I first climbed this mountain in September 1993 with my father. Being from Australia we had just discovered, after many years of searching, that our family had come from a townland on the slopes of Knockastanna. The derelict farm of our ancestors was located near a derelict shool-house on a narrow country road between Doon and Kilcommon. The story of our search is recorded in Chapter 47 of my father's book "The Irish Kennedys". But that's another story. Almost as an afterthought in 1993, we decided to climb Knockastanna. From the small country road on the eastern slope we set off up a track that passed through cow pastures. At times the track was quite steep and zig-zagged rather than continued straight. At the time of our ascent we had no difficulty avoiding livestock, which seemed to be contained in other paddocks. After about half an hour the track disappeared and the ground became quite boggy. The enclosing walls were also substantially overtaken now by vegetation, mainly grass. The only way to avoid the boggy ground and effectively continue was to walk on top of the walls that ran up the mountain. As they were almost completely covered by grass this didn't cause any damage. Once reaching the top it was difficult to identify the highest point as it seemed to spread out a fair bit. It probably took nearly an hour to ascend, and a bit quicker to come down. Keep in mind that this account is made using 14 year old memories, and I may have forgotten details that should be mentioned. I also climbed this mountain with my business partner in 1998. I understand that there has more recently been plans for a wind-farm on Knockastanna, and that an access track may have been created for initial testing. If so, perhaps someone can report on that, or I can have a look next time I visit. If I can manage it, I will post some photos of views from Knockastanna as well. Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/642/comment/2848/

I climbed Knockastanna up the forest track shown directly to the east of the summit at R 877 560 D. This started off promisingly enough. Then I cut across fields, back into forest and eventually hacked across rough moorland to the top. The windmills, four of them, provide a guide in direction and the whooshing sound of the turning blades is also a guide. Halfway up I realised if there are wind tubines there must be a roadway. This seems to be on the western side of the hill. The views off Knockastanna are quite impressive. The summit is just into Co Limerick. There are 4 wind mills on the northern flank of the hill, but for some reason the upper one was not placed on the actual summit. Nearly 2 hours later wet and bedraggled I got back to my car. Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/642/comment/6607/

After I climbed Gortnageragh on Tues 26 may 2010 I headed for Knockastanna. I left the farmhouse at Gortnageragh and travelled towards the R503. At the Curraghmarky bridge I turned right and headed for Angelsey bridge on the R503. At the first left turn I turned and next left again. ! k up this road I came to an abandoned house on the left. Parked my car here, I could see the top of onre of the wind turbines. A quick walk brought me to the summit in 30 minutes and a fine view of the turbines. An interesting point, as I drove home, and, not far from where I had parked, I crossed over the Augsullish bridge at grid ref R87825 56900 E. Here Red Hugh O' Donnell camped on his way to Kinsale and The galloping Hogan met Patrick Sarsfield on his way to Ballyneety, Not at the same time obviously. A plaque marks the spot. Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/642/comment/5832/

Just a quick query here but the OS map indicates the the summit of Knockastanna lies within Co Limerick. The page info says its in Tipperary. Correction?? Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/642/comment/15276/