Sunset, there will be no repeat.

I reached the foot of the mountain by the road marked 'dead end' C (C38868 40108). After driving about 600m I reached the gate. So far, I have walked through gates marked 'close gate' many times, but this time I drove through by a car. And, after closing the gate D (C39521 40119) behind me, when I found myself at the crossroads of dirt roads, right at the bottom of the mountains in front of me, it was like in another world that I reached with my vehicle, leaving the whole civilization behind me.
It was just before 8 p.m. A quick glance at the calendar revealed that sunset was supposed to be at 8:50 p.m. I can't do this, I thought. I walked briskly towards the top. A few hundred meters along a dirt road, then avoiding clumps of grass and peat holes. It wasn't that bad, it hadn't rained for a long time so there was no mud, but I fell into the swamps two or three times. Time, however, passed inexorably and the sun was getting closer and closer to the horizon. The climb to Slieve Snaght is quite steep from this side. I have the sun setting behind my back so I didn't really see what was going on there. The last meters to the top, long strides on the stones and I found myself on the top where there were lots of small piles of stones. I quickly located the main peak and when I looked back the sun was just above the horizon.
I took one picture... and the sun went down. Just one take, not even a chance for a repeat. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/250/comment/23938/

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gerrym on Slieve Snaght

'Walk Guide West of Ireland' (P.Simms & T. Whilde) gives a route from the east at E (C443 369) but I took the advice of Paddy Dillon in 'The Mountains of Ireland' where he describes this as "the shortest, boggiest and least inspiring route". I started from a bog track on the west at Cr'cool (C408 423), can park here where track forks. Walk up track , turn left and ford stream, turn right and at small quarry head onto hillside in front , aiming for some large boulders. There are a series of rises separated by flat areas of bog. The ground becomes rockier as approach the minor summit of Slieve Snaghtbeg (505 m) which is topped by a cairn. Cross over gap to the south for the climb to the summit. The summit is a weird scape of rocks and boulders, with cairns and very large walled trig point - it does feel other worldly (see pic for a little flavour). There are good views west across to Ragtin More and Urris Hills behind the shapely Bulbin and south to neighbouring Slieve Main. On a good day I am sure the views would be much more extensive. One and a half hours to the top and it is only logical to take in Slieve Main as well.No one else on the hill when I climbed on 23rd April 2004 Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/250/comment/1069/

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Innishowen's Finest!

Heathcliff:16/03/2016 climbed Slieve Snaght (615m) via Slieve Snaghtbeg (505m) in warm sunshine and descended via Slieve Main( 514m) after a wonderful 4/5 hour walk! A 12 km trek with a total ascent of approx 650m,using OSi map no.3.
I parked at Drumfree(Drumfries on road sign) School on R244 between Carndonagh and Buncrana at F (C386 392).I headed southwards(10 m) in direction of Buncrana before turning northeastwards up a narrow lane way. Tarmac soon turns to stony track and you cross two metal gates before veering right at a crossroads,signed Slieve Snaght. At the end of this track you are left to decide your route up the mountain! I chose to ascend gradually up grassy/heathery slopes northeastwards before looping around to climb Slieve Snaghtbeg southwestwards up moderately steep slopes,a flat section,and then a steep rise to the summit cairn.
From Snaghtbeg I descended southwards along flat grassy section before turning southeast up peaty slopes to rock strewn summit with a stone shelter and trig point. A great spot to pause for lunch and take in the extensive views.
Southwestwards from the summit lies Slieve Main's 'whaleback top'. To reach it descend south and then southwestwards down a steepish slope to a peaty col and a stream which you cross. Pick your route and ascend up a grassy slope to the broad summit(no trig point)!
A steepish slope northeastwards and then northwestwards brings you to a flat area. On a clear day you should have already been able to spot the track you left earlier in the day,and now head for this, keeping well to the right of some trees.
If you are thirsty the North Pole Bar is a short distance from where you parked your car. The pub has an interesting history and I think it is a ' listed' building. Altogether a really great walk up Innishowens highest mountain!!!!! Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/250/comment/18480/

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padodes on Slieve Snaght

This is the summit trig pillar on Slieve Snaght (Inishowen), with the peculiarity of being almost fully entombed in a cairn-like structure. Nearby I found the equally unusual feature of a pile of tractor and car tyres whose purpose was as unclear as it was unsightly. The jagged spikes of rock that cover the top (set up by pilgrims or just a whim of Mother Nature?) would make a dream-bed for a fakir. I started up from the E side, from a point on the bog road at Meeny Rv (C450 393), walking over marshy land at first before climbing steeply up to the summit. There are long sheep fences on this side of the mountain, with ne'er a stile in sight, but enterprising sheep don't seem to have found that a great obstacle to free passage. From the top, I walked south to Slieve Main and then triangulated back to my point of departure. Damph would have been a further obvious top to visit, but on the hot and rainy day I did this walk the combination of bog and fence and Donegal midges got the better of me in the end. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/250/comment/2759/

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The heights, successes and perils of hill-surveying.

Slieve Snaght was the site of experiments in early surveying in October 1825. Thomas Drummond a Scot, inventor and officer in the Royal Engineers camped out on the top as part of the tests.

Their aim was allow the top to be seen from Divis near Belfast, some 106.6km away. The problem was doing this in the often hazy air. They tried using a heliotrope during the day. This is essentially a mirror to reflect the sun. The way that ultimately proved more successful was to use the Drummond Light, an intense light source, which was essentially the progenitor of "limelight" as used for many years in theatres before the advent of electricity.

Drummond was on Slieve Snaght with some 12 soldiers and a mini camp ( which included a cookhouse! ) and there were assistants on Divis watching as required. Coordination between the two peaks was obviously difficult and transmitted by letters which took days to travel, with stories of letter-carriers getting lost on mountainsides.

The Drummond Light is also interesting and was the most intense light source available in the nineteenth century. Drummond had refined earlier versions of this. It is based on properties of calcium oxide (quicklime). This substance doesn't melt until it reaches 2,572 °C. It can be heated t so hot that it incandenesces a very white colour. The heating was achieved by burning oxygen and alcohol in a flame directed at the piece of quicklime. Another process called candoluminescence whereby the hot gases created by the burning become even hotter than the flame or the quicklime creates further brightness.

Imagine therefore a group of men with a magnificent Victorian contraption battling atrocious weather to maintain the light for long agreed periods hoping that someone could see it but not actually verifying this for days.

Drummond wrote "The wind encreased to a gale and a sweeping Shower of rain passed over the Mountain... What a Villainous Climate."

Drummond had also proposed the use of limelight for use in lighthouses as well as theatres but moved on to other things and to an early death as this quotation (from a third hand source) may reveal:

"However, Drummond, deeply impressed by the terrible situation of Ireland and he had observed during the Survey, had suddenly glided into politics and the Drummond light would never be really applied to lighthouses . Ireland became Drummond’s adoptive country and he was appointed from 1835 to his death in 1840, as “Irish under -secretary” in Dublin, a very high position in which he acquired “the affections of the masses of the people”. His untimely death was a long - term consequence of “a long and severe illness” caught during the Survey where “ he had suffered much from inclement weather and from frequently standing in deep water”.

Let us hope that the hill-surveying that MountainViews does today does not result in any fatalities, delayed or otherwise.

Sources: The Early Years of the Ordnance Survey by Charles Close, 1929
http://archive.ihpst.net/2013/Procs/Lauginie.pdf
and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limelight Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/250/comment/15228/

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