Kanturk Hillwalkers and Mountain Climbers | Blog

On Saturday Jan. 18th a few club members went for a walk around the Claragh Loop in Millstreet. You often hear about great walks all over the country & further afield but this is one great walk right on our doorstep in North Cork. To get to it you turn down the Clargh Rd. in Millstreet at the Church & continue for about a mile and park the car and follow the route to the top of Claragh Mountain where you will get on a clear day a fantastic view overlooking Millstreet. But what most people do not know is that you continue on further by heading on westwards. You will be looking at Caherbarnagh in front of you with The Paps and all the Kerry Mountains further back with a great of all of North West Cork as well. https://my.viewranger.com/route/details/MjgxNzg0NA%3D%3D?fbclid=IwAR0fchBY7cHzNncow0nmB5ULaeXB10ulOPs_jKn4msC38BYFPdaSiujNysI As a walk it has every thing especially for this time of the year, a good testing climb to the summit of Claragh, a good hike as you go we...

On Sunday 20 May the club hosted a walk in conjunction with Cork Walking Week. The walk was the Clara loop walk which is 10 klms long. Using the power of social media and some old fashioned posters we advertised in the area. We timed the walk for 13.30 with registration at 13.15 in the GAA Hall in Millstreet. This was new territory for us and we weren’t sure how many to expect. Thanks to the generosity of sponsors we had an ample supply of fruit, chocolate bars and water available for all walkers. The turnout was better than expected. It was great to see so many people, young and not so young  interested in doing the walk. After registration and a quick talk on the rules for the day we headed out of town, down the Clara road. Passing the grotto we turned left and continued for 500 meters before turning right into Mount Leader wood. Through the wood until we reached a stile. Our trail then skirted the forestry. We eventually came to a gate which led to open mountain and the ...

On Sunday 12 November the club walk was the Claragh Loop. At 14.00 we left town and headed to Millstreet which sits at the junction where the Boggeragh and Derrynasaggart mountains meet. Parking up beyond the Grotto we walked back to a bohereen that turns right into the hill. We then turned to our right off this up through Mount Leader wood. Following a well defined path and markers we made our way through forest and then on to open boggy ground, gaining height as we went. The talking tapered off  as we ascended. The views opened up  Ballydaly, Rathmore, Millstreet, Cullen could be plainly seen on what was a beautiful winters day, excellent weather for hill walking. Finally we reached the summit (452) from here it is said nine churches can be seen, also the Lakes of Killarney and Brandon. We rested here for awhile, before heading on toward the trig point and following the markers down the side of the mountain where after some time came to a track which ran beside the rui...

 On Sun. March 11th for the first time we had a club outing doing the Claragh Loop , to get there you go into Millstreet, turn down the road between Centra & the Church and travel out for about a mile until you meet a Grotto and just beyond this you park on the right on the bend. You then proceed to walk up the small road on the town side of where you are after parking until you meet the entrance into the forest on your right . This is the start of the Claragh Loop.  On this day we started with a good crowd of 11 including another new member & 2 day visitors which was a great turn out  The Claragh Loop is another good walk for us in that it is not that far away and in some ways for us it is so close most people never bother doing it, thinking the far away fields are greener. The way we did it is by first climbing the traditional route to the top of Claragh Mt. and going as far as the Cross but instead of turning back you continue on until you meet you meet...

After doing Mangerton on Saturday and with the fact that I had a few other things on I was looking to go somewhere but it had to be close. The Clara Loop was decided upon and one thing great about it , this also allowed us to bring a few young lads as it was suitable for them. Once you got to the cross which we got over with early nearly all the hard stuff was over with, after passing on the Cross and the Stones we headed on westwards facing on towards Caherbanagh. After a while strolling along with some good weather on our side, not to forget we got some nasty showers in between. Thought the April showers were supposed to be gone, so much so one really nasty shower came within 50 yard of us but passed along beside us without dampening our stride. At this point of our was good because looking back towards Caherbanagh & Kerry was breathtaking. At this stage you are under the cross and mountain and above Ballyday and some of our younger companions were mentioning Cadburys, bringing...

Two groups went out this time. The first was a small group of those who couldn't go up Carrauntoohil last Sunday. Together with Denis O'Mahony our favorite  Mountain Leader, we climbed it today. For two of the group, Roseann and Stephanie this was the first ascent of  'The Big One' and they did very well. We decided to follow the same route as the group of us who did it last week. Starting from Lisleibane we climbed up The Heavenly Gates hoping for the clouds to lift up, but we had no luck this time.  The Boots at The Heavenly Gates The cross was occupied by the group of Scouts from Dublin who were doing The Four Peaks 2016 Challenge and as a result of that we had to wait for our turn to take our group photo. But the cafe was ours, because we were faster than them and there was too many of them to fit inside (LOL).  The Heffernan Gang: Roseann, Stephanie & Anna (almost Heffernan) at the top No views from the t...