john_desmond on Coomagearlahy

On Sunday (19/03/06), I tried the route suggested here by 'jackill'. When I got to the forest entrance, the gate was locked and someone parked there in a 4x4 told me that there was no access. I get the impression that they do not want anyone going up there as they are constructing a wind farm in this valley. As it turned out, this was a good thing as I found a much more interesting route. I went around to the East of the mountain via some narrow roads and parked at InMore WdN (W124 775) (Space for 1 car). Directions.....Walk about 300m West and take the right turn. Stay on this road into the forest and you will come to a crossroads with a construction road at about A (W109 779). There are signs here saying that there is no access via the construction road which is fine as the objective really is to get out of the forest and onto the open hillside to the West. Proceed NW through the forest for about 300 metres (some of it is felled), over the fence (which is the Cork/Kerry border) and you are now on open hillside away from everything. Follow the edge of the forest in a SW direction and stay on the Northern side of the hill. By doing this, you stay away from the communications masts, electricity pylons and the wind farm and any potential aggro ;o). The best thing about this route is that you have really nice views from Mangerton & Crohane to the West, the Paps to the North and to NE to Mullaghanish as you walk the 2km or so to the summit. There is nothing to mark the summit, no cairn or stones. I took the summit to be the highest piece of ground in the ridge running E/W. This ties in with the OS map which shows the 506m summit in the centre of the 500m contour.
Return by the same route. Total walk time at an easy pace to summit and back = 2.5 hrs. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/444/comment/2236/

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jackill on Coomagearlahy

The changeable nature of Irish weather was clearly demonstrated to me this weekend. I started out to bag Mullaghanish using the route along the forestry edge as described by SDillmore. It was fairly easy going with the series of fences making for easy route finding. The weather however was appalling, dull and foggy with an icy wind driving rain down the mountain straight into my face, a thorough soaking! I got back to the car and was in two minds whether to head for Coomagearlahy or to go home. After a cup of soup and a sandwich I felt reinvigorated and decided to press on. I headed to Ballyvourney and took the turning for Coolea. I travelled from Coolea to “ The Top of The Coom” Bar B (W112 732) which at 300 meters boasts it is the highest pub in Ireland.
I turned off the main road just before Inchee Bridge at C (W080 739). I turned off this newly paved road onto a gravel road at D (W082 752). I then followed this track past a house and parked at the forestry entrance E (W089 758).The weather had changed completely in the 30 minutes the car journey had taken me. It was now a glorious clear winters afternoon. It seems quite busy at the forest entrance but the workers said there was no problem with parking (unless a tree fell on the car). I took a bearing for the summit which was approx 1.25 kilometres distant through the forestry. As I walked in (only the right hand fork shown on the map is useable) there were signs saying access was forbidden due to a wind farm being constructed. I went approx 300 metres beyond these signs and cut up through a gap in the forestry. I crossed over 2 newly built roads for the wind farm site traffic and eventually pushed through the last 100 meters in the trees to emerge on the open hillside approximately 120 meters from the summit. I took the summit to be a raised ridge of heather and rock, which seemed to be the highest point. There are great views from the summit of this modest hill as long as you don’t look to the south where the wind farm construction is taking place. The photo was taken looking north with, from the left, Knocknabro, The Paps , the Glenflesk valley and Crohane. I returned to the car by the same route. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/444/comment/2074/

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Forestry & Wind Farm tracks ease the ascent.

There is just room to park one vehicle and not block the junction at F (W121 774). Otherwise park at the spot in John Desmonds Post.

Go through an electric gate (the type designed to keep cattle in - two plastic poles) and follow the track through a second one of these type of gates. Follow the track up as per John Desmonds description, instead of leaving the track at A (W109 779), I continued up hill on the track (I didn't notice any sign though) Before turning right along a newish looking track heading towards the edge of the forest, this track exited the forest at G (W103 776) onto a newly bulldozed track through the peat, which ran up hill along the forest ( nice and peaty by the way !). I followed this till it ended just before pt 498 and its mast. Followed a rotten fence out towards the summit, beware here as there is some deep mire to avoid. Crossed the fence and reached the summit.

I decided to carry on to Coomagearlahy W Top, following the fence for most of the way there, the forestry on the other-side of the fence is being cleared now. This lets you see the shear scale of the Wind farm being developed here. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/444/comment/6571/

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This hill left me cold

The day I did this there was a knee-deep covering of snow in parts. It made for tough going but otherwise brightened an otherwise dreary mountain. Don't expect wilderness - a paved road takes you most of the way up, followed by electricity pylons, windmills and a large building not far from the summit. Besides this the going underfoot was either long rushes or uneven heather and muddy pools - not very pleasant. But the views to the west and north were pretty good. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/444/comment/18447/

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Bleak

There is a forest track to the East of this hill at H (W12206 77488) which takes you to a windfarm near the summit of this hill. To reach the unmarked summit at 506 metres, the last few hundred meters involve heading North West from the windfarm into county Kerry over boggy terrain. Lots of windmills, powerlines and felled trees. The bleak December day I visited this hill added to the bleak mood of the place. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/444/comment/20121/

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