There is room for a few cars at H03240 14705 A. Cross a gate and follow the waymarker posts marked with a letter ‘G’ along a good track with forestry on either side. This will bring you out into the vast bog below the Anierin – Knockacullion – Bencroy massif. Follow the track through the bog towards the SE cliffs of Anierin. Continue to follow the waymarker posts across a small bridge at H02512 15324 B and make your way parallel to the cliffs as you climb up to the spur running south from Anierin. From the spur the summit is easily reached over relatively unspoiled ground. (Although tough in places – wet, boggy and deep heather and large bare peat patches at times)

Those following this route, and of a like-minded exploratory nature, might like to seek out the hidden Altar I discovered. As you climb to the southern spur you may notice a large rock cleft at the cliff face. By scrambling up to the cleft you will discover a lovely hidden area behind it, complete with a set of steps, a stone Altar and a paved area. This is invisible from the cliffs above or the bog below. This is at H02212 14976 C. A white cross marks the entrance to this area. Trackback: http://mountainviews.ie/summit/305/comment/5065/

Commentators have mentioned the difficulty in finding the concrete plinth that houses an Ordnance survey disc marking the summit of Slieve Anierin.
The summit area is relatively flat, with a large area of feet-sucking wet black bog. This danger zone is interspersed with patches of heathery peat, rising from the muck and inviting the explorer to jump from peat hag to peat hag like something out of an Indiana Jones film!

The Holy Grail trig plinth that the intrepid explorer seeks is lying on one of the low peat hags towards the centre of the whole mess at H01880 15930 D. It would be easy to miss and may take just a little perseverance to find. But knowing that it lies on a largish peat hag island should help you to get there! It is almost pointless to expect to see it until you are quite close as it is only a couple of inches high! Trackback: http://mountainviews.ie/summit/305/comment/6158/

Climbed yesterday. A 06.00 start and a two hour drive brought me to the starting point of this walk at H032 147 E (Mullaghgarve). Start can be accessed from Ballinamore by taking road signposted for Aughnasheelan/Aghacashel at the crossroads in the town centre. An approximate 10K drive on a pleasant, winding and well sign-posted country road will bring you to Aghacashel P.O. Just around the bend above the PO take right turn and follow narrow road up towards mountain. Eventually reach junction with road coming from left (plantation in clear view down this road). I parked to the right of the gate (marking start of track) on the junction corner. Started walk at 08.15 with temperature at -3 and heavy mist shrouding Aneirin’s summit. Cross gate and follow track, crossing two further gates as you climb towards mountain. Take left at makeshift plywood bridge over stream which runs parallel with track and make for point where plantation meets cliffs (H025 149 F). Here a climbable narrow ridge provides possibility of a shortcut to top of cliffs. Less adventurous may wish to carry on for another 300 metres so as to avoid cliff completely. Given the conditions (visibility 10 metres), once I gained the top, I thought it prudent to proceed for another 100 metres so as to create safe distance from cliff edge. From here it’s a long dreary trudge over marshy ground and peat hags to the summit. I was fortunate in that much of the soft ground was frozen over allowing me to walk gingerly where on a warmer day I might have sunk to my knees. At the top the heavy mist persisted hampering my efforts to find the base of the Trig point which must have been hidden by grass or heather! In any case after spending some time crossing backwards & forwards over the highest ground I gave up trying to find it, satisfied that at some point I must have thread across Aneirin’s highest point. I decided to make for Knockabell in the hope that the mist would lift at some point or the walk was going to prove extremely disappointing. Photography on top of Aneirin was pointless in the prevailing conditions, hence the photograph is taken from Knockacullion. Needless to say the mist had lifted from Aneirin by the time I reached Knockacullion! Trackback: http://mountainviews.ie/summit/305/comment/2192/

It was a case of third time lucky following an ascent to the summit of Aneirin, along with Ronnie Irvine & John Moore (from Scotland), last Wednesday.I finally managed to find the base of the summit Trig Point after failing to do so in the mist-enshrouded conditions prevailing on my previous two visits. Our approach on this occasion was roughly the same as described by Gerrym (below) i.e. starting at Bencroy IH 05731 19503 G and taking in Knockacullion on the way to Aneirin. The Trig base lies atop of one of the numerous peat-hags that litter the top of the mountain (Bencroy was worse). Conditions throughout the walk were wet underfoot, not surprising given all the recent rainfall, and interspersed with a good deal of trudging through deep heather. However, a great part of the walk was completed in relatively clear and warm weather. Views from the escarpment were wonderful. This is the same escarpment upon which legend tells us Gráinne & Diarmuid were pursued in their flight from the jilted Fionn McCumhail. 'Leaba Ghráinne' or Gráinne's Bed is supposed to be up on the mountain somewhere. Anyone any ideas where that may be? Return to starting point was via the wide expanse of bogland below the escarpment. The going was tough in the long heather/grass and became doubly so as we laboured through a 40 minute deluge, which only relented as we approached the car. An enjoyable five-hour trek despite the underfot conditions and deluge. Thanks to Ronnie for the photograph. Trackback: http://mountainviews.ie/summit/305/comment/2787/

Slieve Anierin has a magnificent line of cliffs on the E side (the map also shows cliffs to the W but i did not have the opportunity to explore these) which zig zag in and out, so opening up changing views and hiding what is to come next. I approached from the N via Knockacullion, from where the delightful first line of cliffs above Lough Nabellbeg comes into view. There is good ground atop the cliffs and the going is easy as the ground gently ascends high above the lough which sparkled in the bright sunhine. The views back along the escarpment of Knockacullion are great from here, and futher past Bencroy, Benbrack, Benbeg to the daddy of them all - Cuilcaigh. There is a sheep trail some 20 - 30 ft below the track at the top of the cliffs which i dropped down onto and followed for some distance above the lough. There is some exposure here but for anyone who likes that little bit more of a challenge it is worth the effort for the views. There is quite a steep little climb to get back up to the top as round the corner for the next bank of cliffs The walking continues to be good above the cliffs, eventually reach the end of the line at a pointed stone, with views down to Lough Allen. To keep myself occupied i played "count the loughs" and got up to 48 from this vantage point in okay visibility - can you do better? From here head NW for the actual summit, thre presence of railway sleepers suggests vechiles where present here at one time, but for what reason? The top is like the other hills in the area in being non descript. I did not linger and headed back to the cliff edge as soon as possible. I dropped down to the base of the cliffs from the col with Knockacullion, back to the road past the transmiter stations and to the base of Benbrack where i camped for the night at the edge of the forest in fairly damp conditions before leaving the next morning. Had a fantastic couple of days here, which was enough to do most of the hills in the area. No other people on the tops of the hills and they are an area that i would quite happily return to in the future. Trackback: http://mountainviews.ie/summit/305/comment/2394/