Haven't seen this route described on MV previously so here goes — to my mind it beats both the ascent from Lough Accorymore and from the Keem Valley. Being car-less, on Tuesday we walked the bog road from Dooagh towards the deserted village under Slievemore, taking a track heading west at an old mine up onto the hillside and up to the old signal tower west of Slievemore at 194m. We carried on west to the next spot height of 2?2m (the middle digit is worn out on my map), before starting the descent down to Annagh Strand and Lough Nakerooge.

The landscape shifted dramatically here. on the south side the hills here were bog, but on the steep descent to Annagh we had to fight our way through thick ferns and heather, and the huge bulk of Croghaun shielded us from the westerlies. This was my first time at Annagh — for those who have only seen it from the ridge above, the descent to this remote beach and lake is a must. I was tempted to take a dip in the sea, but with rain and strong winds forecast, thought I'd better stay dry for as long as possible.

We carried on west to Bunafreva Lough East and then to the second lake named Lough Nakerooge, which is almost as impressive as the first. I've long thought about spending a night or two camping in this part of Achill and the grassy, sheltered (in westerly winds) land around here would be a perfect place to make camp. This felt like one of the remotest spots I've visited in Ireland, second only to the Nephin Begs (though I'm still a novice when it comes to Kerry and Donegal).

We carried on out to Saddle Head, and having struggled to get a real sense of Croghaun from the Keem Valley before, I was floored by the expansive view here, taking in almost the full breadth of these giant cliffs. We followed a ridge up and south, which led us right into the amphitheatre of Bunafreva Lough West (318m). Having only seen it from above before, standing here was quite the treat. Robert Lloyd Praeger described this route (though in the reverse direction) as "one of the most exhilarating walks in Ireland", and said Bunafreva Lough West was "a place so lonely and sterile and primeval that one might expect to the see piast or other Irish water monster rising from the inky depths of the tarn".

We scrambled up the corrie wall on the south east side of the lake — a slippy, steep ascent to the summit plateau of Croghaun at around 480m. We opted against heading to the summit — the skies were darkening, the peak was covered in cloud and my ankle was starting to niggle  — so we made our way down to the car park at Lough Accorymore. Croghaun always gives you panoramic views of weather systems moving in from the Atlantic, and we could see see a huge wall of rain approaching from the south west. Before long it was on top of us, and as our attempts to hitch back to Keel failed, we walked the last few miles to our hostel in the pouring rain. Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/127/comment/14786/

The rarer view of Croaghaun from the tip of Achill Head, taken in Feb2010. Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/127/comment/6143/

The infamous Bunnafreva Lough West...the most dramatic Lough in the land...????? Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/127/comment/4504/

Started at Keem car park and walked along the cliffs. The climb up Croaghaun was tough going but their was great reward in the surounding views. I was more than ready for lunch at the summitt and after a good rest I proceeded on to climb Slievemore. Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/127/comment/2524/

A taste of the breathtaking views on offer along the ridge from Croughaun to spot height 574..... Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/127/comment/4503/

3 of us took on this hill on a very overcast day August 2013. Because of the journey to get there we decided to go ahead despite the low cloud level and some warnings from other members- I'm glad to say we were not disappointed!
Starting at Lough Acorrymore we headed South West, up along the shoulder and direct for the summit of Croaghaun. This was a fairly tough hike to begin with, it evens out to a more gradual slope at ~400 to 475m and then gets steeper once more just prior to the summit. The thick low cloud kept visibility down to ~60ft for the duration however at the summit the cloud broke and offered us views down the enormous cliffs and out to some of the smaller islands offshore. The view is easily a match for that from Slieve League for those of you who have been

We followed the ridge North East to directly above lake Bunnafreva where descended from the East side down steep grass slope onto boulders to the lake level. At this point our own directions (not the weather conditions) took us slightly awry. We stayed at lake Bunnafreva height and moved NE then East to the slope south of numerous other lakes (approx F58190 07780 A). We realised we couldnt continue on this course so headed back up the very steep slope to the top then followed the obvious stream downhill, turning off South West at lake Acorrymore altitude to return to start point.
I wouldn't recommend following this final part of our route, however, if you do want to get down to lake Bunnafreva for a closer look you can safely get there by walking past it to the East and descending down and returning back past the more gradual slope at F575 076 B.

A very worthwhile day out, taking our time and with the unplanned off-piste exploration, taking roughly 5 hours at a very moderate pace for 11km total trip. We used the GPS to get back on track so the conditions were never much cause for concern. Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/127/comment/15208/