Cove Cave

Cove Cave is a naturally occurring opening into the spur of Cove Mountain marked as Lower Cove on the Ordinance Survey map. It lies roughly 270m below the summit at J337259 and is easily accessible on an obvious path from the Analong Valley. The cave requires a bit of a clamber to get inside and once there it becomes apparent that while its opening is large, the cave is actually pretty small. Strewn with steeply rising boulders, there aren’t many flat surfaces and at the back is a visible hole that leads to a plateau above the cave.

Cove Cave can be accessed most easily by walking up from Carrick Little Car Park on the Head Road (J345218) past Annalong wood, and once at its end, taking a path to the right by Douglas Crag on Slieve Binnian. The path runs right up to below the caves and a scramble up the steep slopes are all that is required to reach the cave entrance.

Cove Cave

The sheer rocks to the left of Cove Cave

It's a steep climb up and into the cave.

The View from the Cave

The back of the cave with the gap to climb up and out visible.

The climb from the path to the cave.

Here is a video from the “Off The Beaten Track” BBC television program in which Darryl Grimason shows the route to the caves along with some footage of inside and above.

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