A satisfying but extremely tough walk taking in three remote Carns – Cronamuck, Meenanea and Croaghbarnes. There is parking for a few cars at the starting point next to some dilapidated farm buildings. There is a good, meandering track up to where it meets a stream, where there is some mysterious-looking ancient machinery that may have been involved in controlled damming.After that the track deteriorated into a muddy trail. We accidentally followed a fork to the left when we should have continued following the riverbank. You will come to a ‘meeting of the waters’ where two streams meet, one tumbling down from the NW – ignore this branch and cross the stream where you can (crossing points aren’t that plentiful especially after a rainy period,) and then continue up the valley in a NE direction. It is from this point that the terrain becomes challenging – energy-sapping, long, reedy grass and spongy underfoot – and you have to trudge about 4km before you start ascending properly. Eventually, the ground become somewhat firmer as we ascended to a point somewhere around the midpoint between Croaghbarnes and Meenanea.After that it is more typical of the Bluestacks – undulating rock and grass all the way to Meenanea, and the same to Cronamuck, which took just 15 minutes to reach from its neighbouring summit.Then we made the long trek of about 4km all the way back to Croaghbarnes, having to repeatedly lose height and regain it across the rolling, rocky ground. Rather than descend the steep SE slope of Croaghbarnes, we retraced our steps about 800m before descending down a grassy slope to return to the valley floor.There was more trudging through the grass after that as we retraced our steps and were very happy to finally reach the car again after seven hours and fifteen minutes, and a total ascent of 845m.Spectacular views, especially from the top of the ridge, but God was it hard work!