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Member prodigal walker has included this picture of the boardwalk route between the Sphinx and Lugduff (Glendalough) in his profile. Ah well at least you can get misty pics in the prevailing weather.
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EXTENSION TO MOUNTAINVIEWS LISTS
from Puffin Island (159m) to Donald's Hill (399m)
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MountainViews is pleased to announce the release of a new list of summits in Ireland including for the first time some smaller hills from 159m to 399m.
The list revises and improves the existing list of 400m+ summits and adds 208 summits under 400m with at least 150m of prominence. (Prominence is a measure of how much the summit sticks out above the surrounding ground - the newly added summits can therefore be between 150 and 399m in height.) Because of their prominence the extra hills should all be interesting places to visit though not necessarily hard to climb. Since many are low there may well be access or other restrictions for some. Fourteen of the summits are on islands not connected to the land by bridges or regular ferries.
Other improvements include minor fixes to positions or heights, improvements to names and changes to the area names.
The new listing defines the possibility for each summit to have an area (as previously) and now a sub area. For example summits in the "Achill/Corraun" area can be further subdivided into the "Achill" and "Corraun" areas.
The improved list can be viewed using the (listing program in More | Resources) and is now incorporated into the main site.
I would like to thank the various people involved in working on this major extension including John Desmond, Brendan O'Reilly, Paul Tempan and Denise Jacques.
Puffin Island is off the west end of Iveragh, Kerry. Donald's Hill is in the small Keenaght area north of the Sperrins.
Additional points: If you believe that any changes are required to the list please let me know. (Member expertees has already suggested that we may have missed one sea stack off the coast of Donegal - mind you, reaching the top of this would require climbing gear or a helicopter.)
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A good example of the new smaller but prominent summits is Errisbeg near Roundstone.
 weedavie on Iorras Beag
Errisbeg is indeed a wee cracker. In not too much more time than Simon suggests, you can traverse it West to East dropping down into Roundstone, have a couple of pints and some prawns, stop for a swim at Dog's Bay and walk back along the road to your car. Or, if the road looks too long or too busy, have a bike stashed and send the most energetic member of the party to retrieve it.
But I' ... Click here
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Walkers Association Items:
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Walkers Association of Ireland General Meeting
the New Library Tallaght Saturday 20th September @ 1.30 pm
Support the organization of our sport nationally!
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The WAI will be reporting back to the walking community on its activities to date and and proposing some further services such as the Winter Evening meets with holiday information exchange.
Hear about and meet others interested in:
Website creation, challenge walks, Modern navigation, Winter Evening Meets, Holidays, Photographic Group, National Parks, Environment and Access
The WAI will present a draft constitution for your approval.
To whet the appetite re holiday info exchange the WAI invites all to a talk on walking in Sweden - Swedish Delights - by Donal O'Brollachain
All walkers are welcome!
Getting there is easy.
The magnificent new Tallaght Library is located behind the Square Shopping Centre opposite the Civic Theatre, right beside the last stop of the Luas, bus stops and the carpark.
Info on web: http://www.southdublinlibraries.ie
A copy of the draft constitution is here http://www.walkersassociation.ie/node/289
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Modern Navigation Course
The WAI are planning to run another Modern Navigation course on Sat 4th October in the Dublin or North Wicklow area. The program includes use of OSI Trailmaster and will have a practical section in the hills with GPS units. As of earlier this week I understand there were a few places still left.
How to get on course.
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First WAI Winter Evening Meet
hosted by the Irish Ramblers Club this meeting will be to exchange holiday information
Walking Holidays in the Tatras and South West Crete – Louis O’Donoghue
Venue: Lansdowne Hotel, 27/29 Pembroke Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4
When: Thursday evening October 23rd
(Details to follow on WAI Site)
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WAI Photo Gallery
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SCRABBLER
HIGH POINT
"Do you go to festivals?" The inference was not to exclude walking festivals but to include the rince craic'n'ceol ones that irradiate every tourist's diary - and it occurred to Scrabbler that these dark affairs can often bear on the hillwalker's agenda: the excuse to be there - the opportunity to bask in sunrise-to-sunset traditional music and alcohol on the pretext of visiting some hills or other. The worst of these things has to be the Puck Fair in Kerry. The pretext of course is the highest hills in Ireland; the reality is a local girl-child crowned "princess" and married to a goat. It is also our chance to engage in social intercourse with traveling folk and let them sell us rubbish. "Have you been to the Puck Fair?" Scrabbler's interrogator quizzed. "Yes I have." "Twice ….. in 20 years". The Rose of Tralee, more Kerry Hills and a kiss-me-quick hat: the Oul Lamas Fair with its boggy Antrim tops, coastal walks and tapes of Hugo Duncan; or the more sophisticated Celtic Fusion amongst the Mournes, incl a free ETA teeshirt. Cynicism however has now been knocked into a cocked
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" ..amazing show that is the Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann staged by Tullamore.." |
hat under the pretext of perhaps the Slieve Blooms and courtesy of the amazing show that is the Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann staged by Tullamore. Anyone reading this column lucky enough to attend this year on the pretext of a jaunt into our late hills is still reeling from the sheer delight of it. Wall-to-wall world-class music, organisation worthy of the Olympics, pubs filled to the brim but with a pint in your hand before you reach the bar - and not a fluorescent thong in sight. Next August, take your walking boots to Tullamore's Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann and you'll never be higher than them for a whole week. Good result.
Your comments or suggestions to The Scrabbler.
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WALKS SECTION
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The Glendahurk Horseshoe
You may remember from last months newsletter that CaptainVertigo was going on about turning the hills into golf courses - a true piece in the Motley Views tradition of independent thought or wacky humour. Anyway last month he turned his hand to writing his first walk description. The area he has described is in the Nephin Begs - I recommend both his description and the area which I have walked.
 CaptainVertigo on The Glendahurk Horseshoe
Overview The Glendahurk Horseshoe is located in the Nephin Begs, a range which combines a superb sense of wilderness with some of the best views in Ireland. Located on the northern shores of Mayo’s Clew Bay, just off the N59, this walk starts and ends near the bridge over the Glendahurk river. It begins with a gradual ascent of Ben Gorm (582m) followed by a much steeper descent. Then back up ... Click here
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Recent Contributions and News
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Rubbish, discarded tents, fair-weather campers.
There was serious outbreaks of camp abandonment in both Wicklow and the Mournes.
jamessheeran tells us (in a Nephin contribution) "I was on Nephin yesterday and was devastated by the amount of damage done to the mountain since I was last up there - I am referring to the cairns littering the hillside, 15+ on the SW slope alone; and the sign writing antics - people spelling their initials with rocks on the ground!"
Following finding the Wicklow rubbish I contacted PURE who replied immediately, saying that they had passed the message on to the owners Coillte (State owned forest company) so hopefully the immediate aftermath was dealt with.
The indefatigable Alex92 told us about the Mourne Rangers who have been cleaning a similar Northern mess - apparently the group was featured on "Your Place and Mine" a BBC Radio Ulster programme.
I don't know what happened re cairns on Nephin. Perhaps someone will let us know. (Incidentally, I for one, am not opposed to a single simple small cairn marking a summit as an aid to other summitteers for knowing you got there.)
 simon3 on Abandoned gear on Wicklow Way.
While walking on the Wicklow Way in the Glencree valley (10th Aug 08) we came upon a number of places where tents, camping gear and vast amounts of litter have been abandoned at 3 or 4 sites beside the river such as O188146
Apart from the tents there were new pots and pans, new barbeque tongs, even a complete barbeque unit, along with large numbers of shoes, clothes. Floating in the stream w ... Click here
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The Rain, oh the Rain
The number of MountainViews contributions depends to an extent on the weather. So tha rate per month was holding steady this year until August when it fell to under half the average!
See the item on what do you do in the rain.
Padodes, man of fine photography and equally fine summit descriptions, managed to find a silver lining in this. (He also forced me to Google for a word he slipped in .. pleonasm)
 padodes on Looking at the brighter side
Our rotten weather this summer has had at least one very welcome effect. It has put a damper on the merry pyromaniacs in our midst who have been burning off, for fun or for finance, acres of verdant mountainside in recent years (at least in Dublin and Wicklow), with the tacit collusion of greenhouse temperatures. For once, this year, even if sodden to the bone, I haven’t had to trudge up to my ank ... Click here
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Devilsbit and Mont Blanc
Newcomer _eamon_ described the Devilsbit Mountain (a sub-500m summit in the Shannon mountain area). He has also been ranging further afield. Take a look at the item on Mont Blanc which includes a link to his own site with more detail.
 _eamon_ on Mont Blanc
I just got back from climbing Mont Blanc in France with three friends of mine. We took the standard route Nid d'Aigle >> Grand Couloir >> Gouter Refuge >> Dom du Gouter >> Mont Blanc Summit.
It took two days. The second day was long, about 11 hours going at a fast pace and with a 1:30 am start. We also did some days training for glacier walking, rope-work and altitude acclimatisation. A very enj ... Click here
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What do you do in the rain? - ongoing competition
If you are accustomed to walking most weekends (some would say addicted) just what do you do in the sort of torrential rain we have been getting?
Sometimes I go for a walk in a forest. While you are still going to get rain falling on you, it will tend to be falling vertically rather than arriving horizontally.
Maybe we had better start thinking a lot more about the effect of Climate Change on recreational activity. MountainViews announces a competition for the best suggestions of what to do. Put your thoughts into Motley Views.
MV will report on initiatives starting with Bog Snorkelling.
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.. a good 30min of forcing my way through undergrowth ..
The appropriately named new contributor "Matt hew Branch" describes just how easy it is to follow the wrong lead and end up crawling under the trees. Having done this a good few times myself (and sometimes inflicted it on my fellow travellers) I feel for him. Oh yes. The pioneer of the old west could be told by the arrows in his back. The pioneer of the tree crowned summits of Ireland can be told by the sitka spruce needles in hair, down neck, clothes and generally cr utch.
 MatthewBranch on Knocknaskagh
No.2 of 400m+ summits for me since I starting walking in Ireland. I wasn't aware of the parking area SE of the summit and began my walk at 8am from the Bloomfield Crossroads. I intended to join the Blackwater Way at the start and then map my way in a Southerly direction to the summit. Unfortunately, I lost the path for the Blackwater after only 15min of walking - perhaps just a badly maintained se ... Click here
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GPS: Ireland map v1.8.7
Contributor pazapas on the job again .. he redid the map with the extra 208 summits under 400m we now include and also includes Megalithomania data.
 pazapas on GPS: Ireland map v1.8.7
Ireland map is now available with the new extended summit list to 150m. Some old data have been removed and there is a new layer : megaliths and irish antiquities from Megalithomania.com.
Download PC and Mac version at http://emeraldisland.free.fr Click here
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Sorry if I didn't mention what you posted .. there's a list of all contributors for the month later.
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| 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. Previous Newsletters
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| 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
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This month.| We welcome the following new members who enrolled this month. ablighe, adamkunigiel, AKiernan, alacoque, alanhanlon, Audi-Anne, badulake, barryredmond, bergfex, Bill-E, billfish420, bmacg, bmagee, bmagee160, BobM, Bone, bradleyf, brendanandjo, bryan1, bzyl, CailleachBeara, caitstrain, catherinehayes, cgrvy, ciaranolwen, Clare, clody, clover1, colley, CormacC, Cottier, cully, cw15, daithi2007, DarrenDevereux, DavidW, DeclanJames, deirdremoriarty, del2, denish, derfeld, digijem, donaghclarke, Dracul, drdonal, edhylander, eoincarey, eointfanning, farrelly808, fingalscave, fpd, Ganto, Gavin, geraldinecleary, gerryphelan, gilsenab, Gino, giomach, gogrady, gortamor, goupahill, hamster67, harjoan, haugharn, hazyview, hmclsky, innominate, jaime, jansaldi, jimmy87, jjpower, jme1979, JohnnyC, josefernandez, jwetzel01, KamSte, kenobi00, kevin74, lakesmush, larrylampwick, maglee, mags, maitreya, mapmaker, maywalker, mccannj, mhart32, michael-cusacks, mikejp, milan, milhaus, mmcalinden, mmoree, MMulli2, mrmyagi, noeld, nollaig, oletamas, padraigcasey, padraigmckenna, patrickelvin, paulocon, pellikainen, peterw, ph33, pilgrim, pkoconnor, plinkfizz, pmaher, prodigalwalker, Quarrywalker, RaymondK, Redtop, robertkuszewski, ruff, rulocal, rvovb, sallywalters, scannerman, seanjwhelan, shin090, sleepycat, smashey, stephenchomiak, Stonewall, szczepan, tdown777, the_scout, thomas_mckenna, tkirman, tomcoleman, TomGantly, tonyprice, Treadlight, trefor2802, vivienm, walcotboy, walton, wanderer, wolfram, wrdarby, WStrittmatter, WydD, yekcim, zedmel, zeirish, _eamon_ (147) |
Our contributors to all threads this month: Al (1), CaptainVertigo (2), Jamessheerin (1), MatthewBranch (2), Moac (2), Natalie0208 (1), _eamon_ (3), alex92 (2), am (1), badulake (1), barryredmond (2), beanolan (1), cormacdeasy (4), csd (1), dan bailey (1), darrenf (1), dbloke (2), fkaatje (1), gerloughnanne (3), gerrym (1), john_desmond (1), natalie0208 (1), padodes (4), patrickelvin (2), pazapas (2), pdtempan (2), peterc (2), pquinn572 (1), prodigalwalker (1), scannerman (1), simon3 (9), tomcoleman (1), weedavie (1), wicklore (9)
and Contributors to GPS information this month were: caracraig (1), csd (3), john_desmond (15), madfrankie (6)
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There were comments on the following mountains Ballineddan Mtn, Benbulbin, Bessy Bell, Buckoogh, Camaderry, Cloghernagh, Croghan Kinsella, Cummeen, Devilsbit Mountain, Errigal, Glennagalliagh Mountain, Great Sugar Loaf, Iorras Beag, Kirikee Mountain, Knockakilton, Knockmealdown, Knocknaskagh, Lugnaquillia, Moylussa, Mullaghanattin, Mweelrea, Nephin, Seefin Mountain, Slieve Meelbeg, Sugarloaf Hill, Tountinna, Wolftrap Mountain and these walks were created The Glendahurk Horseshoe
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Thanks to all 573 who have ever contributed (including summits, forums and routes)
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| The five who have contributed most to the site are simon3 (458), csd (235), jackill (147), Bleck Cra (131), gerrym (131). |
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Summary.
MountainViews now has 2894 comments about 614 different mountains out of the total in our current full list (1048). We need more comments, better comments and more balance for every summit as our rate for "data completion" now that the 150m summits have been added is currently around 32% There's plenty (434) 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
Report quads in national park area (in which they are banned). For Wicklow please phone the Duty Ranger: 087-9803899 or the office during office hours Telephone: +353-404-45800. Put these numbers in your phone, take regs etc. Let MV know of contact numbers for other areas. |
| 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: Cnoc na Sleá, Inis Tuaisceart, Maumfin, Inis na Bró, Carhoo Hill, Inishturk, Edenacarnan, Carranarah, An Tiaracht, Disert and some 194 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 |
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