gerrym on Lavagh Beg

Lavagh Beg is about half an hour from the summit of bigger neighbour of Lavagh More, dropping down to the col and then a steep climb over fairly easy grassy ground. The summit has three little tops interspersed with loughs of different sizes and a cairn. As with neighbour there are stunning views out to the Atlantic, with the Arran islands being particularly prominent. The recent development of windfarms in the area is very visible and does detract to some degree from the general wilderness feeling accompanying walking in the Bluestacks. I have descended steeply into the Reelan valley on a bearing of 50' towards a yellow roofed building over quite slippy ground, picking up a stream and following it down to a fence and then a road which leads back to the old schoolhouse after 2.5 miles of further walking. I have also decended back to the col with Lavagh More and dropped down to contour around the hill towards the river,forest and the waymarked way which travels down from the Struell Gap - reach road and short walk back to old school house. Part of a fantastic circuit which rates among the best walking i have had the pleasure of doing in this country. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/196/comment/2339/

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Donegal delight

We were lucky to arrive on Lavagh Beg on a beautiful winter's day and were greeted by a partially frozen landscape and an ice-covered lough. On a day such as this, this area is as fine a place for walking as any in Donegal. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/196/comment/15269/

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csd on Lavagh Beg

Having reached the summit of Silver Hill, we headed East and approached Lavagh Beg from its broad western flank. The summit of Lavagh Beg is a rounded cone surrounded on two sides by ponds. The cone shape means it's fairly easy to get shelter no matter what direction the wind is coming from. Unfortunately the mist came down just as we approached the summit, so most of the views were obscured. This picture shows the small summit cairn (more a collection of rocks) and one of the ponds below. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/196/comment/1088/

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murphysw on Lavagh Beg

After having climbed Lavagh More I descended the col to climb Lavagh Beg to the west. Lavagh Beg is a much more sculpted looking mountain than the rounded blob that is Lavagh Beg. It is quite steep to climb from the col to the summit. The summit of Beg is quite a complicated affair with a couple of lakes and numerous rises and the cairn is not immeidiatly obvious. It is quite steep to get back down into the valley at Doocrow but it would have been a very pleasnt jaunt were it not for the flys that resumed their asault on me (see comment on Lavagh More) as I descended. Sqelched into a couple of bogholes as I tried to fight the so and so's off me, otherwise it was fairly straightforward. Met the farmer who had let me through his land on the way down. Otherwise there was not a soul to be seen all afternoon Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/196/comment/1804/

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Helped By Dry Weather

For Sunday I had planned a circuit of Lavagh Beg, Silver Hill, Cullaghcro and Binnasruell, but I felt the stirrings of a cold on Saturday night, and it was full blown by Sunday morning. Even so, when the alarm went off, it was such a beautiful day I couldn't resist heading off, and decided I would at least do Lavagh Beg. I parked around LeathCrua (G93723 93580) and went south, then east, along the track before striking up on to the hillside making for the low point on the prominent northern off-shoot of Lavagh Beg. It was a short, relatively easy climb, although I saw enough to know that after a prolonged wet spell, this mountain could potentially verge on the hateful! The wind was ferocious at the top despite there being hardly a breeze lower down, but in the sunshine, the views were stunning all around. Silver Hill looked great too, and I'll be back to complete the circuit. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/196/comment/18385/

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