The Coumshingaun Loop is one of my favourite walks, one that I've done at least once a year for more years than I care to remember.

I was back there on 1st September in the company of three women who wanted the reassurance of someone familiar with the walk.

We parked at the Kilclooney Wood car park and headed up in a clockwise direction. I've always done it clockwise - it seems more "natural" somehow.

Once you are out of the wood it is a straightforward ascent up the left spur. When you reach the prominent rocky outcrop there is a pleasant section of easy scrambling and spectacular views of the lake.

The most difficult part of this spur is the section just below the plateau.It is quite steep and I've seen many people turn back at this juncture. The thing to do is to avoid the first defined path up the cliff face; instead, go a bit further to the left where there is another easier path to the top. It requires some scrambling and is probably best avoided by those who haven't a great head for heights.

From there it is a pleasant walk along the rim of the plateau with the lake far below. Then on to the right-hand spur (assuming you are doing it clockwise of course) where you make your way to the rocky outcrop that marks the beginning of the descent proper to the corrie floor.

Avoid making your way through the outcrop as it will prove to be a physical and metaphorical pain in the posterior. Instead, skirt it well to the left until you find the well trodden path that will take you down.

From there make your way across to the beginning of the left spur that you ascended at the outset and your path to the wood and the car park will be obvious.

Allow 3 to 4 hours. Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/48/comment/23261/

Peering through one of the wonderful rock formations that dot both the south and north sides of the Coumshingaun Lough circuit. Fascoum top itself was a disappointment after the spectacle of the approach, which offers views as good as any in Ireland. Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/48/comment/4663/

Having had a scary experience on a gully scramble in W Cork described in the book "Munster's Mountains" i was keen to find out how the coumshingaun gullies would fair as described in the same book so i headed out with the father figure saturday 19/07/08. The car was parked at a layby where the Ira river flowing down from the coum crossed the clonmel-dungarvan road, S350115 F. 45 minutes had us at the lakeside, a gradual track leading up. The fun then started as we skirted around the south side of the lake on a track leading up to the start of the first gully (arrows on map). Out came the rope and the slings and we negotiated the first small obstacle without much bother (although the rock was wet). Moving out of the gully to the right a little further up we traversed under the cliffs to the start of the second gully. A slightly harder move got us over the wet block at the entrance and from there it was a slog up through knee high "comeragh weed" to the top. We finished off the coumshingaun circuit from there, having the lunch and taking the picture from the north ridge before descending back along the track to the road. Route 2 i think in the book, 5 hours, description was on the money! Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/48/comment/3245/

Taking advantage of the good forecast I headed for the Mahon Falls this morning,parking at the upper car park and climbing to spot height 414 along the road before climbing along the fence north west up the steep slope onto Comeragh mountain.Following the track around
the top of Coummahon until I crossed the river above the falls.
The crossing was easy today but I'm told in winter this may be impossible,After crossing the river I headed northeast up onto Knockaunpeebra with its two distinctive cairns,from here down into the boggy col and up onto Fauscoum or spot height 792 as pointed out on other comments here.The summit is uninspiring but a 450m walk North East you'll see one of the finest views in any mountain range-Coumshigaun lake,after enjoying the sambos sitting above the lake I returned to Fauscoum before heading southwest crossing the river and making for the high ground back around Coummahon finishing at the three cairns on Comeragh mountain and back to the car.Time 3 hrs 35 mins,distance 11km,ascent 733 m,descent 762m. Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/48/comment/18293/

Taking advantage of some very fine but bitterly cold weather, we climbed Knockaunapeebra on 30th January 2010 via the Mahon Falls. This was something we had been planning to do for some time but were thwarted on our attempt last June due to the fact that the window of our car was smashed during the night while we were rough camping nearby. Be warned, this is unfortunately a common occurrence in the Comeraghs according to the local police, so don’t leave valuables on view in your car. We scrambled up the rocks on the left side of the waterfalls which posed one or two moderate moves where we decided to use a rope due to the wet conditions of the rock and the potential for patches of verglas higher up. Evidence that the falls had been much swollen by the recent snowmelt was clear to see by the amount of debris that had been deposited on rocks nearby and vegetation stripped away from others. We were rewarded with the sight of amazing icicles that had formed through the constant presence of spray on the walls at the top of the falls and jewel-like ice crystals encasing single strands of grass. We then continued with a traverse round a ledge half way up the valley to access a gully at a height of 420m to take us up to the top of the cliffs. The gully, located to the right of a prominent pinnacle of rock, was about 100 metres long, quite vegetated and wet, but the rock offered enough grip to make our progress steady if inelegant! From the top, the views down the valley of the Mahon River to the coast were magnificent. We then climbed to the summit of Knockaunapeebra with its frigid, ice encrusted twin cairns glinting angrily in the low afternoon sun, greatly enjoying clear views of the coast. We descended the ridge southeast from Knockaunapeebra, past the cliffs and beyond a smaller waterfall where we scrambled down over the rocks which were partially obscured by heather making our descent slightly onerous! Roughly opposite the Mahon Falls car park we headed across the flat, boggy ground and crossed the Mahon River which had clearly been in recent spate, to join the path back to the car park after some 4 hours. A thoroughly enjoyable day out and a great first scramble of 2010. Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/48/comment/4385/