The Summit

Monthly newsletter of MountainViews.ie for guestuser

October 2017

NEWS - INFORMATION - RECENT CONTRIBUTIONS - FEATURES - FORUMS

UPCOMING EVENTS

MountainViews Pub Quiz, Lansdowne Hotel, Pembroke Road, Dublin 4, Wednesday, October 18th, 7:30pm

MountainViews Walkers Winter Talks series will resume in 2018. We are looking for further ideas, contacts and practical help.

Inishmore: Atlantic coast of the SE corner

For original shared track, click here.

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

Dún Aonghasa

Poll na Péist aka the Worm or Monster Hole

Route to Wormhole. Dun Aengus in background.

Extraordinary natural swimming pool.

The summit area and more signs of war.

Round defunct lighthouse, square signal tower, Eire sign.

Trig pillar and air navigational aid 50.

Dun Eochla

Returning to Kilronan.

One way home.

Summary

Cuilcagh and all.

Mountaineering Ireland President Paul Kellagher and their Hillwalking, Access & Conservation Officer Helen Lawless on Cuilcagh. The newly churned up state of the land caused by the inappropriate development speaks for itself.

The Mournes Heritage Trust on Upland Path Works

The subject of upland path work on the island of Ireland has stimulated comment and debate with recent press and social media articles about the appropriateness of the work at sites such as Cuilcagh and Slieve league and even the Mournes. In order to inform the debate my aim to is talk from a management body/practitioners point of view about the broad principles, rationale and issues involved when considering intervention.

Mournes skyline from left: Slieve Commedagh, Slieve Donard, Slievelamagan.

Mourne Heritage Trust and Newry Mourne and Down District Council officers and volunteers visited Cuilcagh with Simon Gray, the Geopark Ranger, in July 2017 along with a site visit to Errigal mountain, as part of the Ascent Project (Apply Skills And Conserve Our Environment With New Tools), which looks to develop principles and techniques for communities and land managers responding to increased pressures on environmentally sensitive landscapes https://www.facebook.com/AscentProjectNPA/ .

Our understanding is that the decisions that were made at Cuilcagh came from the need to deal with the overriding issue managers were faced with; the recreational impact on the designated habitat from the end of the dust track where people left it to head for the mountain.

Land managers have complex issues to balance and clearly now social media can be an unexpected game changer, such as at TrollTunga in Norway https://www.facebook.com/Trolltunga/ , where a social media posting resulted in an exponential increase in users to a very remote and challenging site which is presenting management bodies with serious safety and habitat issues to address. We are keen to support colleagues such as in Fermanagh in any way that may help in developing solutions to the shared challenges.

In the Mournes, the reason for intervention has been where erosion has been clearly evidenced and has been preceded by monitoring, detailed reports and consultations to come up with what is deemed to be an appropriate response. We have considered carefully the issues of if, when and how to intervene, and the dilemmas can be whether to do so at an earlier stage than may normally be expected in order to prevent a serious erosion situation occurring, and also do you simply armour existing desire lines, which can involve a high cost, or step back and consider what could be a more sustainable line? Resource constraint plays a big part in your deliberations; with a reliance on capital funding for most work, and limited numbers of skilled staff and volunteers to deal with maintenance.

There are available a range of principles and manuals of techniques to employ, but you also need to ‘learn’ your own site as we have found that one size doesn’t fit all. This means understanding the particular idiosyncrasies of a site involving geology, soil, vegetation, rainfall, wind and user dynamics etc. and often that’s only really understood by observing the impact and performance of actions on the ground. So piloting work can be essential.

From sharing with others that have been at this game for a long time (such as in Scotland), it is recognised that there is an element of this work where you are always learning and you may have to go back in and rework a newly managed site as unforeseen factors undermine its effectiveness.

Another untouched Mournes Panorama.

Within this mix you also have to think about the broader ecosystem services or other factors that impinge on the landscape such as agriculture, habitat designation, wildfire, tourism, recreation, carbon sequestration, water quality and how these may be affected by climate change, the rural economy, the health and well-being agenda, and now BREXIT. Therefore, you may not have one agenda to accommodate.

Our experience so far in the Ascent project shows that what may be seen in one country as a valid context within which to plan upland management, for example product development as an economic driver or for promotion of health and well-being, may be considered inappropriate in   others.

The issue that really keeps coming up with all of the sites we have visited across UK, Ireland and Internationally, and in our own work, is that land managers and practitioners (and communities) are lacking sufficiently effective support mechanisms that would help in dealing with the challenges relating to upland recreation. These include revenue funding for a consistent effort of ‘stitch in time’ path work (alongside wider habitat management), access to best practice information, access to expertise in the field (not just consultants but peers who are used to similar local aspects and have a good body of work behind them), absence of relevant local networks, training, and most importantly leadership in all the above. Countries may be at different stages along the journey of developing a strategic approach to upland path management, but we see a lot of commonality in the issues faced.

In the absence of the above, so far we and other managers have tried to establish a framework to guide our work as best we can, albeit often with limited resources and, consequently, with a piece meal approach. Thus gaps inevitably occur and simple things like the time to ensure good communication with stakeholders is lost and this can cause concern e.g. in the walking community.

For now, we see the Ascent Project as our vehicle for championing a consistent and holistic approach, and we are hopeful that the international dimension will help make the case more robust.

Moreover, we are very interested in the Irish Uplands Forum and Heritage Council’s programme looking at developing Irish Upland Partnerships at the community level that would have the resources and broader support that could sustain them as essential mechanisms for responding to the increasing challenges in the rural environment.

Responding to the challenges outlined, the Ascent project is providing a workshop in November to review perspectives on upland path principles and their applicability for land managers, practitioners and local communities responding to increased erosion in environmentally sensitive landscapes. Key themes to be discussed include common challenges, sharing experience, innovation and policy development. 

For any further information please contact Matthew Bushby at mht@mourne.co.uk.

-- Matt Bushby

MOTLEY GATHERING

The MountainViews ANNUAL, 2016.

CHALLENGE
A place for those interested in Challenge Walks

No way we're not putting away our Hillwalking boots just yet . . . We're Challenge Walkers no less!

By the time October arrives most challenge walks within the Calendar are now but a memory but this won't deter new Hillwalking Club Na Sléibhte. This adventurous Hillwalking Club have some excellent walks planned over the forthcoming weeks that will follow the "Challenge Walks" model and they can be chased up on Facebook for further information.

A new and very welcome addition to the Calendar is The Highwayman Challenge down in the Knockmealdowns. The kind folk in Araglin, Co. Tipperary are proudly hosting this Challenge.

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This is a gentle walk that has an ascent of 715m with a length of 30km. This Walk, even though it is a guided walk, is included in the Calendar, as it is felt that it can be a very interesting Walk that can serve as the perfect introduction to the world of Challenge Walks in Ireland. So now there can't be any excuse to those who are tempted but might have felt that these kinds of Walks could be a tad daunting. Of course not! Aren't the fraternity of Challenge Walkers always there to encourage and support!

October is always a great time to host a Challenge Walk too - isn't it great to have one last Hooley before days of shorter daylight are upon us.

An Errigal Rainbow from the Glover Highlander.

The Glover Highlander was always great for this, but as it only comes around every handful of years or so (The Glover was always a fabulous bookend to the Calendar) . . . it’s always missed on the years when it’s absent!

Of course, of course, of course . . .  my advice to greater MountainViews community is to come and join like-minded walkers on the next meet as organised by a MountainViews member which visits the wild and remote Nephin Beg Mountain Range on the 7^th October (full details within the Newsletter).

There'll always be an up and coming good day out - so be sure to stay tuned to this channel . . . or Newsletter! Here on the MountainViews website we'll do all we can to direct you to a Challenge Walk near you . . . or at least our next MountainViews Scavvy.

Till next year and next season Boys and Girls, Onwards and Upwards,

-- Jim Holmes.

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