well the butterflies like it

Stragraddy Mountain is but a mere bump when compared to the higher peaks of Donegal. simon3 mentions that there is little to recommend this hill beyond an interesting viewpoint of Muckish and I would tend to go along with that. There is room for one car to park just off the N56 at the abandoned farmhouse mentioned by Harry Goodman in his comment L Acro FH (C08891 25227). There is one fence to cross at the back of the house before you start to ascend the gulley up towards the summit area. Tougher going than it looks through wild pasture with long grass, heather, reeds and boggy pools. The many wild flowers growing between the grass and reeds support a healthy population of insects. I don't think I've ever seen as many butterflies in one place as on the slopes of Stragraddy Mountain. I was feeling the heat of the midday sun and building up quite a sweat from the steep climb when I eventually emerged onto the summit area which is very flat. I was a little puzzled as to where the actual 285m summit was - a small pile of stones seemed to mark it but an area 30m or so away looked slightly higher. Anyway to the views - apart from the high Derryveagh ridge (see photo) there are also fine views to be had over Ards forest park and towards Rosguill and Fanad. Crockmore and Loughsalt Mountain block the view towards Inishowen but the Sperrins are certainly within easy reach of the eye - I could clearly make out the twin cones of Benbradagh and Donald's Hill many miles away. I didn't linger on the summit and soon returned to the car by retracing my steps. Not a hill I can see myself returning to if I'm honest but an interesting enough climb. You can be up and down in 40 minutes if you want to tick this one off. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/968/comment/6411/

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Straggrady Mountain

On 7 April accompanied by my son-in-law and two of my grandsons I decided, with two cars available to us, to tackle this hill as a linear walk from the R255 near Glenveigh to the N56 near Creeslough. We started at a small area of roadside parking LossN (C06425 22699) and headed NE. We had no difficulty in crossing the small stream shown on the map, although this could be avoided by walking S to where it crosses under the road. Initially the gradual climb of some 2km to the top of Drumfin Hill A (C07700 23500) was quite boggy (gaiters recommended) but the ground improved as we started uphill. Apart from some early signs of a grassy track we were mainly on trackless ground covered by tussocky grass, heather and some rock. Just beyond Drumfin Hill Top we came upon scenic Lough Acrappan set among rocky terrain with splendid views of Muckish to the NW and the full line of the Bluestacks from the fine cone of Gaugin round to the Barnesmore Gap. From here we had a a further gentle climb to the top of Stragraddy Mountain, B (C08263 24554) still marked by the couple of stones mentioned by simon3 in his comments. The views from the top include the Sperrins to the NE and a fine sweep of the Donegal Hills from the Bluestacks round to Muckish. At this point rather than go down to the minor road mentioned by simon3 we headed N across the top to a rounded secondary top C (C08291 24760) also marked by a small cairn of stones where we had splendid views N over Creeslough, Ards Forest and the sweep of coast from Horn Head round to Sheephaven Bay and Rosguil. From here we descended NE down an obvious grassy and at times boggy gulley to an old abandoned farmhouse (where we crossed our first and only fence of the day) and then made our way out to the N56 and our car L Acro FH (C08891 25227). This short walk of some 4.25km, over untracked and at times boggy ground, could comfortably be done between two and two and a half hours. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/968/comment/4607/

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Wild place.

Stragraddy is really only for those interested in summitteering not having a lot to recommend it beyond an interesting viewpoint of Muckish. It's a boggy rushy pull up without any paths that I could find. There must have been a track once because there are bog cuttings East of the top.

Start from the tee junction on the N56 at L Acro S (C0918 2443) where there is some parking. Walk up the small road leading away from the N56 for around 150 to 200m and then make for the top. Although fenced as of 2009 the land is rough and unused except for a few sheep.

Our photo shows the couple of stones that marks the top. Left skyline is Crockmore and right skyline is Loughsalt Mountain. Note the quarry on the extreme right of the picture. Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/968/comment/4102/

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A short hill walk in Donegal 2

Climbed Stragraddy Mountain after Crockmore, the time to climb both hills amounted to just over 2.5 hours, so a couple of hills that can be squeezed in when time is short. Followed simon3's advice and made straight for the top. There is 2 contour rings on the summit, the first holds the 285 spot height, interestingly both came up as 285 on my altimeter however my nice new satmap gps gave the northern ring contour 5 metres more of height! Linkback: mountainviews.ie/summit/968/comment/4740/

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