I had a few afternoon hours at my disposal on the way home for Christmas today so decided a long overdue saunter around Slievacarran was called for. I started at the park entrance at M33106 03293 A and followed the obvious track north to the charmingly located but underwhelming ruined church at M32869 04242 B.
From here I doubled back to the obvious signposts and followed the track posts in a generally northerly direction. After a few minutes I came upon some wonderful limestone pavement and here I decided to leave the track and followed the wall instead. A bit of sparse hazel had to be negotiated and upon meeting some thicker stuff I veered east and detoured around the messy stuff for a while. All the time I had an obvious way up in my sights - a relatively scrubless rocky and grassy shoulder at the end of the cliffs.
Before I started ascending I came upon the county boundary wall at approx M33938 05409 C and headed up using this as a handrail before being forced left because of some scrub. It was easy to avoid the latter and in no time I was jumping over a wall to stroll across the pasture with the endgame in sight. There was some easy scrambling to enjoy on the way up too. The summit is a massive cairn which gave great views of Turlough Hill, Abbey Hill and Galway Bay.

From the summit I headed south for about a km before swinging left to walk along the top of the cliffs with the obvious way down beckoning me ahead. This was an easy descent with a couple of electric fences to limbo under and I was soon happily back in my car listening to hailstones pelting the roof. The circuit took a leisurely 2hrs 45mins and was a perfect way to break up my drive south. Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/927/comment/21846/

Looking at this prominent hill in the Burren since I came to Gort in 1999 I always intended to to climb it one day.. Myself & 3 brothers climbed it 2 weeks ago for our annual christmas walk. Starting at the information board in Keelhilla, we crossed the style & headed over the flat limestone in a N direction. Going over the gate at the limestone wall we took a SW route over more difficult limestone terrain toward the obvious shoulder of Slievecarran. Care needs to be taken across here & it proved the most dangerous part of the climb with 6 inch fissures in the rock so every step needs to be considered. The limestone is gradually stepped as you approach the next wall which runs northsouth behind a Hazel border, which isn't too thick and is easy to negotiate. Negotiating this wall is the most difficult part of the climb as it sits on a rock step 1m high. There's no style, and care needs to be taken crossing it. Once over, the hill begins its rise to the NW and we passed left of a concrete water tank. We then had the steepest part of the climb in a NW direction over a series of limestone steps coming to another limestone wall. Once over, we saw a concrete cattle enclosure to the N & went directly towards it. From here, the cairn marking the summit of Slievecarran is clearly visible directly N. A flat walk of 10 minutes over mixed grassland/limestone gets you there. The summit of 326m is the 2nd highest in the Burren after Sieve Elva at 344m. We had views of Galway City & Bay, the 12 Bens, the Slieve Aughty Mts, Coole Park & south Galway as well as excellent close up vistas of Oughtmama & Abbey Hill to the NW, Ailwee to the W & Bouleevin to E. Make sure to visit the impressive crater, a 5 minute walk to the NW. It is about 50m deep x 140m across and almost perfectly round. A great aerial view of it is visible via satellite view on the viamichelin.com website. Just be very careful here as the sides are vertical & the lip lies directly below a few feet of grass the far side of a limestone wall. We returned from Slievecarran the route we went up, & the whole trek took 3 hours at an easy pace including 20 minutes for refreshments. Well worth the visit after coming down was the trip to the ruins of MacDuagh's Church & Holy Well (St Colman), which lies at the foot of the Slievecarran cliff face ( Eagles Rock). He was a recluse here for 7 years in the 600s AD. Later, he co founded the monastery at nearby Killmacduagh in the 7th century (see the stcolman.com website for full story). The day was dry but dull in mid winter when we climbed & I would imagine that on a clear day in summer, that the views from the summit of Slievecarran would be inspiring & I am surprised that it is not commented on more often. It is the most prominent peak looking across Galway Bay from Salthill, & is visible to the W all the way to Gort on the road out from Galway. Though it took me 15 years, I definitely intend to do it again, god willing, this summer. Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/927/comment/17800/