Mangerton Mountain
Sunday 11th September
I'm in Ireland for a Weeks walking in Co. Kerry. I've been really looking forward to this weekend having arrived yesterday evening at Shannon Airport and stayed at a local youth hostel overnight. This morning I drove (in a hired car) over to Kerry and through Killarney. I parked at a viewpoint near Tooreencormick on a minor road off the N71 with my target for the day, Mangerton Mountain clearly in sight across the moorland in the clear weather.
Walking to the end of the road I headed off along a track that followed the Finoulagh River up the hill side; although boggy at first it improved as the views across the Killarney National Park and the MacGillycuddy's Reeks revealed themselves.
Eventually coming across an old broken down wall, I followed it's boggy course straight up the hill onto the ridge overlooking the Devil's Punch Bowl, ie a lake. With most of the hard climbing over I was able to enjoy myself as I walked up to the north top of Mangerton before returning to the ridge straight up onto the broad plateau of Mangerton Mountain. After the dramatic northern cliffs that overlook several lochs the flat boggy summit was a bit of a let down. Although distant hills could be seen, hazy in the distance, the plateau rather spoilt the view. Returning to the relatively bog-free northern edge I proceeded east around the top of Horses Glen towards Stoompa. After a somewhat arduous moorland crossing I reached the rock-strewn summit, it's always satisfying to find a splendid cairn on top of a hill. It is much better than the radio mast on Mangerton!
With any trace of a path evaporated I descended the steep, heathery, stony slopes of Stoompa with quite a bit of difficulty. At one point I completely missed my footing and literally went head over heels! Thankfully I survived to tell the tale. There remained now a tiring and frustrating moorland crossing below Lough Garagarry across to the outward path. This was a very challenging section of the walk because I had to get through pathless tracts of heather, bracken, gorse, and I also had a river to cross: the Owgarriff River, which had just enough stones in it to prevent me getting my feet wet. Then when I was almost on the path I came across a fence that was blocking my way; the only way around it was to follow the fence back up the hill and across the Finoulagh River. With considerable relief I arrived at he path and returned to the road and back to my car. Alright, not MY car, but the one I'm using this week. The effect on me was the same whomever the car belongs to.
I'm in Ireland for a Weeks walking in Co. Kerry. I've been really looking forward to this weekend having arrived yesterday evening at Shannon Airport and stayed at a local youth hostel overnight. This morning I drove (in a hired car) over to Kerry and through Killarney. I parked at a viewpoint near Tooreencormick on a minor road off the N71 with my target for the day, Mangerton Mountain clearly in sight across the moorland in the clear weather.
Walking to the end of the road I headed off along a track that followed the Finoulagh River up the hill side; although boggy at first it improved as the views across the Killarney National Park and the MacGillycuddy's Reeks revealed themselves.
Eventually coming across an old broken down wall, I followed it's boggy course straight up the hill onto the ridge overlooking the Devil's Punch Bowl, ie a lake. With most of the hard climbing over I was able to enjoy myself as I walked up to the north top of Mangerton before returning to the ridge straight up onto the broad plateau of Mangerton Mountain. After the dramatic northern cliffs that overlook several lochs the flat boggy summit was a bit of a let down. Although distant hills could be seen, hazy in the distance, the plateau rather spoilt the view. Returning to the relatively bog-free northern edge I proceeded east around the top of Horses Glen towards Stoompa. After a somewhat arduous moorland crossing I reached the rock-strewn summit, it's always satisfying to find a splendid cairn on top of a hill. It is much better than the radio mast on Mangerton!
With any trace of a path evaporated I descended the steep, heathery, stony slopes of Stoompa with quite a bit of difficulty. At one point I completely missed my footing and literally went head over heels! Thankfully I survived to tell the tale. There remained now a tiring and frustrating moorland crossing below Lough Garagarry across to the outward path. This was a very challenging section of the walk because I had to get through pathless tracts of heather, bracken, gorse, and I also had a river to cross: the Owgarriff River, which had just enough stones in it to prevent me getting my feet wet. Then when I was almost on the path I came across a fence that was blocking my way; the only way around it was to follow the fence back up the hill and across the Finoulagh River. With considerable relief I arrived at he path and returned to the road and back to my car. Alright, not MY car, but the one I'm using this week. The effect on me was the same whomever the car belongs to.
posted by David Keates at 11:47 am
2 Comments:
beautiful walks you go on... wow!
You ain't seen nothing yet
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