Kanturk Hillwalkers and Mountain Climbers | Blog

On Sunday 24 February the club walk was on Torc Mountain in Killarney. We left town on a grey overcast day. As we traveled west the sky brightened. Reaching our destination we found the car park full. Some volunteers were engaged in clearing fallen timber, and battling with the ubiquitous rhododendrons.This invasive shrub is destroying the native habitat. Full marks to the volunteers who give of their time so that we can enjoy the national park. We had to park at the Torc Waterfall Park. Today we had two options. One was to go up the Cardiac Steps , or to start at the old Kenmare road car park. There were no takers for the second option. Suitably dressed we set off. Our path took us parallel to the N71,  we crossed it and continued  along a track until we came to a branch to the left. The steps start here. From here it's practically straight up the north face of Torc Mt. , through woodland and rhododendrons. Behind us views of Kilarney's lakes opening up. Up & up th...

                                                                                                                                                                       On Sunday 10 February the club outing was to the Ballyhoura Mountains. The Ballyhouras run for approx six miles east to west on the border of Cork and Limerick. The sky was pregnant with rain to the west, but to the east they looked clear. Arriving at the trailhead on the road to Ardpatrick, we parked up and put on our walking gear. There are good facilities here with a shop and toilets etc.  Mountain bi...

  On Sunday Oct. 28th the Club had a Bus trip to do part of The Kerry Way Stage from Sneem to Kenmare. Again we left town at 8am with a good travelling party of 14 to head off to West Kerry and our starting point of the Blackwater bridge. As usual with our club we use Kealy's Coaches  who always offer us a good service and a luxury bus for our trip.   Our destination was the Blackwater Bridge between Kenmare & Sneem which was our starting point of our walk on the Kerry Way walking route which goes all around the famed Ring of Kerry. No matter how many times you come here you still marvel at the beauty of this part of the country. Our walk started along the shoreline of Kenmare Bay and looking across at the Beara Peninsula and other places we have been earlier in the year.  After a while we came back onto the main Ring of Kerry Road until around Templenoe we veered onto country roads and a bit of climbing as well but this left us with complete views ove...

On Sunday 14 Oct on a beautiful clear morning, with a slight touch of frost we left town at 08.30. We were headed to Muckross House in Killarney. As the morning fog along the Blackwater valley burned off, the Derrynasaggart mountains were in sharp relief against a blue sky to our left, in front of us the Reeks could be seen. Arriving at Muckross we changed into our gear,and went to the cafe for tea / coffee. Outside the windows the lush parklands stretched out before us, with Torc Mountain as a backdrop. The summit of Torc Mountain at 535 meters was to be the highest point of our walk. The first part of the walk took us through gravel paths on level ground before we crossed the N 71. Then we were climbing gradually through woodland and finally we reached the path on our left. This is the start of what seems a never ending stone staircase. Up and up they go all the while fantastic views of the lakes coming into view behind us. On our right buried somewhere in the dense unde...

Now that my biro has dried out the blog can finally be written. On Saturday 15 Sept. the club had originally planned to do the Gougane Barra loop,however it was changed to the Cumeengeera Horseshoe route. This is in the rugged Beara peninsula bordering Cork and Kerry. We set off westwards towards Kenmare on a dry morning. Arriving in Kenmare we stopped for tea / coffee, before heading through Lauragh and to the start of the hike at Shronebirrane stone circle. This is at the head of Rabach’s glen.  Called after Cornelius “Rabach” o Sullivan. Rabach means violent in Irish and Con earned his nickname well. In 1800 he murdered a sailor who called to his door one bad stormy wet night looking for shelter. He later murdered a woman who had witnessed the crime and had threatened to inform the police. Eventually he was caught and hanged in Tralee Gaol in 1831.... We climbed the Horseshoe in an anti clockwise direction. The weather was excellent but the climb was a thigh burning slog to rea...

For the club outing on Sunday 02/09/18 we travelled west to Camp in County Kerry. Our walk was to the summit of Caherconree. 835 meters over sea level this is the second highest mountain in the Slieve Mish mountains and is the 26 th highest peak in Ireland...lt was a bright clear day when we left town at 08.00.... Someone said the forecast was for passing showers in the Dingle peninsula...how right they were...they omitted however to say how long it would take them to pass. Approaching Blenerville there was a beautiful rainbow over the windmill. But the summit of Caherconree was shrouded in cloud..We stopped here to have coffe / tea. Refreshed we continued to Camp village and turned left up bothhar na gCloch ( Road of the Stones ). Parking up there was some rain so we put on our wet gear... Conditions underfoot were quite boggy and as we made our way uphill the rain became persistent and heavy.. eventually reaching cloud level visibility was reduced and we arrived at the remains o...

On Sunday 19th August we headed west for our walk. Leaving town at 08.00 we journeyed to Killarney,where we met up with some more members. Unlike previous walks the gender balance was biased towards the men.We had a break for tea / coffee and then set of in convoy for Cronin’s yard. Here after some more refreshments, we finally worked out the logistics of conveying our group to the start of the walk at the hydro road, and returning transport to Cronin’s yard for the end of walk. There should be an app for this... Finally kitted out we started the thigh burning climb up the hydro road. This is a steep hard slog up the slope of Cnoc Iochtar. After awhile the path turns right and the climb eases off. Eventually you cross a gate and arrive at the old hydro dam at Lough Iochtar at 438 meters.Crossing the outlet we set our course South across some boggy ground then turning South South Eastwards to gain the ridge leading to Caher West top at 975 meters. On our left 500 meters b...