The Summit

Monthly newsletter of MountainViews.ie for guestuser

April 2018

HILLWALKING
NEWS - INFORMATION - RECENT CONTRIBUTIONS - FEATURES - FORUMS

UPCOMING EVENTS for HILLWALKERS

• REPORT: 23rd Feb MountainViews Gathering and Awards.
  
  
  
  Click for detail.
  
  Dermot Somers broadcaster and explorer spoke in his inimitable style on "CROSS-COUNTRY: A VIEW FROM ABOVE"
  
  
  Mountain Meitheal
  Shay Walsh, chairman, spoke on Mountain Meitheal.
  
  There was the usual brief review of MountainViews innovation for 2017 and an Awards ceremony for list completers and contributors to hillwalking or to MountainViews.ie
  
  Some copies of the Summit Annual are still available after the meeting.
  
  

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• Weds, 11th April, 2018. 8pm. David Walsh on the Islands of Ireland

  
  MacDara's Island, Galway

  
  Our main speaker for this event, David Walsh, addressed Hillwalkers Winter Talks in 2015 to an audience of over 70 with a spellbinding account of visiting the islands of Ireland. Since then MountainViews.ie has with David's assistance added hundreds of islands to our pages, to a total of 577.
  The Irish islands are of course a huge recreational resource for sea-kayakers, however some are reachable by walkers and their story is fascinating to anyone interested in the wild places of Ireland.
  
  While the main speaker will be David, MountainViews will briefly introduce the changes it has made to its support for islands and also the coastline features we include. These allow users to mark which islands (as distinct from summits on islands) they have visited, to describe places, to share GPS tracks and visualise everything together on a map, features that may interest boaters or sea kayakers.

Mackoght View

For original comment, click here.

Calderón Hondo, Fuerteventura

For original track, click here.

Regions: MOUNTAIN COMMENTS - TRIP REPORTS - TRACKS - SUMMARIES
In short: Discovery

MAP REVIEWS

Maps coverage.

Overview

I have had occasion to visit a number of the places shown in these maps through summiteering, coastal walking and cycling.  It was fascinating to look at these places as represented on the maps after being there. Whether used digitally or on paper, these are well worth getting.

Do I have reservations about some things: yes I do, however these maps are simply great for most of the things explorers will need from them and I will be bringing them with me when visiting the places in future.

Coverage.

The new maps are the two most southerly shown in the picture and extend East-West mapping down to Annagh Hill to the south and also along the Wicklow Coast.  There are many places of great interest there.  There is a useful overlap to the Lugnaquillia/ Glendalough map, however I was left wondering about the extensive overlap between the two new maps.  Would it not have been possible to move the southern boundary of the Wicklow SE map to where Wicklow South goes to.  And then move Wicklow South to the west where it would show some other places of interest such as the MV top Stookeen?

The coverage of the coastline is extremely interesting showing for example the area around Brides Head and the little known but extraordinary Roundstone Harbour at Arklow Head.

Detail.

The accurate forest tracks are hugely useful.  The 5m contours (from Blue Sky) are great.  The individual positions of wind turbines show attention to detail.  (Well shown is one particular odd place I encountered cycling is the weirdly complex Garryduff crossroad at T204 933.) The wreck names in coastal areas add interest etc etc.

There are some name differences from MountainViews.  Some of these might be scholarly dispute such as where MV Barraniskey 280m is shown as Ballymoyle Hill.  Others reflect different priorities.  For example MV has a hill called Preban Hill 393m while E-W doesn’t have a name for it.   There doesn’t immediately appear to be a historical name for this hill.  MV’s Preban Hill is named after the townland and while this may not be a historical name for the summit, it is in our view essential to have a name for every hill, all 1500+ we list.

Errors.

There weren’t too many that I could see.  The Legend mentions “Arderin Summit” and gives an example of 457. However Arderins are by definition 500m or more so the legend is misleading.  Cronybryne is a misspelling.

What else would I like to see?

Summiteering places.  We discussed Preban Hill and it would be an example of several smaller hills on these maps.  While they don’t have the mountainy characteristics of Arderins (500m+ height, 30m+ prominence) they nevertheless dominate their local landscapes.  Given that over 2000 people are ticking off summits on MountainViews alone, then we would hope for the positions of these places be shown.  MountainViews is also including Coastal Hills for example Brides Head Hill near Wicklow town.

Exploring, as I was, throws up all sorts of requirements for land information.  An obvious one is information about access.  Many of the places for example on the coast south of Wicklow are in private control but it isn’t clear which allow access.  Whatever information could be provided would be very welcome. Another is about cyclability.

The odd and funny.

As usual the process of Anglicisation throws up the weird and wonderful place names.  Some on these maps are “Corndog”, “Coolafancy” and “Coolaflake” .. the first and the last mentioned sounding like a new foods.

Overall.

Get these maps if you are interested in exploring these areas.

-

MOTLEY GATHERING

Knockaterriff.

Dear Sir/Madam

 Let me introduce ourselves.

We are volunteers  for Tick Talk Ireland ,encouraging awareness, prevention & treatment of Lyme Disease (Borreliosis) in Ireland and through Facebook bring people together to provide support through this terrible illness.

Each year we hold a conference on Lyme disease, to raise awareness and offer guidance from a range of speakers. This years event will be held on June 2nd in University College Dublin, as we are a non profit organization, Dr Lambert of Mater hospital has offered to host the event with the support of Tick Talk Ireland. The Conference is open to everyone with an interest in Lyme Disease and Chronic illness and will include presentations on using diet to combat illness and ways to promote gut health as well as information on the diagnosis and treatment of Lyme Disease.  

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us.

Thank you for your time.

Tick Talk Ireland

"A Tick in Time saves Lyme"

Mary/Kathy/Kerry

 http://www.ticktalkireland.org/   

The MountainViews ANNUAL, 2018.

emVee-Tube

SITE NEWS

CHALLENGE
A place for those interested in Challenge Walking

Knockmealdowns, a view from 2003

April's Challenge Walks news sees a tale of two Cities or at least a tale of two Counties . . . well to be a correct - the tale of two great Challenge Walks as it were . . .
Unfortunate news comes to the fore, that this year will see the absence of the Mourne Seven Sevens . . .

"The main reason for this decision is the unavailability of certain key people necessary for the safe running of the event. Please remember that the whole event relies on volunteer effort.. . ."

For the last twenty-five years the Spartan Red Sox proudly hosted, with great success, a fantastic circuit Walk that would see the Challenge Walker summiting the seven highest peaks in the Mourne Mountains, all over 700 meters high. Many of the years allowed for the Walkers to decide themselves as to which direction they would traverse . . . with the Ben Crom Dam being a kind of half way mark - this meant that should one meet oncoming Walkers (coming the opposite way (their choice of direction)) a bit too early . . . then chances were, your own party were most probably enjoying the chat a little too much and would now have to "drop a gear" and pick up the pace!
This Walk also attracted a huge community of fell runners (many of whom travelled from across the Pond). Their speed at times had to be seen to be believed!
But for all concerned, it will indeed be a Calendar Date truly missed.

And yet totally over subscribed once again, is the Maumturks Challenge. . .
There are now as many would-be Walkers on the waiting list as there are Walkers who were lucky enough to secure a place within the first thirty seconds of the event going live on a third party event management website!
Other Hillwalking "host" Clubs are using this method too.
The Blackstairs Challenge sold out in a similar fashion in a little over 30 minutes.
The world of Challenge Walks is changing faster than I personally can change into a pair of dry socks after a chance encounter with a Sperrin Mountain bog hole!
April 14th is the date for the Maamturks - but a week before this, on the 7th April is the ever brilliant Knockmealdowns Crossing.

Hosted by the Peaks Mountaineering Club, this Walk has been going from strength to strength since its inaugural Walk in 2008.
Whilst the post-Walk stew and apple pie is indeed legendary - this can't be the only reason to this Walks great popularity and success. No, as has been commended before - it's the continued commitment of anything from 40 to 60 volunteers that is required for the hosting of a given Challenge Walk - but unfortunately it's a very real dilemma where, as can easily happen, the given host Club may not even have that high a compliment of members!

So again April 7th can be a date to set aside and participate in a wonderful ridge walk that sees the Walk gracefully progress over the Knockmealdowns with Knockmealdown Mountain itself being the high point of the Challenge. Being early in April, any weather is possible atop these fine hills . . . reminents of frost and even snow is very, very possible! And whether or not the sun beats down there is always a serious wind that can split a flea (or brush off the cobwebs as we Challenge Walking folk like to say!).

On to the Turks then on the 14th of the month and sure then won't we be well on our way to the blistering Irish Summer months . . !
So we are always positive within the discipline of Challenge Walking in Ireland - we have to be - this is our nature.

Early one season during one of the first years of my promotion of Challenges, something like three different Walks went by the wayside in quick succession - it felt like it would be detrimental!
Yet not long after, came the inaugural Knockmealdown Crossing (Peaks Mountaineering), then the inaugural Tom Crean Endurance Walk (Annascaul Hillwalking) and then one of toughest within the Calendar (The Triple - Fei Sheehy Challenge) . . . The rest as they say . . .

So like we continue to reiterate and always in a positive tone . . .
Onwards and Upwards,
Keep Safe and Enjoy your Day.

Jim Holmes.

SUMMITEERS and PLACE-VISITORS CORNER
A place for those interested in Summiteering, Bagging, Highpointing, visiting islands and coastal places.

This month.
Kudos to our contributors.

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. Ask permission where appropriate.
• Take care if parking and do not obstruct roads, lanes and field entrances to access by farm machinery, which can be large. Exercise your dog in parks or forests but avoid countryside or open hillside where they may worry sheep.
• Report suspicious activity to the police forces, as below.
• If your car is broken into in an upland area report it to the PSNI or Gardai as this will help them be aware of the issue and tackle it in future. Store the numbers. In Northern Ireland use the PSNI non-emergency number 0845 600 8000. In the Republic you can find the local Garda District HQs phone numbers at www.garda.ie/Stations/Default.aspx. Specifically for the hotspot of Wicklow: the Garda Divisional Headquarters in Bray is 01 6665300.
• If you hear of a problem area or route, write it up in MountainViews which does everyone a service.
  Report rubbish tipping in the Republic - ring EPA hotline 1850 365 121
  Report recreational quads in national park area (in which they are banned). They are also banned in the Mournes. For Wicklow please phone the Duty Ranger: 087-9803899 or the office during office hours Telephone: +353-404-45800. For the Mournes ring the PSNI (as above) or contact Mournes Heritage Trust. Put these numbers in your phone, take regs etc. Let MV know of contact numbers for other areas.
• If you have visited some of the less well known places, we would appreciate a place rating and also "Improve Grid Ref" for summits and other places.
• If you find errors in the basic information about places such as in their names, their heights, county name etc please use the "Propose Places Database Change" option.
• If we can, let's make MV have more than one route up a summit or to a place so as to reduce the tendency for paths to appear. Your grid refs in comments for different starting points show up on MountainViews maps as well as shared GPS tracks.
• Visit the MountainViews Facebook page.
• Visit the Challenge Walks Ireland page (jointly managed by MountainViews)

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