Scary Moments

The middle of the three summits on the Slieve League walk, and although it will rarely be done on its own, like every point on the walk, it has spectacular views. If my memory is right, it would also be the slopes of this summit where the lower of the two candidates for "One Man's Pass" can be found. It seems be becoming accepted to refer to the higher of the two, leading over to Slieve League's main summit as One Man's Pass, and to the lower one, on the southern side of Slieve League South-East Top as One Man's Path, to differentiate the two. One Man's Pass, we found to be easy with no feeling of danger. We missed One Man's Path on the way up, taking an obvious path below the ridge, but from above we could see it easily and decided to tackle it on the way down, which was possibly more difficult. Initially, everything was fine, but there is one short stretch that I admit to finding very scary. I went down it on my backside with my heart in my mouth, and having done it, don't think I would venture down it again. At one point, my water bottle got pushed out of its holder and dropped down the cliff on my right side for hundreds of meters. I couldn't help thinking it was showing me the route my body would take if I lost my balance! In the photo, the difficult stretch is between the leftmost person, and the person sitting down in the middle of the frame. Easily avoided if this type of exposure is not your cup of tea. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/1416/comment/18586/

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The Pilgrims Path less travelled

The Pilgrims Path which starts from near Teelin (the path is well sign-posted from the village) is an interesting approach to the SE Top, and would be more lauded were it not for the more spectacular cliff-hugging route from Bunglass Point.
From the car park (about 6 spaces) the track ascends the valley, passing Croleavy Lough, before angling right (northwest), and eventually petering out 500m from the summit. Splashes of yellow paint on rocks give some help with route-finding in mist. From here it's a straightforward walk to the broad top, a couple of 'highest point' candidates available. There is a cairn-shelter (filled with snow at time of visit), but this is not the actual summit.
A few steps south will reveal jaw-dropping, gob-smacking views while to the west the main summit lies beyond a narrowing ridge.
A return by the same route should take about 2 hours total. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/1416/comment/20346/

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Majestic Scenery

Myself and my hiking partner Martin King finally got the perfect weather to hike Sliabh Liag and it's certainly a truly great hike along the ridge. Going back as far as the Trig Point presents a spectacular series of stunning picture-postcard settings. Benbulben, Achill Island, Portacloy Cliffs, Horn Head at Dunfanaghy, Mount Errigal and Donegal Bay all merge into one kaleidoscope of stunning scenery.

We had a nice chat in the lower carpark with legendary hiker John McGroary, the highly respected owner of Donegal-based John's Ireland Hiking Tours. John definitively stated that the exposed knife edge rib of rock on Keeringear is not One Man's Pass. There are several videos on YouTube showing individuals walking along this steep, dangerous, uneven section of the cliff face. Caution is certainly advised if attempting this and as we there having a look at the steep incline, the wind was certainly getting stronger.

One Man's Pass is much further along the ridge and offers up some astounding scenery. It's narrow in parts but is definitely navigable with one or two sections requiring a little extra caution and care. Overall we were eternally lucky to hike this amazing landscape on a beautiful sunny hot July day. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/1416/comment/23596/

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