Shipwrecks and the French

The Sugarloaf with its whitewashed pillar stands sentry over Bantry bay.
The bay itself has seen the devils own share of history and tragedy.
The town of Bantry was the place where an attempt to land and launch a rebellion was made by a French fleet, with Wolfe Tone, in December 1796. The French fleet consisting of 43 ships carrying 15,000 troops had divided mid-Atlantic into smaller groups to avoid interception by the Royal Navy with orders to reform at Bantry Bay. The bulk of the fleet arrived successfully, but several ships, including the flagship Fraternité carrying General Hoche were delayed. While awaiting their arrival, bad weather intervened and the lack of leadership, together with uneasiness at the prospect of being trapped, forced the decision to return to France. Tone wrote of the expedition in his diary, saying that "We were close enough to toss a biscuit ashore." The square in Bantry is today named after Wolfe Tone.

On January 8, 1979, 50 people were killed when the French oil tanker Betelgeuse, offloading at Whiddy Island caught fire, exploded, and broke into three pieces.

The bay has had numerous shipwrecks over the years. In 1981, while clean up efforts using sonar sweeps for the Betelgeuse were under way, the wreck of the French frigate La Surveillante, which had been scuttled during a storm north of Whiddy Island on 2 January 1797, was found Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/319/comment/6074/

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Sugarloaf from the west

On a bright clear day in June we decided to climb Sugarloaf mountain in West Cork. Initially our intention was to access it from the south west spur at B (V859 516) but were confronted by a No Entry sign on a gate. Travelling west along the road we came across a forestry road running uphill at LtBeg St (V84955 51210). There is parking for a couple of cars by a brown sign for Leitrim Beg standing stone. Following the track height was gained quickly and easily to C (V84939 52151) where the track ends. An old fence runs north for approx 500m where it joins the re-routed Beara way at D (V84950 52612). Follow the well marked (with yellow posts) Beara way for about a km with short diversions to take in the summit of Nareera SW top by Lough Keel and Nareera before leaving the Beara way at E (V86229 53270) to the South East and over the summit of Sugarloaf west top. Drop down to the col at F (V86770 52799) before the final ascent to Sugarloaf and spectacular views over Glengarriff, Bantry Bay and beyond. We retraced our steps taking the opportunity to 'bag' Sugarloaf mountain far west top on the way back. A round trip of approx 10km Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/319/comment/18156/

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A superb route that deserves to be better known

I followed Liz50's description (below) from the west, starting up the forestry track from the Leitrim Beg standing stone ( LtBeg St (V849 512)). This takes you quickly up onto the higher reaches of Nareera, where sheep tracks run up to the SW Top above Lough Keel, a brilliant viewpoint. I detoured north to take in Nareera N Top for bagging reasons, but it's probably a better walk if you don't. A cornucopia of rocky lumps and bumps and wild perched lochans takes you round to Sugarloaf itself and another stunning summit view. Because of the access problems lower down it's best to retrace your steps over the first two bumps then use the re-routed Beara Way to get back to Nareera N Top and an easy descent. As good a way of spending a (longish) half day as you're likely to find anywhere. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/319/comment/20409/

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Bantry Bay View

View from Sugarloaf Beara over Bantry Bay with Doughill, Douce and Shehy Mor hills visible in the distance. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/319/comment/18758/

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simon3 on Sugarloaf Mountain

When you finally reach Sugarloaf's top you find that it has this unusual brightly painted white trig pillar shown in the picture. The mountain in the background is Toberavanaha, almost as high as Sugarloaf, but not nearly as well known. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/319/comment/517/

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