Kanturk Hillwalkers and Mountain Climbers | Blog

There is very little I can say about this trip as only the pictures will tell the story. It was a fantastic day. The only thing that you could find being wrong is that at times there was no breeze to cool you down from the warmth but in this country we do not complain about the weather. On this Sunday we set of with a crew of 12 to Hungry Hill which is located just past Adrigole and short of Castetownbere in the deep south west of Cork. There is a saying that by the time you reach Mitchelstown from near here you are half way to Dublin. Another bit of information is that on top of the mountain the Cork / Kerry border runs along , we cannot get everything right !!! The one thing is that you really do find out why they call this place Hungry Hill in that it is a pure wall of rock and a common comment was that it was no wonder that people emigrated or just moved away from here , in that on a good day like the day we were here but it must be really hard to survive of the land as it is...

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...

On Saturday we got back out again after a few weeks of a break due to lots of other things on and one really bad Sunday of wind and rain, so it was great to get out for some fresh air and scenery . The chose destination was Mangerton in Killarney . I know we come here a bit but the beauty never ceases to amaze, when you get a clear morning up this mountain the views over looking the lakes and into the distance takes your breath away, which may not be hard considering the hard first section of this mountain. On Saturday we had 6 which included a new member, which was good as 2 of our stalwarts were out of the country for a christening, from all of us Anna we hope you have a great time while you are in your homeland. The weather on this morning was clear, maybe a bit cold but dry for most of our trip. One thing I had to do on the way back was to stop and take a picture of Caherbanagh. The day had to be good after that view.We made reasonably good time up, we may not be the...

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...

For our latest excursion we decided to go up the 'Big One' and we had the great luck to pick a near perfect March day. Eight of us struck off at 9.30 am from the Lisbiebane Car Park. One great advantage starting from here is compared to starting from Cronins Yard is that you get a chance to loosen out the legs as there is a short steep early climb coming up from Cronins Yard where this way is mostly level. On we continued in the main trail until we cut straight across at the mouth of Lough Gouragh. Our chose route was to go up the Heavenly Gates Route as the other probable route on this side of the river was the O'Sheas Gully  and our leader Denis O'Mahony reckoned there was snow up that side of the ridge and also it was quite windy at this point of our journey. The Heavenly Gates Route is probably our favourite route up as it's a bit easier than the others and certainly at this time of the year more sheltered. The last leg from O'Sheas Gully to t...

SEMRA preparing for training We decided to climb Galtymore from the south this time for change as we usually do it from the north side. We parked our cars at King's Yard, where a group of mountain rescuers from SEMRA was preparing for training. Ok, we are safe today even if we get lost in the deep snow! ;) To get to Kings Yard from Mitchelstown continue to Kilbeheny and through the village, then turn left. Galtymore There's a stone road from King's Yard which becomes very boggy after the sheep pen and ends later at some point. To avoid that boggy part, the best idea is to turn right at the sheep pen and follow the fence until you see a stile, then cross it turning left and continue to the top of Knocknagalty and further to the ridge having a gorgeous view of the valley and western Galtees on your left. It's a very straightforward climb, you can't go wrong. Just go straight up until you reach the main ridge and then turn right to the summit of Galtymore....

Today on our third trip of 2016 we went to Caherbanagh. We did it earlier as our last trip of the year 2015 in very bad weather conditions. This time we were more lucky - no rain and the top covered with soft fresh snow. Caherbanagh is a mountain which lies between The Paps and Clara, or otherwise down in the flatlands between Rathmore and Millstreet above Ballydaly. Caherbanagh also lies very close to the Kerry county bounds. Today we had 10 in the group with the usual of Anna, Padraig, Jer, Sheilanne, Bernie, Denis who brought his daughter with him, Celina plus a few new and welcome recruits in Geraldine, Nuala and Margaret. We set out to do the complete Loop of Glanaprehane and Caherbanagh at about 10 am. Off we set and the first part was to climb to our right which today was tough - wet and slippy, until we reached snow-covered part nearer the top and then the higher we went the deeper the snow got but certainly not enough to stop us in our tracks. We got to the ...