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simon3: Track 3960 in area near Partry/Joyce Country (Ireland)
Buckaun - Binnaw circuit.
Length: 5.8km, Creator time taken: 5h38m, Ascent: 368m,
Descent: 396m

Places: Start at M0089164110, end at M0149564164 607m E from Start
Logged as completed by 1

Hydro scheme at Lough Nadirkmore.
The walk starts from a point high in an east facing coum of Maumtrasna. This road goes up to the two unfinished mini-hydro schemes in the valley, one each for Lough Nadirkmore and the smaller Lough Nambrackkeagh. There is parking here for at least 10 cars. It is hard to see the relatively small output of scheme (apparently 15kw) justifying the disturbance of an otherwise wild valley.
Maumtrasna is by area probably the largest mountain in Ireland. Its attractions are mostly in the 10 or so coums on all sides which have steep sides and often have lakes.
Lough Nadirkmore, east side of Maumtrasna

On our walk mostly to study the geology and flora we also saw some swans. They flew into the larger and deeper of the lakes, paddled around but then moved to the smaller lake. According to our excellent instructor Trish Walsh of the Petersburg Outdoor Education Centre, this was probably because the smaller lake is shallower and had weeds the swans could reach.
Swans arriving.

The Buckaun ridge is pretty impressive with steep sides, rough grounds and only the faintest of tracks. As we ascended we noted some small cairns which grew larger until they became around 2 metres in height in an east west layout.
Ridge on Buckaun.

The ground at the edge of the Maumtrasna plateau is extremely rough, is trackless and needs careful navigation. A party could easily get split in the rough ground. The cliff face into the coum is around 250m here and it is unlikely that any descent can be made safely. The Binnaw ridge is not quite so rough.
Looking SE towards the Binnaw ridge. It is possible to get down towards the end.

Descending from the Binnaw ridge to its north is only possible at specific points towards the east. Take a look at the route used on the track. It is to the east of the smaller lake, visible in this photo, which means you will need to walk almost the full length of Binnaw to get down safely.
On the day of the walk there were showers or at least drizzle perhaps half the time.
This track originated with an MI Environmental Walk where a group of some 15 people were being presented with information at various points slowing the walking speed down. This results in various parts of the track being shown in pink where the speed was particularly slow. The part of the track on the high slopes like Buckaun also seems to suffer from missing trackpoints, probably caused by the satellite view being obscured by the mountain.
The environmentat information presented was detailed and uptodate and really interesting - thanks to all in MI for arranging it.

Uploaded on: Fri, 19 Oct 2018 (07:45:00)
Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/track/3960/  
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NOTE: ALL information such as Ascent, Length and Creator time taken etc should be regarded as approximate. The creator's comments are opinions and may not be accurate or still correct.
Your time to complete will depend on your speed plus break time and your mode of transport. For walkers: Naismith's rule, an approximate though often inaccurate estimate, suggests a time of 1h 46m + time stopped for breaks
NOTE: It is up to you to ensure that your route is appropriate for you and your party to follow bearing in mind all factors such as safety, weather conditions, experience and access permission.

* Note: A GPS Height in the elevation profile is sourced from the device that recorded the track. An "SRTM" height is derived from a model of elevations for parts of the earth. More detail

OSi logo OSNI/LPS logo
Some mapping:
Open Street Map
(Various variations used.)
British summit data courtesy:
Database of British & Irish Hills
(Creative Commons Licence)
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