Head out the Sligo road out of Manorhamilton. Cross the bridge over the Bonet and take the next left towards Dromahair. About a mile down this road you see a galvanise gate on your right with a wee road just beside it. Take this road and after 1/2 mile keep an eye out for a newish 2 storey house on the left. Just after this on the rhs is the 'pallet gate' referred to in earlier posts. Dont attempt to climb it as it is fairly rotten but still serving its purpose. Undo the rope on the rhs of the gate and follow the path up to the lovely oak copse. At this stage I forgot the directions in the earlier posts and just kept going straight up the hill. When you reach the summit of this hill you realise that you must descend again in order to reach the main summit. How bad. A lovely rowan tree, at the base of this unforseen descent, commands the grass beneath to grow a little lusher and one can understand why Oisins mother decides to place her baby under the care of this lovely tree. You see two greenish paths up to the main summit and I chose the one on the right. The sun was beating down on my neck and the steep (for me) ascent enforced many a wee rest to gaze back at the rowan tree. The views at the top were beautiful, mad shapes of mountains altogether. Best of all is the beautiful black lake at the top. Peeled off the sweaty gear and plunged into this lovely lake. Waist deep for me. Dried off letting the lovely breeze do its thing while I gazed all around me. Best walk I have ever had! Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/761/comment/6068/

My favourite mountain in this rather stunning area. It is the last outpostpost of the Ox Mountains. Consists of paragneiss and a type of quarzite with the odd garnet seem. The approaches are best from the north eastern flank just up from the Shanvous bridge or up the Benbo road and veer right over the pallet gate into the field after the first big house on the left and meet up with the old turf path. that brings you up steep the eastern lower bump through an oakforest and with great views over the Bonet valley. you`ll be able to pick out some bronze age settlements(round bumps on the valley floor) and if you go left before the forrest ends you`ll pass a wee famine house.
if you stay on the turfroad the trees fall away and you`ll find yourself on the lower bump looking over Manorhamilton onthe north side(more bronze age settlements too) and the high bog valley on the high bog valley(old turf cutting site) on the southern side. there is an unrecorded subcircular enclosure on the southeast side of the high bump and all sorts of interesting walls on the south flank but I usually go arround the northern rim of the bog valley and climb up the green streak to the top fairly hard going but fun. you come out near a ledge hop on that and you get to the little stone pyramid on the top. the legend has it that this side of it was called the hungry side and the farmers from the benbo road used to bring a stone when they went up to gather the sheep.
on the very top it round of into rock and tight turf with lots of puddles. keep to the left now and go arround and that will lead you to the black lough. good for swimming in the summer, very shallow and therefore warmish. Used to be full of eels so they say.
There are amazing turfscapes and really good views up there. Lough Allen,Kesh Mountain and Carrowkeel, Lough Gill, Corrageen Cor, the Dartrys, Truskmore and the Glencar plateau,Crocknagapple,Saddlehill, Dough Mountain, sometimes even Lough McNean .
you can go onto the south west then and if you are lucky you might find a low cairn with an erroded side to the west lining up with a stone to the east and Knocknarea to the southwest. there is another one further west . Going along the rimm untill you find the style over the fence the is decent quickl and easy onto the path rising from sandy lane and follow the Benbo road down to the car again.
The north flank is wet but the prettiest with a bit of hillfort ditch still traversable about halfways up and a little stream running past an old house site and up between the folds of the high bump. lovely clamper but wet. the forrest is indigenous and the botanics stunning.The fauna : hares, foxes, snipes and quails, pheasants, wild goats, lizzards, frogs, a gosshawk and the usual finches and tits. Feet will get wet no matter what you wear. Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/761/comment/4595/