Hillwalking in Ireland

Scottish hillwalkers will feel at home in Ireland - the main mountain range, The Macgillycuddy's Reeks is very similar to much of our own territory. It's situated just a few miles from Killarney which I used as my base.

The SMC recognise 10 peaks here over 3000 feet, and I set out to climb them over 2 days. It was quite a windy period (May 2011) and there were days with heavy rain, but I was fortunate enough to choose two days when the sun shone and the winds died down.

My first day was on a walk known as the Coomloughra Horseshoe where the main excitement is the rather exposed ridge between Beenkeragh (1010m) and Carrauntoohil ( at 1039m, the highest in Ireland). Along the way one needs to scramble over The Tooth (sometimes called Knockoughter), and the top photograph shows the connecting ridge with The Tooth in the middle, and Carrauntoohil on the left. After that it's an easy traverse to Caher and its West Top, making 5 "Irish Munros" in all.

After a few days waiting for the wind to subside I set off to do the other 5 peaks on what is known as the Eastern Reeks. Starting at Cronin's Yard (a small farmyard with a tearoom) I clambered up The Bone, to Maolan Bui, headed out to Cnoc an Chuillin and then enjoyed the ridge on the way to the aptly named Big Gun. This part of the ridge reminded me a bit of The Saddle. From The Big Gun it was only about 400 metres to the final peak, Cruach Mhor but I found it really tricky with huge slabs which all seemed to lead you out to precarious downclimbs which I didn't feel comfortable with, so it took rather longer than anticipated. Apparently the walk is much easier tackled in the other direction.

So that concluded my 2 days in the Reeks. Before that I'd meandered around Ireland, bagging the other 3 "Munros" , Lugnaquillia, Galtymore and Brandon Mountain, perched way out on the Dingle peninsula, but they weren't really very exciting.

Incidentally, Trail magazine in this month's feature claim that there are 14 peaks over 3000ft, but the odd one is just a little bump on the Eastern Reeks ridge which I passed over in any case.

The second photograph taken from the summit of Cnoc na Peiste shows the ridge leading to The Big Gun (right) and Cruach Mhor (Left) with the very large cairn , and little shrine built by a local.

Ireland is a good destination for a holiday, a bit expensive but that's improving, and weather very similar to our own. Go on, try it !!