pquinn572 on Curraghchosaly Mountain

Yesterday, (4/4/09) I attempted to climb Curraghchosaly Mountain near the well known beauty spot, the Gortin Glens which I visit often as a Tyrone man. I turned in left onto a small road off the main Omagh to Gortin road, a few metres down the road from the turn in to the Gortin Glens on the Omagh side. I followed this road on in for about 600m passing a caravan park and over to stoned area on the right side of the road with a gate and a signpost for cyclists. Here I parked the car(Point A: HA (H478 822)) and began my climb up a steep stoned forestry lane. I continued on up passing another lane which turns down to the right and a water resevoir on the left well hidden by trees and about 100m metres on up on the left side their is a lane leading in to an open area. I continued on up the steep road for another 400 metres, passing another stoned road turning down to the right. I continued on up for another 200m coming to another road on my left hand side, with about 100m on up another road turning up to the left. I took the second of these roads to the left (Point B: F (H484 828)) turning off the road I had been on for about a Kilometer and onto a steeper road with trees on the right and deforestation on the left. The surface of this road is bad as the rain has washed a lot of loose stones down. You round the small corner and continue on up for another 200m where the road turns again to the left and continues very steeply on up to another corner. At this corner you get the first glimpse of the great view over tyrone and over to Bessy Bell. At this corner I stopped for a breather and enjoyed the view before turning and being face with another 200m steep climb up to a corner which turns left. At this corner there is a small pad leading over to the back and taking a nosey over I saw there was turf cutting going on. I went back out on to the road and continued on a now straight road on up passing a now blew down lookout post and into the shadow of the trees where the mast for the first time comes into view. Follow the road on up to the top. At the top there is no actual structure marking the exact point but the mast may have been built on it. If you stay at the mast you can enjoy great views of Balix Hill and its windmills and also on out to Donegal but the trees block a lot of the spectacular views so I followed a fence line over through bog to another point that the fence continues over. Here you get a far better view of all of Tyrone, Donegal and the magnificent Sperrin Mountains this is 1m lower that the actual top but here you can enjoy spectactular views. This is a long walk, about 2 miles up hill all the way so you should really consider going up on a good day so that you efforts to get their will be sure to be rewarded. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/760/comment/3700/

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An easy pleasant walk and my 400th mv top to boot !

Climbed this hill on Fri 23 July 2010. I parked at a forest park entrance G (H47853 82224) on a minor road of the B48 between Omagh and Gortin. Having read the comments already posted on the site I anticipated some difficulty in route finding especially as my OSNI Sheet 13 (1999) did not show a track through the forest to the top. I should not have worried as the good quality track we were on led us unerringly up to the communications mast with one or two check points on the way. The first was some 800m into the walk H (H48448 82806) where we turned left, rather than continue straight ahead, up an equally good track with trees on the left and cleared forestry on the right. Further up the track turned left passing a lesser peaty track and continued on up to the communication installation at I (H47881 83913), three sides of which are enclosed by the trees. The spot height, as already idenified by simon3, lies on a small hummock along the western edge of the security fence about one or two metres out (west) from the wire at J (H47854 83914). This said the top was not the best vantage point for this hill, surrounded as it was by trees on three sides, this was reserved for a small ring contour at virtually the same height but 200 metres west along a fence line at K (H47833 83913). The views from this little hillock were simply splendid. NE was the main Sperrins ridge while NW across Balix Hill and Owenreagh Hill (two of the hills to be climbed later in the day) I could clearly identify the Donegal Highlands and further W the Bluestacks. On the return walk down the track the bulk of Mullaghcarn was clearly seen across Gortin Glen. If taking this walk, on the way down at L (H48248 82666), be sure to continue straight on and not take the natural turn of the track down left. Straight on and you are back to the start after 500 metres whereas the turn down left will, after 700 metres, lead down to the B48 and a further 1.5k back to the start. This was a pleasant, easy walk of some 5.3k which I included with three other Sperrins hills later the same day and memorable for me as it marked the 400th mv listed mountain/hill that I have climbed. Since climbing it I have had sight of the OSNI Sheet 13 (2010) which now, unlike my earlier edition, shows the track I followed to the top !. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/760/comment/5967/

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pquinn572 on Curraghchosaly Mountain

Curraghchosaly Mountain Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/760/comment/3702/

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Summit easily gained - slower progress to the west

We were looking for a short walk for a Saturday afternoon, and being familiar with Mullaghcarn, decided that it would be worth exploring Curraghchosaly Mountain, its lower neighbour on the west side of Gortin Glen. We parked at the forest entrance in Lislap East at HA (H478 822), following pquinn572 and others. From here we followed the forest track steadily uphill until we reached the brow of the hill at M (H489 829). We had overshot the left turn recommended by Peter Walker while chatting, but this didn’t cause us any difficulty as there was an obvious grassy forest ride branching left towards the summit. We took this and shortly arrived at a small area of turf cuttings, which we crossed to rejoin the forest road. This led on to the summit. On the way we noticed bilberry bushes in flower on the right-hand side of the road. At the summit we circumvented the transmitter enclosure on the north side, and continued westwards for the more open view, in which Sliabh Troim / Bessy Bell was prominent. The top of Mullaghcarn and the higher peaks of the Sperrins were hidden under cloud.
Beyond the summit the going became slower, with only the roughest of paths descending through knee-high heather. We made a short lunch stop at a col N (H469 842), where a path running roughly north-south traverses the ridge. The midges ensured that we didn’t get too comfortable. We then followed this path for a while to the north, coming across some very dense, fluffy patches of bog cotton, then north-west, as it skirted Ballynatubbrit Mountain, leaving it and heading uphill at the point where it began to trend steeply downhill. Pretty soon we reached a fence following the watershed, which led us to the summit of Ballynatubbrit Mountain O (H463 846). This ridge continues further west to the Robber’s Table and Mary Gray before descending to Newtownstewart. However, we aimed south-west from the top of Ballynatubbrit Mountain towards an obvious antenna, picking up a path leading down towards Eskeradooey. At the first farm we joined the road, which brought us momentarily to the west, then south to join Lisnaharney Road. We had 2km of road-walking, heading east along Lisnaharney Road to return to the starting point. The entire trip took about 3¼ hours including 25 mins for lunch. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/760/comment/23167/

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simon3 on Curraghchosaly Mountain

One place to start is from the forest entrance at P (H49409 83039) on the B48 near the crest of the road from Omagh to Gortin. There is notice board here which describes the place as the Start Point for Route A of the Cairn Sunday walk held on the last Sunday in July at 2.30. This is a walk to Mullaghcarn

Getting from this starting point to the tracks that take you to the summit of Curraghchosaly may not be entirely straightforward. The Ulster Way could be used however you would need to descend 60 or 70m and go over 1km to do it. There is also the Altaravan Trail marked as going north along the road and then heading up a slope to reach the forest tracks to the SE of the summit. We could find no sign of the Altaravan Trail however by following roughly its route we got onto the tracks. Go around 200m or so along the road and then strike up the steep bank NW. Head roughly N and you will reach one of the tracks. The ground as of 2008 is rough "clear felled". Head SW along the forest track (it's marked on the 1:50k map). After 700m turn right and go around 320m NE. There is relatively open land there and you can head up and NW. A forest track will appear from the left going in roughly the same direction. Take this and head up.

The summit has a telecoms or broadcasting installation on top of it and forestry. By my reckoning the summit is a hummock just beside the fencing of the installation. There is a minor summit 200m due east of there which appeared to be perhaps 1m lower but hey I only have a fairly ordinary GPS unit so can't be sure
The photo shows the summit from the aforesaid east top. There are also views of the Bessy Bell and its wind turbines. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/760/comment/3353/

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