On 18th February, six of us set out to hike to Shehy Mountain via Tomies Wood.

A car park with spaces for 28 cars opened at the entrance to the wood in December 2020. Prior to that, access to the wood had been problematic due to a property dispute involving a local farmer.

The free access that now obtains means that the car park gets full quickly as the trail around the wood is popular with walkers and joggers throughout the year. Get there early to have a chance of a space.

We followed track 4655 from User Point C. When we left the forest trail to climb into the uplands the going got tough as it was through heavy gorse for the most part and the ascent to the ridge was steep and strenuous.

All that pain was quickly forgotten as soon as we reached the ridge and took in the fine views. It was then onwards and upwards towards Shehy.

Not long after reaching the summit the weather changed - high winds and mist and so any prospect we might have entertained of going on to Purple Mountain or Tomies was forgotton and we made our way back down following track 4655 - a direct northerly descent and then east north east along the valley. There weren't any paths and, again, the going was tough through heavy gorse. It would have been easier had we re-traced our steps from the summit and this would be my advice to anyone doing Shehy from the Tomies Wood side.

Once we reached the trail we opted to visit O'Sullivan's Cascade, one of Killarney's hidden gems - a wonderful waterfall which, unlike the more famous (and bigger) one at Torc, will never attract coach loads of visitors. Our hike was 15 kms exactly and took us 6 ¼ hours. Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/68/comment/23845/