One man and not his dog

In his post on nearby Coomcallee, Skyehigh mentions the farm track in the Glenmore valley to the south. I used this to reach Beann na Stiocairì. A slow and scenic drive along several kilometres of narrow road through the valley from Waterville ends at a farm. The rough southern slopes of Beann na Stiocairì to the north can be appreciated along the road, while the equally rough and rugged slopes of the Beanrour-Mullaghbeg-Eagles Hill ridge of hills fills the views to your right.

I was readily granted permission to park in the farm by the friendly lady there. A cow and two collies in the farmyard watched me as I parked - the cow with languid interest and the collies with frantic uncontained excitement. One of the collies wasn’t tethered and decided to accompany me on my walk – all the way up the track to where it emerged onto the broad ridge at about 600m. Along the way the collie disappeared several times and I spotted it intermittently herding sheep across the slopes in my direction. It correctly interpreted that I was impressed with this private ‘’sheep dog trials’ show, and tried harder still until several sheep were paraded in front of me. A cartoon I had seen sprung to mind. Two sheep are in a field with a collie at one end and a farmer at the other. One sheep turns to the other and says ‘I’m telling ya, I might be paranoid, but these guys are definitely working together!’ Back in real life the befuddled sheep continued on their way, as did I. At the top of the track the dog took off back down the hill after more hapless sheep.

Initially the track passes through gates as it rises from the farm, and is clearly used by farm vehicles to access the lower slopes. However from around the 300m altitude mark it gets steeper and the last kilometre was tough enough make me stop for breath several times. Once onto the broad ridge it was a straightforward slog up through the bog onto Beann na Stiocairì and An Bheann Mhòr. An initial wet track through the bog on the ridge disappears after it passes through a gate but navigation was straightforward enough. The summit area does not have an obvious ‘highest point’ and as Colin Murphy said in his post, a bit of slogging around the wet boggy area will be required of the purist. The simple boggy nature of the summit of Beann na Stiocairì belies the steep rugged slopes to the north and southwest..

In between intermittent rain and cloud enough could be seen across the Glenmore valley of the rough slopes of Staigue, Mullaghbeg and Eagles Hill to see why White Tailed eagles have set up home in this area. I didn’t see any but could easily imagine them gliding and swooping in this remote corner of Kerry.

On my return down the mountain, the collie rejoined me and I marvelled to think that it was probably up and down the mountain several times a day, I studiously skirted some cattle on the track near the farm while the dog brazenly walked right through them! Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/152/comment/18310/

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Eagle eye view

See comments above Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/152/comment/14883/

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Eagle territory

To complete this top or An Bheann Mhór in isolation, suggest you take the track that leads from the valley to the SW of Coomcallee - the track continues all the way to the col between Coomcallee and this top. From there it is a fairy easy climb to the west over grassy terrain. The summit itself is little to look at and I had to wander around with my GPS before I finally located the small pile of stones which seems to mark the highest point. The ordinary nature of the top was compensated however when a sheep farmer called out to me and pointed skywards, where a pair of white tailed eagles were soaring majestically. Later on spotted several more of the birds which can have an impressive wingspan of over two metres. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/152/comment/14882/

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Peter Walker on Beann na Stiocairí

A separate top? Hmm...dubious. (Although it's positively Kilimanjaro-esque compared to Beennabrack near the Conor Pass). Coming from the east there's a steady, relentless ascent of about 100m alongside the fence, then a pretty indeterminate top: I pity skyehigh coming here when the ground wasn't frozen, as all I had to worry about was locating the highest point (accomplished by my usual method of clomping around all likely-looking hummocks and laying down on top of some of them in an elementary levelling exercise) rather than drenching myself. Anyway, the surroundings are gorgeous even if the immediate environment isn't especially dramatic. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/152/comment/3479/

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skyehigh on Beann na Stiocairí

This must be the least deserving top featured in our lists, as the depression between this and the main top is a mere 22 metres. Any doubts as to whether we are talking about the top of a mountain or the top of a lough can be dispelled by the accompanying photograph, which shows the top to be - a lough. In fact, point 672 lies somewhere in the middle of a peaty area which the ridge fence sensibly skirts around. There is no point describing descents, as nobody in their right mind will descend north or south, but will follow the ridge. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/152/comment/1746/

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