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On descent off Beinn na Lap, Loch Treig to Loch Ericht, Scotland This is a photo I took on the descent into the valley off Beinn na Lap with the train station/closed hotel in the centre. For
original comment, click here.
Featured Track of the Month Loop Dreams
This month's selection seems to be near Carrickgollogan again, but jgfitz has thought around the current situation to come up with possibilities that allow for larger groups by using multiple starting points. Much of it may be familiar, but the newly unearthed Barnaslingan Loop is included.
jgfitz on Rathmichael - Scalp multi-loop walk
Main walk Start: 10:00, End: 13:52, Duration: 3h51m, Length: 11.6km,Ascent: 410m, Descent: 424m Places: Start at O24401 22013, Carrickgollogan, end at Start (statistics such as Ascent or Length etc should be regarded as approximate. Duration depends on the speed of the person making the track)
This is a hike born out of the necessities of Covid, offering four different starting points - very convenient when a group needs to be divided! For this description, we'll start at Rathmichael Church. Again, with
The Cross of Fassaroe
everybody in separate cars, this location is convenient for double parking (for the same group!). Other parking locations are the very small Rathmichael Wood car park O23256 21283; Carrickgollogan O22529 20382 and Barnaslingan O22226 20448 . There are variations through Rathmichael Wood, including a small diversion to the Rath with the "framed window" on the scenery. The loop of Carrickgollogan Hill and the Lead Mines Chimney are well know, so I'll skip ahead to the Barnaslingan Loop. Of course, it's possible to do a loop within this wood, but an old mass path has very recently been cleared on Barnaslingan Lane; the briars and overgrowth have been cut back by two members of the local community, whom we happened to encounter on our hike of discovery there. I am indebted to the local community magazine, Three Rock Panorama (Nov. 2020 edition), for bringing my attention to this new discovery https://threerockpanorama.ie/ The disadvantage of this loop is the 750 m walk along Barnaslingan Lane to O217 210. However, the exit from this mass path connects almost directly with the right of way through the hotel grounds on the other side of Enniskerry Road, and the various options that unfold from that.
Barnaslingan Mass Path - access point on Barnaslingan Lane
Along the Mass Path
NORTH: On thin ice.
The man-made lake near the top of Binevenagh in County Derry is captured by Aidy with its entire surface frozen solid.
Aidy on Binevenagh, (Binn Fhoibhne):
The man-made lake on Binevenagh, frozen over on a cold February day. ... Click here ...
NORTH: Memory lane
Member Aidy takes advantage of the lockdown to review recent outings, including this one which provided a fine view of Ben Crom reservoir in the Mournes.
Aidy on Ben Crom, (Binn Chrom):
A minor upside to the Covid crisis has been the amount of time I've had on my hands to look back over and edit older photos, including this one (slightly more recent from November 2020) of the view from Ben Crom over the reservoir. ... Click here ...
NORTH: Deep freeze
The snow cover was so deep on Mullaghclogher in the Sperrins, that it prevented Aidy from reaching the top, but did supply some beautiful winter scenery nonetheless.
Aidy on Mullaghclogher, (Mullach Clochair):
I had a quick wander around the snow-covered slopes of Mullaclogher and Mullaghcarbatagh yesterday, being unable to resist the lure of a winter hike after being kept out of the hills by lockdown for so long. I didn't quite reach the summit of either mountain, as the walking was extremely difficult with deep snow lying on top of high heather and rushes. Even so, it was a great release to be out i ... ... Click here ...
WEST: The Partrys Season
ceadeile has uploaded a perfect example of the Summiteer's Tidying Up Exercise, a shlep up onto the northern stretches of the Maumtrasna plateau in the Partrys, brushing the edge of some mighty corries before finishing on the summit of mullach thoir thuaidh. The route could be adapted to visit Mám Trasna itself, and the descent made along a parallel spur to the west.
ceadeile on A ramble to some less visited Partrys
Locating the actual summit of Barnahowna is easier on a clear day. There are several imposters. Good parking available | walk, Len: 18.9km, Climb: 720m, Area: Partry/Joyce Country (Ireland) Barnahow ... Click here ...
WEST: Is this a record?
Member timredfern climbed Tully in West Connemara around 140 times during lockdown and duly supplied some memories of his outings.
pdtempan on Slieve Beg, (Sliabh Beag):
There is good rock-climbing to be had on the granite cliffs on either side of this gash. Routes include Satan's Staircase, Necromancer, Exorcised and Loosifer. The Devil's Alternative was first climbed by Dawson Stelfox, the first Irishman to conquer Everest. ... Click here ...
Featured summit comment The Path Less Trodden markmjcampion
"The Path Less Trodden" is a very appropriate title for markmjcampion's post of Feb 26. It outlines an unusual, and slightly challenging, route up Killarney's famous Torc Mountain. The route takes in both the main summit and the west top. Mark describes the forested route as 'a sublime and rare treat', which sounds very inviting when we all get travelling again. [ED: This summit was recently added after a proposal by mark.]
There's a nice but intermittently ridge walk to be had if you start from the N71 (Road to Kenmare) at approx. V93519 83441, which is to the west. Park at the spacious car park about 500m north of here.
After the roadwalk cut into the sparse forest. It's full of old, natural trees and is particularly enchanting. I recommend resisting walking into the forest when you reach it - much better to walk further down the road and then double back through the trees for a sublime and rare treat.
Tear yourself away from the forest after a while and aim for the ridge at approx. V94102 83434 and enjoy a great walk up to Torc West Top. The going is sometimes rough but in the main it's possible to pick out long stretches of sandstone that are either easy to walk on or fun to scramble on.
The going as you get closer to West Top isn't as nice but it's easily manageable. Be careful in mist as there are some false tops and some very steep ground to the NW. From West Top to Torc there's a steepish descent followed by a less steep ascent on rough ground.
To get back to your car, follow the regular route down to the Old Kenmare Route. Turn left when you get there and follow wide trails back to the car park at Dinis. From here it's a roadwalk of a little over 2k back to the car. Beware though, it's a busy road when the tourists are in town so it's much better if you can do a car or bike split.
[ED, this sounds like a great route and we could use a GPS track following this route.]
Photo: Markmjcampion, Eagle's Nest and The Long Range from a perilous perch on Torc West
SOUTH: Love it or hate it!
Knockbrack in West Cork evokes diametrically opposed views on its merits or lack of them. For markjcampion, it’s the former!
markmjcampion on Knockbrack, (An Cnoc Breac):
I'd have to disagree with Conor74 here...I suppose we've all got different views and that's what makes the world go round. When I'm doing a small peak or a small round I like to include a road walk as i really enjoy rambing the narrow country roads that abound out west. This time I parked outside a disused quarry at approx. W01411 70213 and headed on up the quiet backroad to where thomas_g parked. ... ... Click here ...
SOUTH: "New" summit, sumptuous views.
Cliffs, native forestry and beautiful waterfalls combine to give the relatively low Cromaglan in the Mangerton area a very remote feel, writes markmjcampion. Interesting to note from one of the photos is the perching stone. The nearby route between Cromaglan an Mangerton is famous for having dozens of perching rocks.
markmjcampion on Cromaglan Mountain:
This is one of my favourite Kerry hills. It's got loads of character and is ideally located as a lookout to loftier locales. The ground to the north is full of cliffs and native forestry with some wonderful waterfalls.
I usually head up from the Esknamucky Glen. Walk along the Old Kenmare Road [this doubles as the Kerry Way] from Torc waterfall and when you pass Cores Cascade* you will soon come ... ... Click here ...
SOUTH: Snowed under
The Brandon range was looking particularly appealing under a coat of fresh snow, as seen recently by thrifleganger.
thrifleganger on Gearhane, (An Géarán):
Backpacked the Brandon range on a good weekend in an unusually cold spell of weather in December. Managed to camp beside the tiny lake south of Gearhane, and climbed up late in this evening to get panoramic views with fresh powdery snow. ... Click here ...
EAST: Loafing around
I'm sure somebody's previously conceived of and executed an integrale from Bray over the Head to the Sugarloafs/Sugarloaves, but tbaines is the first person I know of to have immortalised it electronically for our delectation. It looks like a fine legstretcher with a fair amount of ascent and a handy amount of variation thrown in on the return journey.
tbaines on Bray to Sugar Loaves
| walk, Len: 26.7km, Climb: 1154m, Area: Little Sugar Loaf, Wicklow (Ireland) Little Sugar Loaf, Great Sugar Loaf ... Click here ...
EAST: Taking the long view
On a crisp winter’s day, member scannerman captures a distant view from Montpelier Hill across Dublin city all the way to the Mournes.
scannerman on Mountpelier Hill, (Hellfire Club):
Was planning to climb this little hill last Friday 8th Jan during the snowfall but got called away on a errand but just prior I shot this image of Dublin with the Mourne mountains in the back round roughly 70 miles distant as the crow flies. ... Click here ...
EAST: Suburban Commando
Displaying a devotion to detailed exploration that would meet the approval of cartographers or serial killers, simon3 continues to mooch around the neighbourhood and gives an example that one might want to follow in spirit...folk might ask questions if you retraced his footsteps exactly. There's coffee available too, which is always a bonus.
simon3 on Cabinteely Park with Cherrywood shortcut, probably transient.
This is a walk that relies on a connection that may not last long. However for as long as this connection is possible it| walk, Len: 9.8km, Climb: 160m, Area: Dublin (Ireland) ... Click here ...
MIDLANDS: There Is No Sanity Clause
'There's fine hillwalking country for the connoisseur in the Slieve Blooms' is a sentence that makes less sense than 'Finnegan's Wake' to be honest, and yet still melohara has sent in a cry for help disguised as a GPX file detailing his walk over three tops in this most unmountainous of mountain ranges, all with an odd sense of remoteness despite being no more than 3km from a road. All good character building stuff, you'll be telling yourself.
melohara on Slieve Blooms - Stillbrook Hill, Carroll's Hill & Barcam
3 hills on my Local 100 list. Another day when I promised myself I'd never walk in the Slieve Blooms ag| walk, Len: 15.8km, Climb: 253m, Area: Carroll's Hill, Slieve Bloom (Ireland) ... Click here ...
WALES: Distant water.
The Mid Wales moorland summit of Pen y Waun-fawr allows for a clear (if distant) view of the superb Ffrid Fawr waterfall, writes Fergalh.
Fergalh on Pen y Waun-fawr:
On the way to the summit if you look to the west the wonderful Dylife waterfall on the Craig y Maes gorge can be seen. Unfortunately there is no track or way to get closer to this waterfall so long distant view is all there is at the moment. ... Click here ...
ENGLAND: No moor, no less.
The highest point on the North Yorks Moors and on the classic marathon Lyke Wake Walk, Urra Moor provides a snowy walk for Fergalh.
Fergalh on Urra Moor - Round Hill:
Parked at Clay Bank Car park to the North West and followed track with wall to the left up over Clay Bank. This was a snowy windy day and from here the track was fully exposed to the North Sea Breeze. The track continues south east until finally just after a large junction the trig pillar can be spotted a short distance to the north ... Click here ...
SCOTLAND: The Galloway to the Stars.
Often overlooked in favour of the Highlands but actually splendid walking country, Fergalh visits Merrick, the crowning point of Galloway.
Fergalh on Merrick:
From Benyellary we crossed the narrow ridge known as 'Nieve of the Spit' and than ascended to the summit of the Meerick which is the highest mountain in Southern Scotland. This is marked with a Trig Pillar ... Click here ...
Sorry if we didn't mention what you posted .. there's a list of all contributors for recent
month(s) later.
MOTLEY GATHERING
Volunteering for 2021: Strengthening the MountainViews Committee
Currently we have a number of officers on the committee such as chairperson, secretary etc. We
really could use some further committee members to achieve our strategic goals and spread the
load.
Position
In Brief
Ordinary members
For those taking an interest in the MV committee or indeed committees in general we
can also use some further "regular" committee members without a specific role. There
are many smaller quite finite projects that might suit regular members.
Publicity
MountainViews is a great resource based on over 1300 people's contributions over 18
years. Great that is if you have heard of it. And that's where we could use some
practical publicity help.
The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth
Quite apart from programmers, MV's progress can also use help from
people who can really follow through on tasks like creating lists, checking stats,
researching place names or geology. Whether on the committee or not we value such
people's contributions.
We published the annual in Feb 2021, in the midst of the pandemic.
For 2020 the Annual has 64 pages in 18 Articles about walking on hills, mountains, coast and islands here and abroad. Some working around Covid19, some despite it, some for the future.
SUMMITEERS and PLACE-VISITORS CORNER
A place for those interested in Summiteering, Bagging, Highpointing, visiting islands and coastal places.
A Guide to Ireland's Mountain Summits - The Vandeleur-Lynams & The Arderins
MountainViews first book available online and in some bookshops. The first reprint with numerous
minor amendments is available.
simon3 on A Guide to Irelands Mountain Summits
MountainViews first book available online and in many bookshops.
As members will know, for over a decade, Mountainviews.ie has been providing unique information to hillwalkers on all aspects of exploring and enjoying Ireland's upland areas. It's been a collaborative effort by over 1000 of you, and currently contains over 6000 comments on 1057 mountains and hills on the island of Ireland ... ... Click here ...
Bulk sales to groups such as Scouts/ Guides: contact admin@mountainviews.ie for a discounted price.
SITE NEWS
Kerry Pronunciations
Paul Tempan, with the assistance of volunteer Hannah Ní Shearcaigh has created pronunciation clips for hundreds of names of Kerry summits in both Irish and English.
You can see, or rather hear, some samples of these as here:
We hope to get the bulk of the Kerry pronunciation clips live on the website shortly.
If you are interested in helping, here is the volunteer brief: We are preparing pronunciation files for Irish and English names of the places that MountainViews features. If you are able to do this, preferably a native speaker and interested in helping please let us know. This project is coordinated by Paul Tempan. Contact: admin -at- mountainviews.ie
(Information above and below are since we last presented such figures, which is generally a
month but can be longer when we don't have an html newsletter.)
Our contributors to all threads this month:
Aidy (4), BleckCra (1), Bunsen7 (2), Colin Murphy (3), David-Guenot (1), Fergalh (511), Onzy (4), PatrickKinsella (2), Pazapas (1), Ronan119 (1), Simon-Glover (1), Tom Milligan (1), cactustravelfan (1), ceadeile (2), eamonoc (3), Communal summary entries (10), jgfitz (2), liz50 (3), madfrankie (1), march-fixer (4), markmjcampion (8), mcrtchly (2), melohara (2), noeloneill (1), pdtempan (1), scannerman (1), simon3 (7), tbaines (3), thrifleganger (1), timredfern (7), wfinn30 (1), young_mephisto (1)
For a fuller list view Community |
Recent Contributors
Summary.
MountainViews now has 9498 comments about 1653 different
hills, mountains, island and coastal features out of the total in our current full list
(2202 on island of Ireland). We want to get a good gps track showing each of the
major ways to visit each
of these places and summits in Ireland. If you see an option to add a "Short Summary" then do
please consider creating one since another objective is to have a short summary for every summit
and island and coastal feature in Ireland. There's quite a few
opportunities for you to be the first to comment on a place, not so many on summits, however
lots of opportunities for islands and coastal features as we bring them out. We also have around
2700 shared GPS tracks, mostly in Ireland. Apart from a few popular areas, there is a need for
more routes in many different areas. Plain shared tracks without descriptions are welcome
however if you have time then do please add route descriptions with photos.
NOTICES
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)
This newsletter
This newsletter
Editor: Simon Stewart, Homepage:
www.simonstewart.ie
Assistant editors: Colin Murphy, David Owens
Summit comment reviews: David Murphy
Challenge Info: Jim Holmes
Track reviews: Peter Walker
Book reviews: Aidan Dillon, Peter Walker, Mel O'Hara
Videography: Peter Walker
Graphics design advice & cartoons: madfrankie
Development & support volunteers: Vanush "Misha" Paturyan, Mike Griffin
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Quarterly August 2024
jgfitz on Rathmichael - Scalp multi-loop walk
The Path Less Trodden
