Long Views from Little Lough an Leagh

This hill is known as nothing else other than Lough an Leagh by all locals (which is what appears on all sign posts, information boards, literature and websites). It is said that on a clear day you can see 13 counties from the summit. On the clear evening that I ticked this off my local 100, I definitely counted 9. You can see the Cooley Mountains, with the Mournes poking out behind them, with Gullion and the nearby plains of Monaghan, over to Cuilcagh. I think that some of the hills of Leitrim and Westmeath might have been in view, but I could definitely see Loughcrew and on to the Dublin and Wicklow hills! Impressive enough for a small hill.

My initial plan was to park up in the village of Tievewurker and walk out “from the front of the mountain”. There is a lane at B (N70613 92763) which is shown on the OSI map. As I approached the gate I met the resident of the house alongside, so I checked was it ok to walk the lane and was denied access! I later found out, that this lady owns no land on the lane, that there is a right of way and she had no right to stop me. I fully intend to return at some point to walk my originally intended route and hope that I meet her so I can give her a wave as I climb over the gate to the lane!

A bit annoyed by this unnecessary inhospitability, I got in the car and headed for the site of the fair at Muff, before driving on up to the picnic area mentioned by Wicklore. A local I met there informed me that Mass is still celebrated here at the stone, at dawn on Easter morning. I initially headed North, away from the main summit, turning right at the RSJ barrier and down the lane to point C (N73383 96155), I figured I had descended enough and turned back to ascend the hill on this pleasant wee lane. On my return to the barrier I crossed it and started to explore the hill on the Northern end of the ridge, that is actually marked as Cornasaus on the map. This conifer ridden hill and its ruined cairn are quite unimpressive and my advice would be to not bother with it!

Getting back to the car, I took a slightly different approach to the summit, walking west along the road a short distance to a sign for Adrian’s way, this is a more aesthetically pleasing track than the access road to mast, you can follow it to the edge of the forest and turn 90 degrees left to take the short steep, rough track to the summit. This part of the hill is worth a wander though, I headed over to the road on the far side at D (N71750 94881), which is an alternative place to park up. There is another cairn at E (N71922 95410) which is also worth a look. On this early May evening I did discover Bilberry bushes, only on the southern side of the hill though. Overall a grand wee hill that I will walk again on midweek summer evenings!

For more information on this hill you should check out the two websites below:
http://www.loughanleagh.com/
http://www.thisiscavan.ie/content/files/Cavan_Walking_Guide.pdf Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/913/comment/14697/

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wicklore on Cornasaus

Cornasaus is accessible from the Kingscourt – Bailieborough road in Cavan. I drove up the M1 and headed for Ardee before cutting across to Cavan. Cornasaus is part of a ridge of upland a few kilometres long. A minor road cuts across this upland just to the north of the highest point. A track at A (N724 965) leads from the road the few hundred metres up to the summit. Geo mentions a forest track in his post, but there is no forestry on Cornasaus on this side. There is forestry on its southern slopes however, and I saw a track lead from the summit into the trees. Cornasaus is clearly the highest point around and this area of upland is home to several communications masts. The track leading up to the summit is well worn – both by boots and wheeled vehicles. The summit itself has a half-overgrown cairn with a trig pillar built on it. The most interesting feature was the large tricolour flag atop a long pole sticking out of the trig pillar. While the summit is obviously well used the locals have respected the flag and no vandalism is evident. While I was there (late on Saturday evening) 8 Polish people wandered up the hill and we enjoyed a chat. The views are good – I could see Slieve Gullion and the Cooleys away to the NE. There are many smaller hills dotted across the land to the east and west. Further west were some unidentified higher hills, and views south were partly blocked by the forestry. Not a remarkable summit but I can see why locals come here for the views. Sorry Geo – not a bilberry in sight! Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/913/comment/3756/

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Nth Midlands Odyssey

Thursday 31/10/2013. Following on from Mt Oriel and as part of a Nth Midlands arc I arrived at A (N724 965) ( Point A) Lovely picnic area here and well kept, just across the road I followed a well defined track to the top of Cornasaus it took just about 6mins to reach the top. Once again lovely views in all directions. Headed back down to car, met a mountain biker and one man and his horse! Hopped into car and headed for Slieve Glah Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/913/comment/15241/

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Cornassaus or Lough an Leagh?

This is a very straight forward walk from a picnic area at the side of the road as mentioned by wicklore, There is a track heading South up to some masts on top of the hill. The trig point is just behind the masts. This short trek will take about 10 minutes but it's still worth bringing a snack to enjoy at the lovely picnic area at the start of the walk. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/913/comment/20123/

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Bilberries with a view!

I parked in the same spot as wicklore and headed up the track, passing quite a few people out picking bilberries. It's less than 500 metres from the parking spot up to the summit, so this isn't going to tax anyone. If fact, you could drive almost all the way to the top if you weren't too worried about grounding your sump. Plenty of telecoms installations near the summit, with the largest one belonging to RTÉ.

There was no Irish flag in evidence today, but the clear weather gave some lovely views of north Leinster and south Ulster, with Gullion and the Mournes clearly visible. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/913/comment/5932/

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