First paying visitors to the Foggy Hill arrived in 2006

FARMER Muiris O’Donoghue is also involved in Valentia Island’s car-ferry service. Along with four other families on the island, he and his wife have a 20% share in the business, which was started in 1996.

That project involved building a new pier at Valentia and modifying the one on the mainland, at Reenard, as well as purchasing a vessel in Holland. The business employs seven people in the summer and two in the winter. He says “It is kind of unusual to have five separate families being able to stay together, and work together, for so long.”

Meanwhile, his Geokaun Mountain project is entering a second phase of development.

This, says Muiris, will involve a number of improvements to the resource, including resurfacing works at the car park, stone work and additional seating on the hill.

“When we went in, initially, we started on a very low budget,” says Muiris of the necessity of these improvements. He says they are also putting an accessible surface on an old shepherd’s path that goes around the top of the mountain.

“That’s about 1.5km long, so you’ll be able to park your car and go along a gentle, contour walkway around the peak without getting your shoes wet.”

The difference between walking to see a spectacular sight without getting your shoes wet and having to dress up in elaborate gear in order to do so is a very simple one, but it makes all the difference.

By way of example, Muiris mentions a recent trip he made to the Aran Islands, where he went on an expedition to visit a deserted village. The trip didn’t necessitate climbing equipment, but you did need to wear Wellingtons and go through private land. “It was fabulous,” he says, “but if there was dry, easy access to it, I wouldn’t have minded paying a fee to see it.

“A lot of tourists feel like they’re being ripped off, these days, so it’s vital to keep the cost reasonable. The main thing is that people go away feeling that they’ve had a good experience, and, so far, we’ve had very good reports.”

The first paying visitors to the “Foggy Hill” arrived in August, 2006, making the project a relatively early example of the newest generation of innovative Irish farmers, who are putting their existing skills and assets to diversification.

The “geo” part of the name of Geokaun Mountain is probably an Anglicisation of the Irish word ceo, for “fog“, says Muiris: “If there’s fog down, then it’s always on the hill.”