'the big hill' with the small cairn

Crockmore is another of the hills in this part of Donegal that I had been meaning to climb for a very long time, having spent many summers in the area since 1978. Once again I lucked out with the weather - a fine and sunny November morning and an almost cloudless sky. I followed the minor road from the N56 (signposted Min Larach) for about 2km. There is space for several vehicles to park on a little patch of gravel beside the road ( Bndoo (C106 254)).

From here there is an obvious col to head for between the main summit to the left and the lower hill to the right. The going is tough enough up to the lower hill summit, fairly steep and through dense heather, energy-sapping grass and slippery granite. After all the recent rain some parts were like walking through treacle and I found that I had to use my hands on several occasions to get myself up steep and slippy sections. The heather is a useful aid to grab on to. Near the top of this section, two large hares leapt out of a burrow in the ground in front of me and ran off.

Crockmore is one of those frustrating hills where you have to go down to continue going up. The main summit lay directly ahead but I had to descend again down more slippery rocks to the col to reach it. I was already feeling the strain at this point but managed to haul myself up the last section to the 349m summit where I encountered the smallest cairn I have ever seen - literally about half a dozen stones in a little pile.

My reward was to drink in the fantastic views - the rest of the Derryveagh Mountains looked splendid in the sunshine, particularly the ridge from Dooish past Errigal and the Aghlas to mighty Muckish. Loughsalt Mountain blocks much of the view out to Inishowen but the hills of Fanad, Rosguill and Horn Head were on full display - I counted eight other tops I had previously climbed. Through the haze out to sea I could just make out Tory Island.

The excellent views and warm weather kept me on the summit for some time but eventually I had to retreat. Having reached the col again I headed SE directly back towards the car across the eastern face of Crockmore. Took longer than expected - just over an hour up and down - but well worth it on a day like this. Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/901/comment/6617/

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This summit can add to the rather short day that Loughsalt Mountain makes. Unlike that quartzite summit it is made of granite, has no paths and few people. Start from the tee junction on the N56 at L Acro S (C09182 24431) where there is some parking. You can ascend over a waste strewn small cutting here if you don't mind a bit of scrambling or you can go to around L Acro S (C0906 2469) which takes you up past Lough Acrobane. Study the ridges of the land and if you pick carefully you can do a lot of the walking on some of the long bare ridges of rock that arc upwards.

The summit has a few steep bits. There are good views of much of north Donegal, though not as good as Loughsalt Mountain which blocks the panorama.

The photo shows the ridge towards Errigal starting from Muckish at the right. Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/901/comment/4103/

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A short hill walk in Donegal

From the small area, where you can squeeze in a car or perhaps two at L Acro S (C09182 24431), it is roughly one and half hours return to the summit of Crockmore. We walked along the road to L Acro S (C0906 2469), where there is a faint path towards Lough Acrobane, mentioned in simon3's route description, crossing the river by a hidden bridge and then recrossing it to reach the bottom of the ridge to the right of the wide gully. ( L Acro SW (C09353 24910), L Acro SW (C09476 24958), A (C09482 25168) being the gps points to get to the ridge) Follow this ridge uphill, past a stick sticking out of a piece of plastic tubing, to the first top, then a dip and the final short slope to the summit. Views are good and there was still a hint of strange colour in the approaching shower clouds, volcanic ash still about then. Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/901/comment/4739/

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gerrym on Crockmore

Crockmore can be easily approached from the carpark at Loughsalt ( L Salt W (C122 262)). A morning climb on Loughsalt Mtn left ample time to explore Crockmore and other hills in Donegal.

It was a very foggy morning and i dropped straight off the back of the carpark - Lough Greenan soon came into view several hundred feet below. There is an old disused track heading down which explained the surreal appearance of large pieces of furniture in the middle of nowhere. On reaching the shores of the lough i tracked its edge towards the road and pumping station seen in the picture. This was a nightmare of really rough ground and all sorts of vegetation which seemed to go on forever - a really good clue as to a bad route - the advice is do not go this way unless you like a bit of punishment!

Reach the road (approx B (C113 260)) at the small pumping house - this could be another alternative starting point with plenty of parking and a decent road. Cross road and head up the lower slopes of Crockmore. A sheeptrack (which has also seen a few bootprints) heads straight up to the first height which has a number of rocky outcrops at 307 m (. From here there is a clear view of the top as drop and then climb to the top. Pretty straightforward and the last of the mist was clearing as i made my way up allowing fantastic views. The summit has the little stone perched which can be seen in Simon's photo. Views north were dominated by the waters of Glen Lough and the Atlantic as it met the sweeping strandsin Sheephaven Bay. The old stone pillars of the railway viaduct which crossed the Owencarrow river are also clearly visible. To the west the clear autumn day brought Muckish, Aglas and Errigal close- as the eye roamed south the Bluestacks were not hard to miss. Looking back to whence i had come i could see my car perched high in the carpark next to a still mist enveloped Loughsalt. Noise was coming from the big working quarry on the southern flank of Loughsalt.

On the descent i did not return to the height of 307m but easily contoured down the south side to the road. The clear weather now showed the preferred route back (and there!) which was to climb to the heights above Lough Greenan to follow the ridge which leads back to the carpark at Loughsalt. This was great walking with views over a wide area of Donegal.

A walk of just over 3 miles and just over 1.5 hours. There were people about Lougsalt but no one else on the journey to Crockmore (unless you count the farmer on a really old tractor heading about his business). Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/901/comment/4235/

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simon3 on Crockmore

On the way up Crockmore there are fine views NW such as this over Glen Lough (nearer water) towards Sheep Haven and the Atlantic. The whitish strand is probably Ards Strand in the Ards Forest Park. Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/901/comment/4104/

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