This website uses cookies, which are small text files that the website puts on your device to facilitate operation. Cookies help us provide a better service to you. They are used to track general user traffic information and to help the website function properly.
Featured Track of the Month Beann to the Bone
This month's selection finds Colin Murphy demonstrating that there are still
quiet and relatively unexplored areas of Macgillycuddy's Reeks, if you look
'low' enough. Two Carn summits, rough ground, excellent views.
Colin Murphy on Challenging enough loop walk with wonderful views.
Main walk Start: 14:06, End: 17:20, Duration: 3h13m, Length: 6.6km,Ascent: 464m, Descent: 464m Places: Start at V7611283973, Beann Dhearg, Beann Bhán, 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)
Pic 1 caption: Close to the start point, with Caher in distance.
A pretty taxing walk of 7km, taking in two Carns and some epic views. Parking for several cars at starting point. Simply follow the Kerry Way south into the sweeping valley, with Caher to the east and the Beanns rising steeply to the west.
Pic 2 caption: View as the Kerry Way gently ascends.
At first the incline is relatively gentle, but after about 2km it starts to rise much more steeply, but is a great aid in reaching the col. Around where the track forks, leave it and begin to climb directly to the west, with more steepish ground, but mostly grassy with some heather underfoot. A fence further aids navigation. The views from this point in all directions are tremendous.
Pic 3 caption: Broaghnabinnia seen from the west
Beann Dhearg’s summit is unmarked – a solid grassy mound.
Pic 4 caption: Beann Dhearg highpoint
Turn NW towards the second summit, dropping down sharply to the col and losing almost 100m ascent. More steep climbing awaits on the ascent of Beann Bhán, which is also unmarked – a less prominent grassy bump. Continue north from here for about 1.3km, following a fairly gently descending ridge, and avoiding the much steeper slopes to the east.
Pic 5 caption: Descending Beann Bann with Lough Acoose to the north
This will take you to a narrow offshoot of the Kerry Way, which will lead east to rejoin your original route just a few hundred metres from starting point.
NORTH: Serendipitous selfies stick. Having
lost one selfie stick while trudging through the heather on Binnion in
Inishowen, member Jim_Brady was incredibly fortunate to discover another!
Jim_Brady on Binnion Cnoc an Bhinnín:
followed eejaymm's initial parking directions for Annagh except I didn 't take the lane beyond the fence and opted for a direct assaultafter parking at the dead end down to the left of his parking place. Climbed on 4/20 and scrambled my way thru ankle deep and knee deep heather . At one point I put my selfie stick down to photograph some lichen and I walked on without the stick. Took me an hour to ... ... Click here ...
NORTH: Shhhh.....! Possibly the least accurately named landmark
in all of Ireland, given that it's clearly marked on Google Maps and is
seemingly besieged by Instagram influencers on any decent day, Colin Murphy
has braved the possibility of hordes of humanity to visit Donegal's Secret
Waterfall. It won't absorb more than about 40 minutes, but there's precise
instructions and it fits in well with a day spent in the more mountainous
areas to the north and west. Colin Murphy on The Secret Waterfall
This is a simple 2.5km return walk with a climb of just 50m, but it’s well worth the effort if you’re in the Killybe| walk, Len: 1.1km, Climb: 78m, Area: Donegal SW (Ireland) ... Click here ...
NORTH: Pretty easy but rewarding Carn A new short summary
for Crockuna in Donegal SW describes a relatively simple climb with
beautiful views. group on Crockuna Cnoc Onna:
Parking available at G 640 887 near McMonigle Stoneworks.
Walk SW to G 63975 88685 to access Sli Cholmcille and follow Sli Cholmcille to a stile at G630 886. Cross fence and head directly south up the gently rising slope – mostly grass, short heather and large areas of scree, but easy terrain generally. Summit is marked by a cairn next to a fence. Fine views in all directions. ... Click here ...
WEST: Patrick’s day… A day on Croagh
Patrick and Ben Goram had plenty of drama, with a helicoptered rescue, cloud
inversion, amazing views and dreaded midges, reports member gaolthe. gaoithe on Croagh Patrick Cruach Phádraig:
We stashed 2 bikes at small roads T junction to the West of Ben Goram. Cars parked at pilgrim car park in Murrisk. Cracking sunny day. Thunderstorms away to North and West of us. As we climbed cloud inversion rolled in to the land South and a smaller one to North over Clew Bay. Mountain rescue came out team dropped from helicopter to assist and take away someone in difficulty. Steep climb so tough ... ... Click here ...
WEST: Narrow margins Mayo's Sheefrys are among the
least-frequented of Ireland's higher mountains, with incredibly steep and
scalloped slopes leading up to an easy, almost level crest. simon3 has had
himself a surveying day out (with some interesting results) after ascending
the previously undocumented (in MV) SE spur of Tievummera, finding this a
very straightforward way up. His track can easily be extended to either/or
Tievnabinnia or Barrclashcame; the ridge is easy going and almost level.
simon3 on A visit to Tievummera via its South East spur.
Starting from the Glenummera River, this route uses the forest to gain height on a forest road. The forest as of 2024| walk, Len: 11.9km, Climb: 712m, Area: Tievummera, Sheeffry Hills (Ireland) Ti ... Click here ...
WEST: Short and sweet A short climb up Minaun on Achill, but
the views from this rocky peak on a clear day are stunning, reports
magnumpig. magnumpig on Minaun An Mionnán:
A short climb from end of the access road to the summit, and usually very cloudy and windy and summit but when the elements allow it, you're rewarded with exceptional views, particularly in direction of Keem and Keel ... Click here ...
WEST: High and mighty Member ucampbell trekked to
thelittle-visited highpoint of Inishbofin in Galway for some fabulous views.
ucampbell on Middlequarter An Cheathrú Lair (2):
The way marked trail maps provided on the Island lead you to the Cliffs. However I wanted to reach the highest point and this was easily done in the time allowed before getting the afternoon ferry return. I'm surprised no one else on the forum has commented on the Islands highest point since the previous post. It's the West Quarter, according to my map. Fabulous views.
[ED: The only map in 2024 ... ... Click here ...
Featured summit comment A long time ago in a less regimented Galaxy ...
Many visitors or mainland-bound admirers must have speculated as
to the difficulty of a full ascent of Sceilg Mhichíl off the Iveragh coast,
a possibility now comprehensively removed by those who shepherd modern day
visitors about the place. But in ancient times the monks did just that, and
even more recently it was possible to wend (and other non-walking related
movements) up to the giddy crown of the island. Doyen of the Scottish
scrambling guidebook IainT has reminisced about such an adventure, leaving a
comment entitled "Once Upon A Time In The West". Admire his daring and
descriptive powers, and don't try to follow him!
Once Upon A Time In The West
IainT
Back in the mists of time (well 1996 anyway, before there were any access
restrictions) I did the same as Mike Foyle and made the detour to the top of
the Skellig.
As far as I can remember it was easy as far as the hermit's hut (which had a
brilliantly simple system for keeping grit out of the water supply), then it
got much steeper and quite intimidating. I recall a steep chimney on big
holds, then the exposure on the summit was absolutely gobsmacking. A knife
edged spar of rock projects over the void and apparently there used to be a
cross out on the end of it which pilgrims had to go out and kiss. The cross
had gone by the time I visited but I couldn't resist edging out to the end -
on my backside with one leg either side, no way was I doing it standing up!
The descent seemed oddly easier than going up, then I tagged on to the talk
and tour at the monastery before we had to make a rapid exit as the wind got
up. The journey back was fairly bouncy, and several times I was thrown up
into the air as I hung onto a rail.
The whole island is an amazing place, stunning scenery and historically
fascinating. St Kilda is the only place I've ever been that compares, and
even that doesn't have the same "perched in the sky" feel.
Photo:
IainT, Monastery summit from the main summit
SOUTH: As old as the hills Descending
Beann Bhan in the Reeks, Colin Murphy & Brendan O’Reilly came across a
structure that appears megalithic, but is unmarked on any maps.
Colin Murphy on Beann Bhán :
Descending Beann Bhán in Kerry recently, came across this structure, which appears (to my untrained eye) be a megalithic tomb, although it isn't marked on any map I could find. Perhaps it's of more recent origin, but perhaps a member might be able to shed some light on it. ... Click here ...
SOUTH: A tooth with bite Any attempt on the VLs must include
The Hag’s Tooth, and in the course of a tough walk, No1Grumbler discovered
that the Reeks have multiple other incisors & canines. No1Grumbler on Hag's Tooth Stumpa an tSaimh:
Like 1950s dentistry, my pursuit of the Vandeleur-Lynams over 30 years is rarely elegant and sometimes painful. I knew that eventually I would have to climb Stumpa a’ tSaimh. This hill had tortured my dreams. Sadly, my grumbling chums stayed in Kildare, while I ventured to Cronin’s yard. I slept fitfully through an impressive lightening storm, witnessing the gods throwing bolts around the Reeks ... ... Click here ...
EAST: The old and the new Saggart Hill
in Dublin is a small but surprisingly pleasant walk, featuring prehistoric
tombs and communication masts, writes hibby. hibby on Saggart Hill Cnoc Theach Sagard:
This turned out to be a surprisingly pleasant walk on a sunny Sunday morning, through mixed woodland with lots of birdsong. It's a popular spot for off-road cyclists, who were all very courteous.
The summit area is fairly flat and the exact high point is not clear. We identified a small mound at O 16920 22875 as a likely spot, and it turned out to be a prehistoric tomb. The OS map places the su ... ... Click here ...
EAST: Popular as hell Montpelier Hill, aka the Hellfire
Club, is a much visited and loved place by Dubs, but council plans for an
‘interpretive centre’ and ‘sky bridge’ might damage the hill’s character,
writes hibby. hibby on Montpelier Hill Hellfire Club:
This hill is a very popular place to go for a walk on the weekends, thanks to its relative ease of ascent, its proximity to population centres, the interesting historical features at the summit, and the wonderful views. There is a large car park, which is busy and much in demand on fine weekend days.
It seems fairly common to ascend by the winding forest paths and then take the steep straight-l ... ... Click here ...
EAST: You shall not pass An access issues has apparently
arisen on Baltinglass Hill in Wicklow, which is the site of some important
Neolithic structures, writes Colin Murphy. Colin Murphy on Baltinglass Hill Cnoc Bhealach Conglais:
An access issue seems to have arisen on this Wicklow Hill, which is terrible given the important Neolithic monuments at the summit. Previously walkers have suggested approaching via the large cross on the west of the hill. Just past this point however (around 300m ascent), brand new, high barbed wire fencing has been erected. In the grassy field beyond, two signs inform you that there is 'No Tresp ... ... Click here ...
FRANCE: Sea to sky Lone Peakbagger
David-Guenot makes a welcome return this month with the submission of
several tracks from the France/Spain border. We're highlighting a relatively
straightforward day out in the Massif des Albères, described with lots of
practical detail and fine photos with the route covering rocky summits,
towers and panoramic views of the Mediterranean. David-Guenot on Torre de la Massana
The Massif des Albères is situated in Catalunya and marks the border between France and Spain. After a few visits in th| walk, Len: 8.5km, Climb: 582m, Area: Unid, Unid () ... Click here ...
SCOTLAND: Big hills, big days Stamina and
persistence are necessary qualities when targeting the mountains on
Scotland's legendary Munros list, as you'll experience some long,
soul-searching days. eamonc has submitted one of them (amongst many others
this month), a visit to three mountains to the north of the ridiculously
scenic Glen Affric. One of them (Beinn Fhionnlaidh) is one of the remotest
of the Munros, the other two (Carn Eige and Mam Sodhail) are the highest
mountains north of the Great Glen. Big country and no mistake, with plenty
of scope for even more extended outings. eamonoc on Epic in Glen Affric
A superb route in Glen Affric, which includes according to Walk Highlands the much sought after very remote Ben Fionnlad| walk, Len: 30.5km, Climb: 1754m, Area: Loch Duich to Cannich (Britain) Sron G ... 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
2024
Position
In Brief
Temporary Assistant Secretary
Our Secretary needs help for this year with
arranging meetings and doing minutes.
Publicity
MountainViews is a great resource based on over 1500
people's contributions over 22 years. Great that is
if you have heard of it. And that's where we could
use some practical publicity help.
The Nerds Shall Inherit the Earth
Quite apart from programmers, MV's progress can also
use help from people who can really follow through
on tasks often using Excel such as creating lists,
checking stats, researching place names or geology.
Whether on the committee or not these contributions
are vital.
Damian McDonagh hikes around his favourite place in
Ireland
"It was a glorious day to return to the island of Inishturk
- my favourite place in Ireland. The weather was absolutely amazing."
Inishturk - off the coast of County
Mayo
Originally settled over 4,000 years ago, Inishturk remains both a
beautiful and tranquil island. Make the effort to visit and you will not
be disappointed. Bring a picnic and hop on the 10.30am ferry from
Roonagh Pier (west of Louisburgh, County Mayo) and spend a day exploring
this sparsely populated haven of natural beauty. The return ferry
departs from Inishturk at 5:15 pm.
On the island there are two well marked walking/hiking trails. Impossible
to miss, the trailhead is located at a gable wall 50m from pier. From
the trailhead follow the surfaced road for 100m past the church (on your
right). There is the shorter paved trail that sweeps around the island
past Loch Cúil a Chnoic in an anti-clockwise direction. However, the
longer trail is superior, offering up some wonderful breathtaking
scenery from the cliffs and sea stacks on the west of the island. The
trail is about 4.5 km long and took me just over an hour to
complete.
The first point of interest is “The Spirit of Place Sculpture”, designed
and built by American architect Travis Price. It's a poignant dedication
to the families of Inishturk and the ideal place to sit down and gaze
out to sea.
Inishturk - 'Spirit of Place' Sculptures by Colin Park, CC BY-SA
2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
The Signal Tower is directly above the Travis Price sculpture. The steep
ten-minute climb to the top rewards you with amazing scenery. A stunning
series of epic vistas all merge into a view that for me is one of the
best in all of Ireland - Achill Island, Clare Island, Caher Island,
Croagh Patrick, Silver Strand beach, Mweelrea and the Connemara
mountains and shoreline meld into one uninterrupted spectacular
sight.
The Signal Tower (Photo by Damian McDonagh)
Using local labour, the signal tower was built during 1805-1806 and was
strategically situated 722 feet above sea level. There were 82 towers
built, finishing on Malin Head, County Donegal. Inishturk was number
57.
The system used was a heliograph or steel plate polished to reflect the
rays of the sun to passing ships. It was the first form of Morse code
used to discourage a possible Napoleonic invasion during the Napoleonic
Wars (18 May 1803 – 20 November 1815). Ireland was known then as
England's backdoor.
Sea Stacks (Photo
by Damian McDonagh)
The cliffs can be seen from the longer trail. This is as rugged as it
gets. It is truly idyllic on a fine summer's day. From here both
Buachaill Mór and Buachaill Beag sea stacks lie just offshore. It's a
thrilling picture-postcard setting and the ideal spot to have a
snack.
I'm not an expert in ornithology but from what I have researched,
numerous birds are breeding here from Fulmars, Guillemots, Black
Guillemots, Razorbills and those most charming of birds, Puffins. The
surrounding sea is home to dolphins, seals and basking sharks. Just when
you think you've had enough, follow the clifftop all the way to Dromore
Head for more astonishing scenery.
Inishturk Football (GAA) Pitch is surrounded by rocky mountains on three
sides. The football pitch is in a natural amphitheatre that appears out
of nowhere as you’re coming up the road. There was a football on
the pitch and me being me, I hopped onto the pitch to score a goal.
Shame there was no one there to record it for posterity!
Nearby is, Port An Dún, a secluded lagoon that provided ideal cover for
the 9th century Viking raiding parties that terrorised these shores. It
is a great place for a swim with many taking a dip into its tempting
waters on a fine day. This time I declined as I was heading onwards to
the community centre bar and restaurant.
Inishturk track
Inishturk Community Centre is the ideal place to finish the day. Sitting
outside, I enjoyed the most wonderful fish and chips washed down by a
delectable pint of Guinness while surrounded by a kaleidoscope of
natural beauty.
The island is fortunate to possess two great beaches near the Community
Centre: Tranaun and Curran beaches. Unspoilt with crystal clear blue
water they are ideal places to swim or just watch the sun go down on
what locals claim to be the best views around. I'd certainly never
disagree with their sentiments.
Inishturk Port (Photo by Damian McDonagh)
Sadly, it was time leave for the return ferry back to Roonagh Pier.
Waiting for the ferry, I spent a good thirty minutes talking to a
lifelong island resident named Jack Heanue. Jack's knowledge of the
island is unrivalled. I was fascinated to find out how life goes on for
the population of 40 or so inhabitants. Catholic mass is down to about
once a month now as the parish priest has to travel by boat from
Louisburgh. Most women on the island bake bread several times a week.
And many grow their own vegetables, too.
I shall return. Driving back to Galway one more visual treat awaits.
Those of you who are familiar with the Doolough Valley will know it's a
stunning drive on any given day; but late in the evening minus the day
trippers it takes on an additional splendour. Driving through and
looking at those mountains I've previously scaled over the years I kept
thinking, we have it all here in Ireland.
-- Damian McDonagh
Rhinog Fawr
Fergal Hingerty heads off the beaten track in Wales
Rhinog Fawr
"I have climbed all around Rhinog
Fawr and its smaller sibling, Rhinog Fach, admiring its distinctive
shape through the clouds, wondering when I would climb it. That day had
come but sadly the mountain was shrouded in cloud..."
Fergal Hingerty has climbed 1,198 peaks in Wales. Here is his account
of his ascent of Rhinog Fawr in the Rhinogydd
mountains of North Wales.
I parked in the forest car park at Graig Ddu Isaf which is down a small
road off the A470 in North Wales. A track from the car park heads
towards Bwlch Tyddiad. I followed the signposts past a farm before
heading up a narrow track beside the river, pausing at the wonderful
waterfall of Pstyll Gwyn.
Pstyll Gwyn waterfall (Photo by Fergal
Hingerty)
Continuing upwards, the track eventually leaves the forest via a gate. At
this point it starts to get wet and slippery. Fortunately, there are
rocks which helped me to cross the more sodden parts. There is an
information board just short of the col at Bwlch Tyddiad. After fifty
metres the rough, wet, heathery track to Llyn Du lake starts to the
left. It winds around the mountainside rising all the way to a somewhat
flat area just before Llyn Du.
Rough track up Rhinog Fawr
(Photo by Fergal Hingerty)
At the lake I clambered up to Rhinog Fawr North Top, this was a mixture
of scree with some minor scrambling to the largely flat summit area.
There were two tops, east and west, which are roughly the same height. I
visited both, although I suspect the western one is higher. I headed down
off the mountain to the lake. According to my map there was a track
running alongside a wall. This headed in an upwards direction sometimes
along the wall and sometimes a little to the east. As the cloud cover
was around 600 metres, visibility was good.
My map showed a junction with the Cambrian Way (It crosses Wales from
north to south - from Cardiff to Conwy) which can be followed to the
summit of Rhinog Fawr at 720 metres. However, this junction and a lot of
the track are a little indistinct in places. It was difficult to find
the route - and easy to lose my footing. Eventually the track came to a
flat area below the summit. With my trusty compass in hand, I scrambled
through the mist to a trig pillar, before continuing to a huge cairn
twenty metres to the north which looked a little higher.
Cairn on Rhinnog Fawr (Photo by Fergal
Hingerty)
The drop back down onto the small flat area below the summit was steep
but straightforward. Then came the difficult part, a short 100 metre
descent on the track to the east of Llyn Du. A mixture of holes,
heather, scree and large boulders made it indistinct, slippery and very
tricky in places.
After that, it was easy to follow the track around the east side of Llyn
Du back to the start. In hindsight, it would probably have been better
to take the eastern approach up Rhinog Fawr and descend via the western
one. However, both seem difficult, tricky and challenging.
Back at the car park I met two Welsh men who had both started and
finished climbing Rhinog Fach around the same time as I did.
Unfortunately, one had a bad wrist injury from a fall on the hill;
thankfully I returned safely.
Rhinog Fawr Track
This hike was around 10 km and took just under six hours - no quick
ascents or descents on these hills. All summits of the mountains in the
Rhinogydd are well earned for sure!
-- Fergal
Hingerty
Using information from EastWest mapping (repeat)
You can search for EastWest names on Google.
Let's suppose
you have been looking at local route descriptions or EastWest mapping for
the Blackstairs and you want to know where "Suidhe
Laighean" is located? Google result:
It now appears in a Google search. It's also currently first on
Bing and DuckDuckGo MV isn't always the first result on Google, but
it's usually on the first page for such searches.
MountainViews has listed all of the different names on EastWest maps (with
their permission). We are doing this as a public service because EastWest
names and the absence sometimes on their maps of official or widely used
names can be confusing. We believe that the process of simplifying and
standardising names should go ahead. As far as the Republic is concerned for
hillwalkers we support Logainm with its approach of "One definitive name in
Irish and one in English for all places".
Here's a few others that you will find using a search engine and MV
EastWest
MV / official name
Cíop Mhór
Kippure
Stol a' tSaighdiúirí
Knockanaffrin
Mulnahogue
Binn idir an dá Log
Dubh Ais
Djouce
SITE NEWS
Recent Surveying
Recent surveying has been directed towards checking summits where their
status as an Arderin is in question. Nearby summits were measured
opportunistically.
MV's Index
Area
Placename
Height
Prominence
457
Croagh
Patrick ( N: North Ridge)
Crott
Mountain
499.7
75.0
492
Croagh
Patrick ( N: North Ridge)
Teevenacroaghy
485.9
41.7
1477
Croagh
Patrick ( N: North Ridge)
Lugnademon
509.9
13.3
67
Sheeffry
Hills (W: Doo Lough)
Tievummera
Trig
759.6
7.9
0
Sheeffry
Hills (W: Doo Lough)
Tievummera
Highpoint
760.3
A change for Crott Mountain, just east of Croagh Patrick,
was on the cards. All available maps said it was exactly 500m in height,
however they were only specified to a whole metre. It turns out that Crott
has a height of 499.7m, just below the required height of 500m for an
Arderin. Crott's prominence of 75m is well over the minimum required of 30m
so wasn't an issue. Crott is demoted from the Arderin status.
There
was a change in position for Tievummera in the Sheefrys.
There is a trig pillar at one likely point which in the past was taken as
the highpoint for Tievummera. However measurement found that a place around
600m to the west is slightly higher by 73cm. Usually in a case like this we
would have simply redefined the top as being the new higher place, but
because the trig pillar is such an obvious feature and because the real
highpoint is so far from it, we decided to retain the trig pillar and
describe the new highest point as "Tievummera Highpoint". This new place now
has the Arderin and VL status. You should ensure that if you visited the
"new" summit ("Tievummera Highpoint") that you have logged visiting it. In
practice, most people who have visited the trig pillar will have been doing
a traverse and very likely walked over the highpoint. Incidentally, if you
are visiting Tievummera Highpoint one way of getting there we found quite
handy is from Glenummera River using track/5092
The table above shows all the summits we know about where a change of
up to 2m in the height or prominence would affect the summit's status as an
Arderin.
If you have read so far, well done. You may be interested
in the plan to have a trip to check Butter Mountain in the Mournes on Sat
10th August. Let admin know if
you are interested in coming on this if you are not already on our mailing
list. Note: This will not be a led walk. Anyone coming is responsible for
themselves. There's also a plan to have a trip to the Cahas to tie-down a
couple more Arderins, as shown above, in September.
Use of AI in development. If you are interested in the intersection of hillwalking and tech (labelled "AFFLICTED" in the diagram), know this: the layout of the above tables was
done using an AI tool. The underlying MySQL queries used to create the data
was aided partially by an AI tool. Given the extensive and digital nature of MV's data
about summits, places, walks etc, we expect to be able to do many new
things using AI tools, with far less effort (barring Jevon's Paradox hitting of course).
PHP development and
conversion to and from PHP, is also massively helped by AI. And it turns out that modern AI's can work with JS beautifully, in particular with the relatively off-piste though very powerful OpenLayers library MV uses as well as jQuery.
Mobile Version (repeat)
As we want to accustom existing users to the new interface, which will in
time replace the existing one, we are saying this again:
The revised menu at a narrow width, showing how to change to the
old interface from the new.
MountainViews new version now has a proper menu, see graphic. For
wider screens the menu uses the width for ease of use. You can switch
between the new version of MV and the old using the menu. Or you can add
?RWD at the end of its url to switch to the new method. (?FWD for the old)
For example to see our data for Djouce, you could enter
Remember, MV new version isn't just for mobile devices, it is what
is known as "Responsive", that is you can use it at a variety of widths much
greater than the old system, from mobile narrow width, to tablets to wide
laptops. The page rearranges to try to maximise the usefulness of the space
that's available. You can see this on a mobile device set to respond to
rotation.
Uploading GPS tracks.
The menu option Walks | Upload a track (NEW) brings you to a new
page to upload a .GPX file. You can try this by clicking
here. This, hopefully improved, page should make it easier to add tracks
to MV. It offers drag and drop as well as file selection. On a mobile device
a way of working is to store a .gpx file from whatever application you are
using to record tracks and then browse to it. There's more than one sort of
device such as Android or Apple, there's more than one version and there's
more than one app. So finding the .GPX files that a given app exports the
first time can be a bit puzzling.
One way of making life easy is to
use "Google Drive". This is available for most mobile devices. You can set
yourself up with an account on this on the mobile device and then export
from you GPX creating app to it. Then in MountainViews you can browse to it
on your phone using the Walks | Upload a track feature.
We have checked doing this with various apps (including ones with a
free option) on both Android and Apple and it works.
Of course you
can also transfer GPX files from your mobile device to a PC or laptop. Once
again there's various ways to do this and once again you can use Google
Drive which is a handy way of sharing files from mobile to PC.
We are indebted to member bogtrotter for testing aspects of the
above.
We have often described difficulties in the past
about mountain and hill names. Difficulties where there is no accepted name
would be one We've been talking to whoever we could about it such as the
Irish Placenames Branch, OSI, EastWest and Logainm
Many and varied
are the issues:
Such as when there isn't an official name and various experts have
created rival ones. The highpoint of the Maumturks has around five
names, at least three of which are current.
Another issue is that there is no official name for hundreds of
places that list makers like MV have identified as needing a name
because of the prominent nature of the place but don't have a name.
For example there's Aghla Beg South Top An Eachla Bheag (mullach
theas) in the Derryveaghs which has a huge prominence of
368m and is an outstanding mountain but has no official name. The
name we have given it is the best we could do, but doesn't represent
the real status of the place as the highest of the "Aghlas". There's
hundreds of smaller summits many of which make for interesting tops
on routes that hillwalkers use that need names.
There's many summits which need a determination as to the
authenticity of alternative names. For example in Central Dingle
there is a summit which MV uses a mouthful of a name Cnoc na Bánóige
North Top Cnoc na Bánóige (mullach thuaidh). EastWest call
this "Mahanaboe". This is certainly a lot neater than the names MV
uses, but would it be a valid, peer reviewed name? We don't know, so although we mention it, we haven't made it the preferred name.
Another source of confusion is where there is an existing official
name but other mapping bodies have suppressed that in favour of a
different name. An example of that is Cloghernagh in Wicklow, named
solely Leohard on EastWest.
Most recently MV with the huge assistance of MI have been talking
to Logainm about this to see, amongst other things, what could be done about
getting some better authority into the whole area. The point simply is that
multiple or inconsistent or no names on summits makes life hard for
hillwalkers. It's definitely not about suppressing research or coming up
with better names, it is about choosing preferred names. To be specific, we
would like to see one preferred name in English and one preferred name in
Irish for every summit in all of the island of Ireland and a mechanism to
allow for official changes to both English and Irish preferred names. We
believe that maps should include these preferred names. This would mean that
for example OSI would include English and Irish names where possible for all
areas (including in the Gaeltacht) and it would mean that EastWest would not
drop officially preferred names either.
Once again, let me commend
MI and its Hillwalking Committee for assisting on this. There's dozens of
issues that can and should be solved at a national level in hillwalking and
this is one of them.
Using MountainViews Notifications - Daily, Weekly or Monthly.
MountainViews offers a way of being notified when new contributions
appear on the website.
You can request a notification with a
selection of new items that have been added to be sent to you by email. The
main way of doing this is to click
On main screen click for notifications.
Same for new design.
After you click on the button, then, in each week that there new
contributions for, you will receive an email listing the more prominent
ones. You can change this to each day or each month.
There are
various other notifications available, such as for following a contributor
or several contributors. If you select more than one sort of notification
then you will still receive one email per period, with different
sections.
Each notification has a link to the original place in the
website where the contribution can be found for further reading.
Here is what a notification might look like in your inbox.
You can have daily, weekly or monthly
notifications. You can turn them off or control when they are to
appear at any time.
The MountainViews ANNUAL 2023, brought out in 2024.
For 2023 the Annual has 68 pages in 16 Articles about walking on hills,
mountains, coast and islands here and abroad.
We welcome the following new members who enrolled recently
accynez, Andrew1966, Andy692, brendyklicker, CaolanH, cflynn, cmlorcain, Darren1978, endaodowd, fallonda, FilserGrim, Flipyou4real, g00438954, GraemePatrick, grg., Hannah_C, J.L, Jacgar, Johnwest, josu, Jtrinder, kapout, Kelvincrossan, Limerick5inarow, Miche, Nan, Oconnor_J91, OldJohn, Patkdy, Ricky.linton, RosieMc, samm77, seandonlon, Tuor, walkman1943 (35)
(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: Bunsen7 (1), Colin Murphy (16), David-Guenot (3), DeirdreM (6), Fergalh (8), IainT (3), Jim_Brady (1), Lauranna (1), Onzy (7), TommyMc (1), YoungJohn (1), bogllama2210 (1), conrad1179 (1), eamonoc (11), gaoithe (2), glencree (1), Communal summary entries (15), hibby (4), magnumpig (1), mlmoroneybb (1), nupat (1), oakesave (1), paddyobpc (1), rhw (6), simon3 (8), three5four0 (1), ucampbell (1)
For a fuller list view
Community | Recent Contributors
Summary. MountainViews now has 10438 comments about
1749 different hills, mountains, island and coastal
features out of the total in our current full list (2207 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, trail bikes 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, Niall Watts Summit
comment reviews: David Murphy Challenge Info: Proinsias, Jim
Holmes Track reviews: Peter Walker Book reviews: Peter
Walker, Mel O'Hara Videography: Peter Walker Graphics
design advice & cartoons: madfrankie Development & support
volunteers: Vanush "Misha" Paturyan
USING MATERIAL FROM THIS NEWSLETTER.
Other websites can link to MountainViews newsletters at for
example: /newsletter For clubs,
individual users, non-commercial users some specified items in
this newsletter (principally, graphics, quizzes etc) are
explicitly shown as Licensed for reuse using this licence: CC
BY-NC-SA 4.0 Display link to MountainViews.ie as part of
your attribution.
Material is subject to our conditions
of use, see mountainviews.ie/conditions/
Commercial users for individual items: please contact us.
(If you have cookies on in your browser then you may be
prompted as to username/ password. If you forget the password,
the login page can email you a replacement.)
DONATING TO MOUNTAINVIEWS Please help with
running costs.
CHANGING EMAIL ADDRESS
Member, PLEASE make your own changes using the Settings feature,
top right of the page. Only, if you can't get this to work let us know by email
at admin -at- mountainviews.ie
Include the email address you got this at or your screen-name
guestuser.
UNSUBSCRIBING
Alternatively let us know by email at admin -at- mountainviews.ie
Include the email address you got this at or your screen-name
guestuser.
Quarterly August 2024
Colin Murphy on Challenging enough loop walk with wonderful views.
A long time ago in a less regimented Galaxy ...
Use of AI in development. 
