Route from Conor Pass to Annascaul, taking in a few hills along the way ... starting at Conor Pass gets a lot of height out of the way for little (no!) effort...

My original intention had been to head north off Cnoc na Banoige and contour around to the headwall of the stream running into Annascaul Lake and from there to descend along the track down to and around the lake. However, The Tom Crean Walk markers were all over the hills and I followed them east of Cnoc na Banoige and as far as Knockmulanane; I once ascended from the east to Knockmulanane and didn't have fond memories of the experience, so I was curious to see how the Walk planned to get off Knockmulanane. This started well, heading south east from the peak initially and the flags heading confidently downwards before terminating abruptly just above a totally inhospitable band of vegetation. From being almost every 30m, there were now no flags at all to be seen. I probed a bit cautiously before abandoning, regaining some height and heading more east to just south of the cliffs...where I knew I could at least get down, however uncomfortably...given today's outfit of shorts and shoes....

Nonetheless, a great walk.