Whitewater Scenic Loop

About

Whitewater Scenic Loop is named after the Whitewater River which flows from the lower slopes of the Mourne Mountains to the sea at Mill Bay on the main Mourne Coastal Route. As well as a site of world conservation importance for its sea birds, the latter is a location from which the first farmers in this area harvested seaweed to improve the thin acidic soils and produce the now productive farms that you see as you drive the route.  

Attical is the highest village in the Mourne Mountains; a true mountain home where visitors are catered for in a community run hostel, “The Mourne Lodge.” Travelling the loop affords wonderful views of Slieve Binnian, one of the most distinctive of the Mourne Mountains. In Binnian’s shadow is the Silent Valley Mountain Park containing forest, riverside, and mountain walks, an adventure play area and a visitor centre telling the story of the building of the dams. This massive engineering project began in 1923 and included the construction of a temporary town, called Watertown, to house the workers and provide them with a hospital, a cinema and even their own police officer.  

Another feature of this loop is the opportunity to see up close the distinctive dry stone walls of the Mourne Plain built with granite boulders rounded by the ice sheets of the last glaciation. The large gaps between the stones can make the structures look precarious and cause some to wonder how these structures stay up. But these gaps are a point of strength, allowing the often strong sea breezes to pass through, also a thing of beauty when the early morning or late evening sun glints through. Are they works of engineering or art.