim, Northern Ireland, whose rock face is formed into distinctive vertical columns like organ pipes. Fair Head is regarded as one of the best outdoor rock-climbing locations in Ireland, and its long cliff, up to 100 metres high in places, is considered one of the biggest expanses of climbable rock in Northwest Europe.[2]

Fair Head's distinctive rock formations may be recorded in Ptolemy's Geography (2nd century AD), being described as a point called Ῥοβόγδιον (Robogdion) (cf the Pictish Robogdii tribe) which may refer to Fair Head. The name may derive from the Proto-Celtic root *bogd, "bend".[3]

The headland of Fair Head rises 196 metres above the sea. Wild goats can be seen roaming among the rocks beneath the clifftops, where a walkway called The Grey Man's Path winds around the rugged coastline. From the road, a man-made Iron Age island or crannóg can be seen in the middle of a lake, Lough na Cranagh. The lakes are stocked with trout and can be fished during the summer months. All of the land at Fair Head is private farmland, and not owned by National Trust. Access is by the goodwill of local farm owners. Fair Head is the closest headland to Rathlin Island.

Many famous Irish artists have painted Fair Head, including Maurice Canning Wilks who painted a watercolour from a nearby beach.

Rock climbing

Climbers on the second pitch of Jolly Roger (grade E3/6a) at Fair Head.

The single-pitch Fireball (grade E1/5b) at The Prow, Fair Head.

Fair Head is regarded as one of Ireland's best outdoor rock climbing areas, along with the limestone sea-cliff of Ailladie in County Clare.[4] It does not attract a high volume of rock climbers due to its relatively remote location, and the physical strength and unfamiliar climbing techniques it requires of climbers. Its cliffs stretch over 5 km around the headland, rising to a maximum height of over 100m. They are not sea-cliffs but have been described as a mountain crag by the sea, since they tower above an extensive boulder field and their isolation and size gives climbing there a big-wall mountaineering feel.

The cliffs are composed of dolerite, giving a mixture of steep cracked walls, corners, and, in many places, sets of columns reminiscent of organ-pipes. The dolerite sits on top of a bed of chalk which is visible in places.

The cliffs abound in well-protected steep crack climbing, between one and four pitches long. Many of the cracks involve hand-jamming, so some climbers tape their hands to protect the skin from what they term "Fair Head rash". Other climbs involve off-width or full-width chimneying, which is not often encountered in other Irish crags. As with nearly all Irish crags, only traditional protection ("clean climbing") is used. The 2014 Fair Head guidebook, its 6th edition, lists over 430 routes from under grade VS 4c up to E6 6b, but more recent climbing includes routes up to E8 6c.