Extensive views for little effort

Bagged this hill on a late, sunny afternoon on 25. March 2014, after a longer walk up Killane/Baurearagh/Turner's Rock. From Kealkill, head for Macroom and take a left turn at O'Sullivan Béara Castle (worth a stop). Keep left at next crossroads and carefully follow the narrow road that winds its way up to Lough Atooreen. There is room for one car along a bend, just before you reach the crossroads N of Lough Atooreen, on a grassy lay-by to the right, leaving enough space for another car to use it as a passing place if necessary. From there, head NW and turn right at the crossroads. There is a stone row on the right (shown on OS map) which is beautifully situated, offering different views over Lough Atooreen, the steep NW slopes of Knockbreteen (see pic), Knockboy and Conigar. Not to be missed !
Then walk up the road until you see a Béara Way stile on the right. Climb stile and uphill to the right up the firebreak clearing. The going is relatively easy though a bit wet in some places. As you reach the top of the ridge, the Béara Way makes a sharp turn left. Veer right instead, keeping the fence to your right and make your choice for the top amongst the several grassy humps that lay along the fence. I chose the one that lays about 150m from the Béara Way. The views are extensive over the surrounding countryside, with Bantry Bay clearly visible to the SW, and the outlines of Knockboy and Conigar to the N.
I then crossed the fence and followed the ridge to the W, finally enjoying the views over Lough Atooreen before I made my way downhill back to the car on steep, slippery ground, veering N (facing the stone row) for the last part of the descent to avoid steeper ground. The only difficulty consisted in finding a convenient place to cross the fence and jumping down the bank onto the road, only a few tens of meters away from the car. Allow about one hour return. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/1233/comment/16032/

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Blessed with rainbows !

After being blessed with daily rainbows during my stay on Inishowen in last November, there was another one waiting for me on top of Knockbreteen ! Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/1233/comment/16033/

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Easy add-on from Slí Bharra waymarked way

We did the Pilgrim’s Way section of the Slí Bharra from Carriganass Castle to Gougane, Knockbreteen is only about 200m off the Waymarked trail.
Approximately 4.5km after leaving Carriganass Castle, the trail skirts a conifer plantation and makes a 90 degree turn to the Northwest.
Here you can leave the Slí Bharra and hop over the fence. Follow the ridge for about 200m and you will reach the peak. There are fine views back down to Kealkill and glimpses of Bantry Bay and the peninsulas around it. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/1233/comment/20641/

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Be careful where you park

The biggest challenge here was finding suitable parking. Eventually I decided to leave the car at the crossroads about 100m to the south west of the Maughanasilly stone row entrance. We climbed the hill and on our return were greeted by the biggest lumber lorry imaginable, sitting in front of our car unable to proceed. This double trailered behemoth was about the only vehicle that couldn’t have got past our parked car. The driver was gracious to be fair to him. I didn’t ask how long he’d been waiting for us. Probably no bad thing we weren’t out for a seven hour loop of the Borlin Valley! Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/1233/comment/24240/

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