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Trip Up Tomies & Purple Mts. -- Where are the Clear Skies & our Summer

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On Sunday ane of the most beautiful place in the world . The starting point was the world famous Kate Kearne total of 11 of us set off on a trip up Tomies & Purple Mt. . On a fine, clear and sunny day this must be oys cottage and from there we headed a small bit back in towards Killarney before taking a right to start our climb.
The one thing great about our day out was as we started our ascent we got a great view over Lough Leane and the other parts of the Lakes Of Killarney & on a morning like this you get a great chance to appreciate it.
The first step up to little Tomies was not that little at all but a long gradual but strenuous climb but at no actual point overly severe but the quietness in the bunch told its own story. The legs & the lungs were feeling the effects. Our first aim and peak was little Tomies but the only thing by this stage the cloud and fog was down on top of us limiting our view.


After a pit stop and a group photo we headed on towards Big Tomies and as made our way across the top you could see its outline in the cloud with a few whispers of do we really have to go up there but as we progressed all of a sudden we were half way up and when you kept your head down for a bit more and looked up again, sure you were at the top !!!

The disappointing thing of this day was that by this stage was the clod and fog were right down on top of us and you could only see a glimmer of the view raising the question Where was our Summer and the clear skies because if you really wanted to be anywhere to consume the Lakes and surrounds it was right up here but we only got a glimmer.


We headed on our way again towards Purple Mt. and the one thing you notice about this section was the colour of the stone and you find out where this place gets its name. The stand out feature was the amount of loose stone there was . On reaching the peak we were at our highest point of the day but still in the cloud and fog.


As we made our way down below the clouds the views appeared again. To the West of us was the Black Valley and we could out towards Kenmare on one side and Inch Beach on the other and our left were The Reeks and the really Big One .The other noticeable thing as we came down the level of chatter was increasing as the severity decreased.



We finally got down to the road at the Gap Of Dunloe and from here we had to head back towards our cars at Kate Kearneys cottage and as we strolled along the one thing you would notice was the amount of different nationalities that visit this place from Irish, Germans, Indians, English, Russian, Swedish and all other parts. On a clear dry day it really is a spectacular spot and this made the last leg of our journey bearable as most of the legs were feeling the day at this stage and the fact that we turned up a chance to leave a car at the top of the Gap to go back as a taxi to retrieve the others. Even the jarveys were having no pity on our bones when we stuck out our thumb looking for a free lift.


We also got the chance to see a young deer grazing away and taking no notice of a few photographers.

Back to Kate Kearneys and a few refreshments at the end of a long day which everyone really enjoyed even though it did take over 5 hours but in future we may leave a car at the top of the Gap Of Dunloe but overall  a great day out but next time here God will you give us a few more clear skies especially when we are the top. 


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Location: Killarney, Co. Kerry, Ireland

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