The Summit

MountainViews newsletter for guestuser

Sept 2021

HILLWALKING
NEWS - INFORMATION - RECENT CONTRIBUTIONS - FEATURES - FORUMS and

Erris Head Hill (Mayo)
The views on a clear day are tremendous, including the distant Stags of Broadhaven rising from the water.
For original comment, click here.

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

MOTLEY GATHERING

Maumtrasna (682m)

Irish Peaks, Mountaineering Ireland’s excellent publication, records Maumtrasna as a ‘sprawling plateau, adorned with steep sided corries and shapely spurs… a mountain landscape that merits exploration’. On Tuesday the 3^rd of August 2021 I decided to see for myself. I wasn’t disappointed.

Map of route.

The walk begins at a high point overlooking Lough Mask and follows a well-defined path to Lough Nadirkmore. On a fine day, such as it was, I paused a while, just to take a moment to consider how lucky I was to have this beautiful spot all to myself, before setting off and up a steep ascent to a col below Buckaun.

The corrie surrounding Lough Nadirkmore

From there I headed west along the narrow ridge, which soon opened up to reveal the wide expansive plateau. The ground is a little broken but navigation is easy. Three cairns mark the route to the broken Trig point at 673m. Oddly, this is not the highest point. 681m is 1km to the south west and, for me and other pedantic folk, you’ll find 682m about 400m further west. [ED, this is interesting information that suggests that the trig pillar may not be the the highest point and it should be checked out using surveying equipment- until then however MV will continue to use the trig pillar as the top]

Before heading down the long south eastern ridge to the finish point, I stayed a while to take in the wild and beautiful surroundings and to also remember a tragic event that took place in 1882, almost 140 years ago, in the townland of Maumtransna, when five members of a single family were brutally murdered. It was tragic for all manner of reasons, not least because of the how families and people well known to each other split, some becoming accusers and others accused, and not only because this tiny little poverty-stricken area became the focus of the western world’s media, as it was then, and the subject of a truly astonishing miscarriage of justice that foreshadowed others in more in modern times. No, the reason it was truly tragic was because, we can now say with absolute certainty, that one of the three people hanged, Myles Joyce, was entirely innocent of the crime.

Myles Joyce

As I descended the ridge to Skeltia, above the townland, I thought about the injustice of it all and recalled the words written by Jarlath Waldron in his book Maamtrasna – The Murders and the Mystery, the definitive work on the subject:

On the scaffold, his arms were pinioned, his legs strapped – he could no longer fight. The only weapon of defence left to him was his voice. As long as breath was left in his body, this he used with every fibre of his being – to tell the world it was wrong. He was about to meet his God. Him he did not fear, his shouted prayer was for his wife and his children. “Go bhfoire Dia ar mo bhean agus mo chuigear clainne – may God help my wife and my five children.” …From the quicklime grave near Galway Cathedral his cry echoes still.

CHALLENGE
A place for those interested in Challenge Walks

Group pic at the Fei Sheehy

The Fei Sheehy Challenge, a multi-day event with participants crossing all (or some, if preferred) of the Comeraghs, Galtees and Knockmealdowns, took place from August 13^th-15^th. This has become a favourite fixture in the hillwalking calendar since its institution in 2014, and the organisers deserve endless credit for both the creation of such a respected event and for managing to keep it going in a safe manner during this pandemic period (when many other challenge walks have had to be cancelled).

This year the Challenge was in aid of the Native Woodland Trust https://www.nativewoodlandtrust.ie/ and the Mend The Mountain Fund, and both these entities will receive €2,715.50 as a result.

A few words from organiser Gerard Sheehy:

There’s no doubt in my mind that those who take part in difficult challenging walks are masters-level athletes, recreational or not, living their best life on their own terms. They choose what’s difficult, extend themselves, and deal with the aches and pains. Our very own Olympics, for the year that’s in it.

We get a tremendous amount of goodwill from within and beyond the hillwalking community and we greatly appreciate that. I just pull it all together but there are many (many) contributions from a broad spectrum of people and businesses.  

Congratulations to Galtee Walking Club on being crowned All-Ireland Hillwalking Club Champions in 2021. Probably a year in the planning, because that’s what it takes, so well deserved.

The Trailblazers do their stuff every year and it is fitting that they should take away the Epic Effort Award - 2021. Their continued support, the work that they do in promoting this event, the walks they put on to bring new blood to the event every year and they had two walkers this year who took in the Seven Seven Challenge walk a few days before our event. Also, if I tempt folk by making the walks more difficult than they already are, someone in that group will give it a go.

I love what we do because it’s a great leveller and there are no barriers to entry, other than being able to navigate and look after yourself. Each year someone blows my mind with an exceptional performance. One such person is Joan (Neill) and, after a few years of not being able to take part for injury reasons etc., did the three days. Thus becoming the most senior person to do that. Bualadh Bos.

Well done Steven Forde (ulsterpooka on MV) on doing every day of the challenge, for the last eight years.

https://www.feisheehychallenge.net/

Céim na Conaire – A Step along the Way

Céim na Conaire – A Step along the Way

-- Paul Tempan

September – the month of heather

One of the glories of summer and early autumn is seeing hillsides vibrantly coloured with blooming heather.  Most varieties found in Ireland flower from June or July through till September or October.  We have three types of heather that are widespread throughout the island, as well as several other varieties that are restricted to certain regions or rare.&nbsp

Photo: Heather in the foreground of a view of Allihies
and Knockoura, Co. Cork)
(© Copyright Paul Tempan)

You may be happy just to admire them for their beauty, but if you are interested in identifying them, it’s probably best to familiarise yourself with the three widespread varieties and then keep a look out for the rarer ones when you are walking in the right areas.

Photo: Bell heather growing beside gorse on the
Ben of Howth (© Copyright Paul Tempan)

One of the most common varieties is bell heather (Erica cinerea) which is named from its bell-shaped flowers that have a vivid purple or reddish colour. 

Photo: Ling on Mullaghmore, Co. Tyrone
(© Copyright Paul Tempan)

More subtly coloured is ling (Calluna vulgaris), also simply called heather, whose smaller flowers can vary in colour from white through pink to magenta.  Both of these plants like acidic soils and grow on heaths or moorland. 

Photo: Cross-leaved heath on Slewtrim /
Bessy Bell, Co. Tyrone
(© Copyright Paul Tempan)

The third widespread variety is cross-leaved heath (Erica tetralix), which tends to prefer wetter, boggy spots.  It may be tricky to distinguish from bell heather as its flowers are pink, sometimes a deep pink approaching purple, but the clusters of flowers are only at the tip of the stem, whereas bell heather has flowers along a greater length of the stem.  Also cross-leaved heath has leaves in whorls of four around the stem, whereas bell heather has whorls of three leaves.

Photo: St. Dabeoc’s heath in Connemara
(© Copyright Paul Tempan)

A rarer heath plant which you’ll only find in Cos. Galway and Mayo is St. Dabeoc’s heath (Daboecia cantabrica).  I’ve come across it in Connemara growing along the southern shore of Killary Harbour and also inland near An Teach Dóite / Maam Cross.  The flowers are pink to magenta and remind me of tiny Chinese lanterns.  St. Dabeoc’s heath is a member of very exclusive ‘club’ known as the ‘Lusitanian flora’ – a group of 15 plants which are native to Ireland and the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) but not to Britain. 

Once you’ve found these heathers, you’ll have caught me up.  I’m now keeping an eye out for Mackay’s heath (also in the Lusitanian flora), Dorset heath and Irish or Mediterranean heath, all of which are only found in Ireland near the west and north-west coast.  

Photo: Gorse fire on the Ben of Howth, July 2021
(© Copyright Paul Tempan)

Sadly, there have been wildfires in several areas of Ireland this year, including Killarney National Park and the Mourne Mountains.  The impact of these fires on habitats, wildlife and tourism were highlighted by Helen Lawless, Access & Conservation Officer of Mountaineering Ireland in the Summer 2001 edition of Mountain Log.  In July my wife and I visited Howth on three successive days and found gorse fires still smouldering on large areas of the Ben of Howth (mountainviews.ie/summit/1046/) even after a torrential downpour.  Fire crews were struggling to contain these fires and we saw that fire-breaks had been newly made below Howth Summit to prevent fires spreading. 

Photo: Hemp-agrimony growing among
ferns at the Nose of Howth,
Ireland’s Eye in the background
(© Copyright Paul Tempan)

Fortunately we were still able to enjoy some fantastic walks in areas unaffected by the fires around the Nose of Howth (the very eastern tip of the peninsula) and from Howth Summit down to the Baily Lighthouse and back.  The flora in these areas is truly stunning.  It made us realise how precious, but also how fragile, such heathland environments are.

Logainmneacha / Place-Names

Binn Fraoigh, ‘peak of heather’, is the name of two separate peaks in the Twelve Bens, Co. Galway.  One is anglicised as Benfree and has the alternative name Luggatarriff (mountainviews.ie/summit/216/).  The other, located N of Kylemore Lake, has the alternative name Altnagaighera (mountainviews.ie/summit/1444/).

A very similar name is Binn an Fhraoigh / Binnafreagh, a cliff near Fanad Head in Co. Donegal.

Coolfree Mountain (mountainviews.ie/summit/684/) is on the eastern edge of the Ballyhoura Mountains in Co. Limerick.  It is situated in the townland of Coolfree, whose name is from Ir. Cúil Fhraoigh, ‘nook of heather’.

Fráech, ‘heather’, was used as a forename in early Ireland.  The best-known bearer of the name was a legendary handsome Connacht warrior, who had his own tale in the Ulster Cycle, Táin Bó Fráich.  Fráech won the heart of Finnabair, daughter of Queen Medb and King Ailill.  He is remembered in the place-name Carnfree, Co. Roscommon, which means ‘Fráech’s cairn’.

Knockanore in North Kerry, overlooking Ballybunion and the mouth of the Shannon (mountainviews.ie/summit/984/), is officially called Cnoc an Fhómhair in Irish, ‘hill of the harvest or autumn’ (www.logainm.ie/1165819.aspx).  If anybody knows why, it would be good to hear from you, because the folklore of the hill usually passes over this, focussing on an ancient battle.  Fómhar is the same word which crops up (pun intended!) in Meán Fómhair, the Irish name of September, meaning ‘middle of autumn’, and in Deireadh Fómhair, October, ‘end of autumn’.  These are relics of an early Irish calendar in which the year was divided into four seasons before the introduction of months and autumn or the harvest season was reckoned from Lúnasa (1^st August nowadays) to Samhain (1^st November). 

Incidentally, our Polish-speaking members will not need reminding that September is the season of heather because their name for the month, wrzesień, comes from wrzos, ‘heather’.

The MountainViews ANNUAL, brought out in 2021.

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

SITE NEWS

MountainViews Surveying and Changes to Lists.

Most MountainViews lists are based on the geography of places: height and prominence.  Unlike some earlier lists this removes subjectivity, but there is a cost.  The onus is then on us to establish the height and prominence of summits to determine whether or not they are in a given list.

So for example the Arderins are summits with height of at least 500m and a prominence or drop of at least 30m. 

Since July of this year, we’ve made measurements for nearly 30 summits and there have been a couple of surprises.

List changes

So there are now 405 Arderins down from 406 and there are now 274 Vandeleur-Lynams up from 273.

We expect more adjustments one way or the other.

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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