Longest Mountain name in Ireland?

There are four hills bearing the name ‘Keelogyboy’ in this area of upland. Three of them are distinguished by where they are in relation to the mother ship, Keelogyboy Mountain. Therefore we also have the SW Top, the NE Top, and the delightfully oriental Far East Top. Keelogyboy Mountain North East Top (KMNET) and indeed Keelogyboy Mountain South West Top (KMSWT) are serious mouthfuls to pronounce. Both consist of 9 syllables, and take 2 seconds each to pronounce! In fact I will lay the claim to have found the two mountains with the longest names in Ireland. Both KMSWT and KMNET consist of 30 letters in their names! Several MountainViews summits have 20 letters or more and one, Silvermine Mountains Far East Top, even has 29 letters. But surely these two Keelogyboys take the long name medal?

Back to the business at hand. It is unlikely that a walker would simply climb one of these hills, and would probably try to visit a few. There is room for one car at Edenbaun (G7668 4012) where the paved road ends. This road then continues as a farm track deep into the valley between Crockauns, Hangman’s Hill and the Keelogyboys. The ground underfoot is grassy bog and shouldn’t be too heavy going unless after a spell of rain. If heading directly to KMNET aim to the left of the serious looking cliffs at C (G775 395), and beware of loose soil and bog on the ascent. In fact a sign back on the main road warns that this area is prone to landslides so be warned! Simon3 has described and illustrated the curious limestone extrusions at the summit in his post. He has also captured the northern cliffs in the short summary photo. There is another interesting feature on this hill. It is a quaint little lake called Sramore Lough that lies in the col between KMNET and Keelogyboy Mountain. A north-south boundary fence goes right to the waters edge and continues on the other side, clearly showing that the lake is split in two in terms of ownership. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/672/comment/5928/

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An unexpected treat.

I climbed this hill as the third top in a round of the Castegal Range on 5 May 2012. (For earlier part of route see my comments on Keelogyboy SW Top.) From the coll above and S of Stramore Lough we followed a gravel track going up S and then E on to the shoulder of the hill before soon leaving it and to go NNE to the top, crossing on the way an unexpected expansive limestone pavement, very reminscent of the Burren. The unmarked top lay along the grassy N edge of the plateau with fine views across the wide valley to Cope's Mt. and Crockauns and beyond to the higher Dartry mountains above Glencar. Continuing E along the edge we picked up the line of an old tumbledown stone wall which we followed down to a corner junction. Crossing over the wall we then went down NE, keeping clear of a band of cliffs to our left. On the way down we met a gravel track which, while intermittent, we were able to follow down to the col D (G782 396) with Hangman's Hill. Should we have wished we could have headed NW down to and across the valley floor back to the start of our walk at E (G76269 40300) but we opted to continue on to our fourth top for the day Hangman's Hill. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/672/comment/6821/

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Fancy fencing

If you approach KMNET from the east you may spot a curious fencing feature at F (G779 390). Whoever built the fence was momentarily stumped when they reached a 15 foot drop. What to do? Why simply stick a 15 foot high telegraph pole in place and continue the fence below. My photo shows this curious bit of engineering. This attention to fencing detail is also shown at a lake at G (G775 392). The fence builder ran the fence right to the waters edge, and continued on the other side. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/672/comment/5929/

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Summit area rock.

Here is a picture of the limestone pavement covering much of the summit area. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/672/comment/5910/

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New scar on the hill

There is a new unsightly scar of a roadway both to the North of this hill clearly visible from Hangmans Hill as well as the col to the South where it flanks Sramore Lough. The roadway clearly not present in Wicklores visit in 2010 but looks freshly done on my visit in 2013. Quite what access is needed I don't know, the bog? the limestone? Anyone have an idea? Photo taken near G (G775 392) Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/672/comment/15005/

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