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Colin Murphy: Track/4976 in area near The Priest's Leap, West Cork Mountains (Ireland)
Linear route, challenging underfoot, but very rewarding.
Ascent: 193m,
Length: 7.1km,
Creator time taken: 2h46m
Descent: 174m,
Time predicted from Naismith's rule: 1h 45m + breaks
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PlacesStart at Priests Leap V98562 61072, The Priest's Leap, Barraboy Mountain, end at V93802 60847, 4.8km W from Start
Track Rating ..
[RWD version 1 ]
This is a good linear route if a) you have two cars b) you pick a dry day and c) you do it after a prolonged dry spell, otherwise it's a bit of a slog in places. We fulfilled only the first of these requirements, but pressed ahead nonetheless. Please note, I must have accidentally paused my walking app at one point, which explains the gap in the middle.
Barraboy Far East summit area.
We dropped a car on the N71 jest west of Turner's Rock and then drove to the Priest’s Leap car park, then set off just as the rain began to pound down upon our heads. Less than 1km later we arrived at Priest’s Leap, but barely glanced at it having both bagged it before. The rain eventually began to ease at this point, but by then the ground, and us, were thoroughly sodden.
Strikingly vivid rainbows were the compensation for the drenching.
Barraboy Far East Top was our next stop, about 2.5km later. The ground underfoot wasn’t too bad here, long grasses and some rocks, and one of the advantages of this route is that you start at 400m ascent, so there aren’t any serious climbs to contend with. The summit was a small grassy area with a few boulders, although one large, pointy boulder vied for the title of highpoint, but we figured it was a spot about 10m west of this. Pressing on, the next 2km proved both rewarding and unpleasant. The rain continued to fall intermittently, but there were also occasional blasts of sunlight, which caused several vivid rainbows to form. And Lough Nagarriva & and Lough Namaddra brought welcome variety to the landscape. Against that, we also had to tramp through a virtual swamp, with water sploshing above our ankles at one point.
Lough Nagarriva.
I’d imagine this area is wet even in summer. We ignored the unlisted Barraboy SE, and approached Barraboy itself from the SE slope, a bit steepish, but a short, firm climb. Summit marked by a good cairn. The weather at least had the effect of treating us to some dramatic climatic scenery.
Dramatic skies seen from Barraboy.
The next section, at 4km, was the longest, but at the col to the west we discovered a waymarked trail, that took us all the way to Turner’s Rock summit - a large slab of rock topped by a pile of rocks.
Turner's Rock summit.
After that it was a relatively simple descent of about 500m west, although some shin-high rushes and grass just before the end made for hard work. But one Arderin and three Carns in the bag!
Editing Details for track/4976
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.
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Uploaded on: Tue, 31 Oct 2023 (14:50:58), Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/track/4976/
* 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
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