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Gougane Barra

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On Sunday 8th September the club walk was in Gougane Barra. We left town at 08.30 on a dry autumnal day. Reaching our destination we parked up and had tea / coffee at the restaurant overlooking the tranquil waters of the lake.

We made our way by the lake, before turning north along a narrow road to reach a gate that gave access to the mountain. Conditions underfoot were not great, it was wet and boggy as we started our ascent. There is no defined path here and our aim was to make the crest of the ridge. As we progressed, the ground didn’t get any better in fact it got worse. Coarse grass , covering knee jarring holes and slippery rock. Then there was some rain and in the mist visibility was not great. On a clear day the views would have been worth the hard slog, but not today.

After some time we rested up and had some refreshments.
Continuing through the inhospitable ground conditions , we trudged along. Eventually our progress was brought to an abrupt halt , as we came to a well constructed fence topped by barbed wire. On some of the fence posts were way markers, however they petered out.  Now we had to take stock, do we go back , try to descend to the lake or scale the fence..the third option won out.
The going underfoot didn’t improve.....

Spare a thought then for the men of the West Cork flying column who in June 1921 were in the Borlin Valley. Led by Tom Barry they got word that the British forces were converging on them from Bandon Castletownbere Macroom and Bantry. The intention was to surrounded them.
Barry led his men across these same  Shehy mountains and down a cliff into the Coomroe Valley where they found hospitality at Cronin’s hotel in a Gougane Barra. This was done under the cover of darkness......  With all our modern navigation accouterments we found it difficult enough to negotiate by day.

We pushed onwards. Two French guests left the group to scout a way down...after a while they called out that they had found a path. After what seemed an age we finally reached a track, then a tarred path that took us over a small stream called the Lee..then we like Barry and his men were grateful to reach the sanctuary of Cronin’s hotel where we enjoyed their hospitality.
It was good to see new faces and to add an international dimension to the group.
It was an enjoyable day out, but a walk that I would be in no hurry to do again.

     “ Hiking is the answer, who cares what the question is “...........Unknown
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