Having it Largan

In an effort to avoid the unpleasant tree-stuff described previously, I decided to make an alternative approach. At the western end of Lough Talt I took a minor road at A (G38776 81594)2 that skirts the eastern side of the hill. After 2 kms I turned left at a T-junction. The road (now The Sligo Way) is an unsurfaced track, and I parked at the entrance to forestry at B (G40833 17900). A pallet-gate to the left of the forest entrance gave (clumsy) access to the open hillside.
The gradient soon steepens, and I continued up grassy slopes to a vague grassy track running in a SW direction. I followed this SW till the summit area loomed into view to my right, Gaining the broad summit ridge and crossing a fence I continued through an area of sphagnum-covered peat hags to the featureless summit. There are wide views, though on this muggy overcast day, it was all a bit unremarkable. What was noteworthy was how uninhabited the valley to the east was - I could only discern two dwellings in an area of many square miles.
I made my way back via the same route for a round trip of 1hour 45 minutes, and a distance of 4.64 kilometers. Baggers only. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/770/comment/20576/

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FIRST CONTACT FOR MOUNTAIN VIEWS

Take R294 from Tobbercurry to Ballina as you see the sign Welcome to Mayo turn right park at next entrance to abandoned cottage at C (G37459 16915)(start) Map 24 shows trail which is correct but long overgrown cross into forestry at D (G37862 16992)(wooden stile) follow faint trail up to open hill at E (G3896 8176)2 and continue to point F (G39482 17507) along fence turn left (hill erosion) up to ridge continue across boggy area to summit. Great views across to Nephin and North Mayo. Returned to car via point G (G38795 17405) where mature and new trees meet keeping fence on left you soon return to original trail at H (G38639 17247) Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/770/comment/6469/

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A nice day with some unexpected sunshine!

When an unexpected sunny spell came to visit us in south Sligo, I decided to drive out to Lough Talt to tackle this interesting little hill. I mostly followed the track by gerrym, parking near a gate entrance at the start of his track. The walk was very pleasant, dry and the sun illuminated the hills leading up to Knocknasliggaun to the South West. With cloud coming in from the north, views from the summit were not as good as expected. But the lovely fresh air, and the views across to Lough Talt to the south and also Meenamaddo and Sruffaungarve to my NNE more than made up for the lack of visibility elsewhere. When cloud lifted, I had a nice view of Nephin.

I made the mistake of following gerrym's track right down into the inviting green forest at I (G38300 17625). This started very nice but like Gerry warned, the going gets quite tough, so you'll be almost crawling through some of this forest. I'll do this route soon again and upload a track using Paddy's route near J (G382 178) to complete the circuit. This will require going around the edge of the forest is a westerly direction, until you veer a little south towards the road. The walk back along the road back to the car is surprisingly pleasant. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/770/comment/17842/

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Rough ascent through clearfell.

Much of the forest shown on the map above has long-since been felled, which doesn't facilitate easy access. Parking at Largan (G37391 17099), I followed a zigzag trail to roughly K (G38010 17398), the continued up over what looked like a 'road' of clearfell trees, but quite walkable with care. This swung SE after a few hundred metres and I followed it to L (G38402 17343), where I navigated a tricky path up through the clearfell - a bit rough going in parts. This eventually took me to open hillside about 500m from summit. Not the easiest hill to climb. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/770/comment/24028/

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Tough going

Parked a little up the road from sandman's starting point at a large forestry entrance. Followed the paths and made my way uphill to the North of the forest edge which brought me out on open moorland near spot height 349 J (G382 178). Made my way across boggy and tussocky ground to an empty unmarked summit of peat hags. Wonderful views of surrounding country and mountain ranges. Returned via sandman's route but didn't find forest trail and cut through trees which was pretty unpleasant. A lot of effort for a dull top with a nice view. Allow about an hour and a half with some tough going. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/770/comment/6706/

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