Donard Park, Newcastle

Donard Park is the spot where, in the famous phrase, the Mountains of Mourne sweep down to the sea — and that's exactly the shot it gives you. From the council-run park at the mouth of the Glen River, or the beach beside it, you can frame Slieve Donard's 850 m bulk rising straight out of Dundrum Bay, with Newcastle's promenade curving away north. It's an honest, easy launch: free car park, open grass, and the beach at low tide if the park is busy with football or families. The catch is what surrounds you. The upper slopes of Donard and Commedagh are National Trust land and Donard Wood is Forest Service, so keep take-off and landing in the lower public park or on the foreshore, and don't plan a summit landing. Murlough's dunes across the bay are also NT and a nature reserve — leave them alone. Flying-wise, respect the mountain: south-westerlies spill over the Mournes and produce vicious rotor and sink in the lee, and conditions at 120 m can be far worse than at ground level. Calm, clear winter mornings after frost are magic here.