The hill may be ungrazed but we certainly weren't!

George Monbiot, the English environmentalist, believes passionately in the removal of sheep from the mountains and the rewilding of the landscape (see his book 'Feral: Rewilding the Land, the Sea, and Human Life'). Although I happen to believe in his proposition, there is also a downside as we will see later.

Sherkin is an interesting little island with two pubs/restaurants accessible by hourly ferries from Baltimore. Walking is a big thing on the island, but nowhere was there a mention of our mighty Slievemore (I wonder why...). We walked from the ferry (not mentioning detour for lunch and a pint) at W02776 25721 A to (almost ) the end of the road and passing through a gate to W00400 23785 B. Here we took a second gate to our left (i.e. away from the holiday home) and travelled along a mucky track before heading upwards to our left (south) over rock benches until we reached the ridge on the south side off the island overlooking the sea. Excellent views. However we now began to encounter a lot of dwarf furze in the knee high heather making progress a little uncomfortable. We headed eastwards towards the notched southerly summit (also 101m) at W00855 23562, the scrambling being made difficult by the presence of furze on every handhold. Absolutely wonderful views of Baltimore and its beacon to the east, Oileán Chléire to the west, and the shining ocean (almost) all the way to Galicia in Spain some 550 miles to the south, all from one of the most southerly viewpoints in Ireland.

From here we made our way uncomfortably to the other 101m and main summit.

I really do not recommend the following! From there we attempted to return to the road at W00654 23947 C but had to retreat as the vegetation was well nigh impassible. So instead we made our way south eastwards back towards W00400 23785 B. Truly dreadful and overgrown, every metre hard won. My Beloved was with me and I'm not sure our marriage can survive too many more like this!

Anyway there are no sheep on Sherkin and as a result the vegetation is completely unlike anything you are likely to encounter elsewhere. Bainigí taitneamh as! . Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/1381/comment/18256/