Nothing to see here!

The third of a 4-Carn loop taking in Cullaun and the three Slieve Felims. I had slightly higher hopes for the highest of the Felims, but was disappointed to have to drag myself across tracts of heather to a broad, uninspiring summit area. My verdict? Another notch in the belt, nothing more! Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/705/comment/23410/

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from Glenstal Woods, Murroe

I started from the car park at the entrance to Glenstal Woods ( GlStal Wd (R75600 56700)), only a couple of miles from Murroe village. From here, I followed the little yellow man (Slieve Felim Way heading NE towards Rear Cross). The majority of the walk is on fire road with only a gradual incline towards higher ground. After about 3.5 miles, I left the Slieve Felim Way at D (R80100 58100). At this point I continued straight ahead as the yellow man pointed to the right. 250 m after this junction there is a clearing to the left of the road, with an overgrown track leading sharply uphill at the far end of the clearing. After only 50m or so, I was presented with the option of a horribly wet and boggy track heading straight ahead, or an equally uninviting one which turned left and uphill towards the summit. I opted for the left turn (on a bearing of 262 degrees), but decided to battle through the heather parallel to the track rather than wade through the treacherous bogwater.

As the ground begins to level out towards the top, I reached a junction (close to the 422m spot height on OSI Discovery No. 65). From this point, I followed another boggy track (bearing 215 degrees) along the plateau, again opting for the relative safety of the heather parallel to the track. Just before the track begins to go downhill again, I left the track and headed west for about 100m to where I reckoned the highest point was. Its quite difficult to tell, but for what its worth, I settled on a spot where there was a handful of trees at E (R79328 58121).

It may be possible to take a more direct route to the summit via an ealier diversion from the Slieve Felim Way (the map shows many tracks leading to higher ground). However, I have previosly found out the hard way that not all dashed lines on the OS maps represent a track that "currently" exists and this appears to be very much the case in this area. Maybe someone else can provide a more direct route? Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/705/comment/6510/

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Slieve Felim walk

An excellent hike in the hills of north Tipperary. I turned left in Rear Cross, coming from Thurles, and travelled 2.5 KM to a four pier gateway of old stone blocks on my right. I turned to my right into this gateway and drove for about one mile up along the road. It is not the best road but it is ok. I parked my car in a field entrance, parking for about three cars, at F (R83200 57100). I followed this road as far as G (R71125 57620) where I turned right into the forest. I turned right at the next track junction and continued to the next T junction. The map is wholly inadequate here so I put it away and followed my instinct. At this T junction I went right again and down to the exit of the wood where I met another track at a T junction. I turned right again and followed this track until I saw a little yellow man on a pole, the Slievefelim way I suppose. I followed this sign to a point where I could see a distinct track leading to the summit of S Felim. Many tracks crossed me but I kept straight on. When I got to the summit I had a clear view of Cullaun and S Felim west 407. I followed a deer track to the bottom of Cullaun and followed the forest service road until it brought me to Cullaun (R82455 56722), from here it was a left turn and 10 minutes back to the car. All in all a very pleasant hike about 3 hours. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/705/comment/4287/

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Bring your bog snorkel

I parked in roughly the same spot as oldsoldier - just be aware that the stone peirs look like the entrance to a private driveway, so don't be put off driving on up! I did Cullaun first, and then took the obvious route down to the col between Cullaun and Slieve Felim, then up to Felim using the forest ride. I had the good fortune of frozen ground, but the ride looks like a pretty good place to go bog snorkling in more typical Irish weather. The summit itself isn't really marked with much, being the highest point on the ride/track. Nice views over to Keeper Hill, but Sleive Felim South Top has nicer views south.

OpenStreetMap seems to be accurate for the tracks in the area, so I used it in preference to the OS Discovery map. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/705/comment/6196/

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