| |
These young deer and their many siblings and parents enlivened a recent trip around Glendalough, Co Wicklow
|
SCRABBLER
FADING OF THE LIGHT
Thanks to weedavie for his hilarious contribution to Scrabbler on mountain crumbling. The more venerable of us, got it in the neck at the hands of Scrabbler in last month's newsletter; in the knee and in the hipjoint. Davie rails against the fading of the light including: "Youngsters you're walking with, think not only that you're too old to do sX but were also always too old even when you were young. Even though we demonstrably invented sX."
Anyway on a less important note: global warming. Dropping into the treeline last week, Scrabbler was poleaxed by a full-on symphony of woodland perfumes - a smell of greenery that was not going into hibernation but more like something in Dante's Purgatory - neither in nor out. Let's not blame global warming - let's just not. Bracken shot out new shoots, rhodedendrons rallied, briars smirked and made for fresh jugulars, young ferns peppered the pathways like alien starfish.
|
.. let's not blame global warming |
Let's not blame global warming - let's just not. Freezing water flew into our faces, like a mischievous Maker was messing with the shower taps; and there is a strange hush amongst our feathered observers: raptors removing from second nests and songbirds thinking about a third. But let's not blame global warming - let's just not. Sarcasm? Not a bit. A handful of years after the busy-bodies shoe-horned the threat of "global warming" into our vocabulary, suddenly we have all-out GW (as in Bush) and the world is about to deflate like an old beach ball. The doom-bearers will cite critical mass; I will cite a few billion years from the big bang including ice ages, dinosaurs, the God Vulcan, The God Neptune and the 1960s - although unlike weedavie, I haven't seen them all. We have had an odd year. The man from Goretex has done well. Keep up this global warming guff and the man from Nuclear Fuels will do even better.
In the middle of a flurry of icicles, a fat, happy bloke pointed out that "we've had a great summer". Scrabbler kind of thinks we have.
Your comments or suggestions to The Scrabbler.
|
Recent Contributions and News
Circuit of Lough Belshade - One of the great hill-walks of Ireland
padodes reports on this lonely gem in the Bluestacks.
 padodes on Ardnageer SW Top
The photo was taken as I made my way over rocky ground, riven with faultlines and dykes, between Ardnageer SW top and Ardnageer, heading for Croaghbane, further east. The lake below is Belshade. I was following David Herman's Circuit of Lough Belshade, described in his "Hillwalkers' Donegal" (according to his figures, the walk is 17km long, with an overall climb of 740m). I met not a soul during t ... Click here
|
Easiest, hardest summit to climb?
Colin Murphy asks about the "difficulty" of this summit? For my money, it's a nice try as easiest but not as easy as a few I could think of.
First there's Clermont Cairn (aka Black Hill) where you can literally drive to within 5m of where the trig pillar used to be.
Then there's a number of summits in the Slieve Blooms you can ascend a few dozen metres to.
For good reward to little effort Minaun (Achill/ Corraun) would be hard to beat.
I expect in every area of Ireland there's summits that are easy to reach for you to bring your invalid friends up.
Anyway it is an interesting question. Come to think of it we could make a useful list out of ascent distances from the nearest public road. Suggestions?
Another related question is where are the hardest summits to climb? John G O'Dwyerwriting in the Irish Times (28th Aug 07) thinks he has found it .. something he calls the Boola Pinnacle in the Comeraghs. Our stalwart reporter jackill says "From the photo I am fairly sure of the location, its overlooking the Coum Iarthar Loughs in the Comeraghs at approx. S 318 124." But goes on to say that the reascent required to reach the top probably isn't enough to make it a summit. More on this no doubt. Do have a look around and see if you can find the supposed top.
Can't say that I agree with the general dismissive tone encapsulated in ' .. With just 14 mountains and subsidiary tops breasting the magical 3,000ft contour, bagging all of the "Irish Munros" isn't really an enormous task .. ' Firstly "Irish Munro" is about as genuine as "Irish Kilt" or "Irish Highland Games". Second, the figure of 3000ft is hardly magical, it's more a convenient round figure to give a usably sized list. Once you go metric there's several possible lists 400, 500, 600m etc. Thirdly, it isn't entirely an issue of absolute height. If it were then frankly why would anyone bother with Scotland and not go on to the Alps or further. It's about finding a suitable long-term challenge and agenda in your local territory. MountainViews offers several lists 400m, 500, 600, 914 (3000ft), top 100, local 100. And then there's our list based on user ratings which shows that people value criteria other than height. And Irish lists are attracting interest - nearly 600 people have made a start and logged summits they've climbed on this site alone.
 Colin Murphy on Slievebawn
Does this qualify as the easiest summit in Ireland? Took 30 minutes up and down and near the summit met a couple with what looked like a six year old boy on the way up! Perfect if you want to take the kids for a picnic but no challenge at all, though does offer some nice views. Click here
|
More on Achill
gerrym describes further this fantastic peninisula.
 gerrym on Croaghaun SW Top
As with most others I started this walk from the carpark at Keem, the road to here has to be mentioned for its unhindered drops to the sea below. From the ample carpark at the blue flag beach a 20 minute climb reaches the old signal tower at the start of a long line of cliffs ending in Achill Head. From here there are unending views over the Atlantic, to the big hills of Connemara (Mweelra, Sheffr ... Click here
|
Newsletter Archive
After each newsletter I get a few complaints that newsletters didn't arrive or they arrived blank etc. Some of this is because mail filters decide they don't like mail from MountainViews (shared) web hosting site. Sometimes you can fix this by getting MountainViews on your "whitelist" or perhaps changing your email address to one that MountainViews can send to.
Some of the problems should be resolved at MountainViews end. For various reasons, mostly resources, this will take some time to fix. As part of an effort to reduce the pain please try out our new archive facility.
The menu allows you to see old newsletters.
simon3 on Newsletter Archive
If you want to see previously published monthly newsletters, take a look at this new section. Just go to
Help | Newsletters or to this address
/mv/index.php?ids=this_site&this_site_option=newsletters&newsmonth=newest Newsletters back to the beginning of 2007 are shown. Click here
|
.. craggy promontories against sunlit skylines ..
Bleck Cra extols one Slievemartin, managing in just a paragraph to define and uphold beauty, take a swing at amateur anglo sailors, give a context to the Narrow Waters - if you are young might want to know what happened there - simultaneously pulling down "dull old Slievemartin" and yet making you want to visit the place. If I could award 10 points I would.
 Bleck Cra on Slievemartin
If proof were needed that the mountainview FROM the article is worth 10 times that OF the article, it is Slievemartin. In the SW of the magnificent Mourne Mountains (further and you drop into Carlingford Lough), it presents no redeeming features; in fact it presents no features at all other than the jetsam from a half-demolished communications tower and some stone or other to go and see, for those ... Click here
|
Duke of Ed Award
Alex92 has been beavering away at this. This award is similar to the Republic's "Gaisce - The President's Award".
Alex92 on My Duke of Ed expedition
At the weekend I completed my Bronze DOE with the Killinchy Activity Group. I was supposed to do it with my school, but if I did, I would have to attend meetings during my lunchhour and after school... (way to go teachers, that's really going to encourage people to join).
With the activity group, I wouldn't have this problem and I would also be completing the expeditions with people who also appr ... Click here
|
Nagles Mountains - " .. blossoming hedgerows sang freedom .."
South of the road between Mallow and Fermoy and around 25m north of Cork lie the Nagles. Revealed in MountainViews since our list started to include summits down to 400m, we now have some comments. I see looking at the map that the usual idiosyncratic conversions of Irish word has happened here judging by the name "Knuttery" towards the SW of the area. Our thanks to jackill for this and another comment on the Nagles.
 jackill on Corran
The little hill of Carron is probably best viewed from a distance.
Its summit is covered in woods and blighted by no less than 3 masts, but this does mean it is easy to reach from the road W66873 95524 by means of forest tracks.
It does however overlook two places of note.
The first is the townland of Ballygriffin which is the birthplace of the founder of Presentation sisters Nano Nagle. She br ... Click here
|
Where do mountain names come from?
Names and places man pdtempan discusses the origin of various names MV uses, often not found on maps
pdtempan on Mountain Names in Mayo
Writing on Tievnabinnia in 2003, Wee Davie remarked "None of the summits on the ridge are named on the OS - but I've visited the grid references." In 2005 Milo commented "Top naming is interesting hereabouts. Whence was it obtained?" and Wee Davie asked the same question a week ago. As I've had a hand in providing some place-name information for MV, I'll have a go at answering this question. ... Click here
|
Walkers Association of Ireland
They now have a temporary website (nothing much on it yet) at their new address here.
If you are interested in this group, get yourself on the mailing list. Email majordomo@mountainviews.ie with this in the message body:
subscribe hillinterest-list
A response will be sent in a few seconds and you then confirm your membership.
(This list may be temporary until the new group gets its full system up and running.)
More background information about the WAI can be found about this at the Irish Ramblers Club.
| |
Sorry if I didn't mention what you posted .. there's a list of all contributors for the month later.
|
WALKS SECTION
|
Interesting and very remote walk.
A lot of climbing in this walk which is of challenge walk proportions.
 gerrym on Bangor Trail (ish)
Overview This walk strays into a remote area amongst what are already a remote range of mountains, the Nephin Begs. The walk makes use of the Bangor Trail to the east and climbs over the top of Nephin Beg and Slieve Carr before returning by the Western Way to the western side of the mountains. Along the way i encountered a surprising variety of wildlife, a number of beautiful loughs, some gre ... Click here
|
| Site notes |
If you can set-up your email to get web-format ("html format"), you should be able to get more out of this newsletter.
|
| Getting a map on your GPS. |
Would you like a map on your GPS so that you can visualise summits, contours etc? Well, depending on whether you have the right sort of GPS and your willingness to do a bit of uploading, we may have the answer.
 simon3 on GPS for Ireland, article, download.
Currently MV provides GPS information in the form of waypoints that indicate the summit positions of all of the mountains in our list. While better than nothing this still does not use the full potential of GPS units . Essentially these can show maps and points of interest. There is no commercial product for GPS units at present, however we are pleased to announce the results of various communi ... Click here
|
| |
|
This month.| We welcome the following new members who enrolled this month. ahensirouski, aibarnes, alanc, astrutton, aughavas, Axel, Baa, barbarasina, bclark, bearyc, Beefheart, bibi, billy205, Blairmore, bradym10, Brianok, cags, carrmc, cdewhurst, cgcar74, Charron, chiseldon, chriswoodcock, ciara73, cillianm, ClareWalker, clogandknocker, Cloud, Cluntyganny, Colly, conormack, cormaccleary, cr8, cruelsphere, dafydd, dannyke, darrenf, denise-vosges, dermur, derryw, diageo75, diarmuidw, dnephin, dolono1, Donard850, dregishabu111, DrFreyne, drojan, drstuff, dubliner, dugganiron, dwrenne, dwyerhodge, eamonnwhite, echeveria, essjcee, Eugneee, evilhomer, ewhelan, Fahyco, Finians, Finnegan, fyfers, gahanb, gallagdp, gallo, gavwoods, Gaz, gclarke, georgec, geronimo, gerthebear, giorgiobns, goosey, Guru, hdemeulenaere, hobob, Hod, hugin1982, Iain_W, ianchristie, ibrereton, ivanwalsh, jamesryder, JayneWyatt, jebus, jimpe, jkforde, johnmorgan, jopken, kasior, kenmckinley, keoghwarren, kevin101, kieransfox, kmcanallen, knockdolian, kolo, konical, Lanna, laveryp, Lego, Lennie, Leonardo, leondolman, ligdoscigh, limerickclimber, lindacowzer, lmartin, Lori, mac52, mak, maltodextrin, marcino, mariep, martin11, Martin27, Martin40, marturion, maryogorman, Mayfly100, mcgoohan, melton, mginty, Micha95, michog, mick_collins, mis44, mleyden, mlm, mlmoran, moranse, murt100, naalwi, nickwhelan, noisyjerm, Noname, observation, ocorrain, ourrudi, Patinlimerick, patricko, paulbaird, pmarron2, powyswalker, Pozytron, queenoftheirish, rampark, redjoanne, Rek, Richardk, rjhocking, rorybbellows, rosenne, Rudy, ruthallin, ruud, Sarahh, sarahw, schurie, scruf, sc_mm, seanflannery, sgw2342, Shedite, shonawright, siora_coll, sjwohlman, somefokker, spambob, squeler450, stevie, suenelis, tabularasa, Teicneolai, Teresaem, TessR, thegarty, thehappyshop, thevillage, The_Doylerman, toblereoghan, tomfahy, tubetube, turbopak, UpTipp, veillere, veronie_h, viwka, walking-boots, walktalk, willandhazel, zorpheus (193) |
Our contributors to all threads this month: Alaskan (1), Alex92 (2), Baa (1), Bleck Cra (2), Colin Murphy (1), Miguel (2), ahendroff (1), brblos (1), cullen (1), denise-vosges (1), djouce (3), dwrenne (1), eflanaga (1), gerrym (5), jackill (6), johnnyphil (1), padodes (1), pdtempan (3), simon3 (3), val jones (1), weedavie (2)
and Contributors to GPS information this month were: absalon (1), jackill (9), john_desmond (14), simon3 (7)
|
There were comments on the following mountains Ardnageer SW Top, Ballyteige, Binn Chaonaigh, Carrigeenamronety, Carron Mountain, Coolfree Mountain, Corran, Croagh Patrick, Croaghaun, Croaghaun SW Top, Croaghgorm, Cuilcagh, Fauscoum, Hungry Hill, Lavagh More, Little Carron, Lugnaquillia, Slieve Anierin, Slieve Binnian North Tor, Slieve Donard, Slievebawn, Slievemartin, Slievemore, Slievereagh, Tievnabinnia and these walks were created Bangor Trail (ish), Glendalough Circuit with Camaderry, Mullacor, Slieve Binnian, Slievelamagan, Slievemore
|
Thanks to all 469 who have ever contributed
|
| The five who have contributed most to the site are simon3 (405), csd (198), jackill (142), Bleck Cra (112), gerrym (112). |
|
Summary.
MountainViews now has 2436 comments about 508 different mountains out of the total in our current full list (840). We need more comments, better comments and more balance for every summit as our rate for "data completion" now that the 400m summits have been added is currently under 32% There's plenty (332) of opportunities for you to be the first to comment on a summit. Listing summits in "Lists & Logs" (tick MV completion information) allows you to see what information we need to get more even coverage. |
Notices| If you are contributing, please be careful to respect the interests of landowners.
Suggest access routes well away from houses, gardens or that could conceivably impact farming activities. When walking, keep away from gardens or farm buildings. Use stiles or gates wherever possible. Never do anything that could allow animals to roam where the farmer did not intend. |
| If you hear of a problem area or route, write it up in MountainViews
which does everyone a service. Report rubbish tipping in the Dublin/ Wicklow area - ring PURE 1850 365 121 |
| If you have climbed some of the less well known places, we would appreciate a mountain rating.We could use your help in making ratings for the unrated mountains which you have climbed, such as: An Machaire, Foilduff, Croaghcarragh, Cnoc Onna, Hangmans Hill, Barraduff Mountain, Killaha Mountain, Tirkslieve, Cnoc Lios Uachtair, Croaghmeen and some 19 others. and also GPS readings for summits. |
| If we can, let's make MV have more than one route up a mountain so as to reduce the tendency for paths to appear. Your grid refs in comments for different starting points show up on MountainViews maps. |
| This newsletter |
This newsletter is from Simon Stewart for MountainViews
Homepage:
www.simonstewart.ie |
| Last month's newsletter. |
View last month's newsletter
here. |
| RETURNING TO MOUNTAIN VIEWS |
Click on (If you have cookies on in your browser then you will be prompted as to username/ password. If you forget the password, the login page can email you a replacement.)
|
| UNSUBSCRIBING |
If you don't want to receive any further monthly newsletters from Mountain Views click on
My View / Preferences. Then change the option beside "Include on occasional mailing list" to "Do not include". Then click the "Save" button.
Alternatively let us know by email at admin@mountainviews.ie (Delete REMOVETHIS from the address)
|
|
Annual 2025