Tully makes a lovely easy stroll if you're in the Renvyle/Letterfrack area with a couple of hours to spare, or could be combined with a trip to the Connemara National Park and a round of the Diamond to make a satisfying, leisurely day out. There's space to park a couple of cars in a small quarry at L6839 5999 A, just after two tracks go off to the right, or else there's loads of parking a few hundred metres back along the road at the quay at L6878 5985 B.

From the first mentioned parking place, head west along the road for a few metres, until you can see a little wooden stile over the fence above you to the right. Once over this, head up to the broad ridge, from where its an easy climb, firstly over short, relatively dry grass and then closely cropped heather. Higher up, look out for the abundant shiny leaved, trailing shoots of the Bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi) and the spiky leaved mats of Juniper (Juniperus communis), forming a very attractive type of heath.

There is one false summit to contend with, but once this is surmounted, the main summit is close at hand, with its trig pillar almost completely enclosed within a cairn. The view from here is nothing short of stupendous, due to Tully's isolated location, west of all the other mountains. Views stretch from south Connemara, across the Bens, to Mweelrea with its golden beaches, up to Croagh Patrick and the North Mayo mountains, out to Achill, which still managed to be completely covered by cloud, despite there not being another cloud in the sky! Out to sea lay Clare, Bofin, Turk and Shark, surprisingly close at hand.

Once you've soaked up the scenery, you can either retrace your steps back to the starting point, or if you want a longer walk and don't mind a few kilometres of road walking, you could continue west along the ridge crossing a couple of minor tops to come down to the road near Renvyle point. Trackback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/893/comment/5821/

On 28.02.2012 most of Connemara was under a thick blanket of fog and low cloud, however, Tully Mountain looked just possible. Even so I had to wait till early afternoon for clouds to lift. I parked at the foot of an old quarry (room for 1 car on a slope) about 300m past the small quay which was rather busy with all kinds of maintenance activities.

A short but steep stony track leads to a disused quarry where you will also find a large farm outbuilding, a good reference point for the descent. Proceed through a muddy section where livestock gather (a makeshift trough) and go through a metal gate, which was not locked.

There is no path to the top, just make your own way over the grassy if boggy slope. Livestock is grazing freely so expect some tracks and muddy patches where they gather. Visibility was none too great on the day so I kept to some boulders on the contour to my west, then over a false top and boggy patches to a rocky outcrop where you’ll find a large cairn obscuring the trig.

Tully Mountain still had its head in the cloud so I only got a glimpse of Ballynakill Harbour and the Bens. Trackback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/893/comment/6762/

Good view of the highest summit in Connaught on the way up Tully Mountain. Trackback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/893/comment/14990/

It was a day of sun and showers on which we visited Inishark. From it there is a quite different NE view of Tully Mountain, shown in relation to its neighbours.

Tully, centre midground, sweeps down to the sea from this angle. On the skyline to the right is Garraun and its outliers. Just beyond Tully is the ever dark Doughruagh. From the right is the NE flank of Diamond Hill. Perhaps most surprising is the skyline between Tully and Diamond where the stepped ridge descends (r to l) from Letterbreckaun 40.01 km away in the Maamturks.

Nearer at hand the SW coast of Inishbofin creeps in from the left of the picture. The small island between Inishbofin and Inishark rejoices in the anglicisation of Inishskinnymore. Trackback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/893/comment/17536/

Tully Mountain trig pillar, with Doughruagh, Diamond Hill and the Northern Bens in the background. Delightful views in all directions. Well worth walking the whole ridge NW to the coast, to include Tully Mountain West. Trackback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/893/comment/19780/