darrenf on Moanbane

From Silsean its a short hop accross to Moanbane. There is evidence of quadbike/scrambler activity in the area. The going can be very soft in places and in particular in the saddle between Silsean and Moanbane where there is a virtual marsh to cross. The reascent to Moanbane from Silsean is not taxing in the slightest and along the way great views accross Blessington and the reservoirs are on offer.

As discussed previously on this website there is no clear summit cairn or marker but judging by GPS readings the little pond is indeed the most likely candidate. This pond is not marked on sheet 56. Mullaghcleevaun can be tackled from Moanbane but I had other summits in mind to bag and decided to return to the car. From Moanbane I took a bearing for one of the streams feeding into the Ballinagee River. The descent from Moanbane to the head of the stream is not as knree jerking as it may appear. When I reached the location of the stream it was infact dried up but the river bed was clearly visible and I simply follwed this down to the where it forks with the Ballinagee River itself at D (O045 053). I came upon two seperate large herds of deer (perhaps 13-16 deer in each) as I approached the fork in the river, and judging by their reactions they are not used to seeing people pass this way. The valley below Billy Byrnes Gap is in itself a fine palce to be, and I decided to take lunch at the river side.

From this fork in the river a faint track or indeed number of tracks are evident which all eventually lead onto one main stone/gravel track which seems to be used by local farmers to herd and feed sheep and cattle. This track brought me right around the spur of Silsean and directly into the farm houses at the end of the road E (O038 043). From here the road can be followed back to the car with views over the Ballinagee river valley on your left hand side. All in all a nice little loop albeit very short. 10.1Km in total over 3.5hours. For me the day was not over yet as I headed for Sorrel Hill and Lugnagun. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/107/comment/4518/

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Small pool at the top.

Poor visibility today made finding the actual summit of Moanbane quite tricky. There's nothing obvious in the vicinity of the grid ref in the database, so I've entered a small pool 705 m elevation as the summit on my GPS. The pool isn't marked on the Harvey map, but it appears to be just where the summit is marked. Nice views over to the Barnacullian ridge on the way up, but alas all was obscured by low clouds long before I reached the summit. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/107/comment/527/

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White bog and cottongrass.

On a recent visit to Moanbane, I found the little pond on top had frozen over and the lingering snow that had fallen on it had risen into a puffy meringue or soufflé, or a bowl of whipped cream, or the head of a frothy pint – wherever your taste buds take you (see photo, with snow-ribbed Mullaghcleevaun in the left background).

The name Moanbane (Móin Bhán: white bog) must surely be derived from the carpet of bog cotton (cottongrass) that covers this and the surrounding hills in early summer. Seen from the far side of Blessington Lake in that season, the domes of Silsean (another luminous name), Moanbane and even unpromising Black Hill can look snow-white in the sunshine.

A bog slide was recorded somewhere on the slopes of Moanbane in 1938. Even today, dropping down to the lower reaches on the western side, you will now and again come across a few ominous, gaping holes in the vegetation, sometimes with the throaty gurgle of water below. One is left calculating the uncomfortable odds against another part of this blanket of bog shearing off some black day under the heavy stomp of one’s all-too-confident boots. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/107/comment/3605/

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kaybee on Moanbane

Climbed Moanbane from Black Hill on a lovely summer afternoon, cloudy but very warm. Met nobody else walking, but the tranquility of the hills was interrupted by a group of 6 or 8 scrambler bikers who were buzzing about all over Moanbane, Mullaghcleevaun and Black Hill. As previously proposed, I am in agreement that the pool at the summit is good to mark the high point and here's how it looked on this fine summer's day.... Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/107/comment/3097/

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simon3 on Moanbane

There's no distinct top but, as csd says, it seems to be somewhere near this pond.

I was up here on a fine summer day to find dragonflies cavorting. Not so the cold windy January day of this picture. The group were huddled together for warmth, just willing me to finish fiddling with the camera.

The view behind them glimpsed across the Glenbride valley is Carrigunneen. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/107/comment/2595/

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