Kerry: Going over the Cork and Kerry mountains
WE set off from the car park alongside Molly Gallivan’s shop and café. A signboard, with a map, details three routes; we take the Fionn McCool Loop, marked with blue arrows. A yellow post indicates the entrance into a field and as we ascend gradually we see the valley below and the huge mountains opposite, one with a cairn on top. We will be crossing the valley and walking below these hills.
Walking on a gravel path toward the ridge, we pass antique farm machinery, a Famine Ruin, peat cuttings and a reek of turf. These are features of the Molly Gallivan Farm Tour, with an informative board providing interpretive details of each. The setting alone says much about life on a Kerry farm in the past.
We cross a ladder style at the top of the field and set off to the right across rough land; boulder strewn, with heather and Irish dwarf gorse in full bloom in September, and rowan (mountain ash) trees in red berry. The scenery is awe-inspiring; it is extraordinary how, even though we are only ten minutes from the road, the view has expanded enormously — fine fields beneath green mountains with dark cliffs in shadow or shining like silver where water seeping down catches the light. Opposite us are Caoinkeen, Barraboy and Esk mountains. To the west, above a cup in the Baurearagh and Esk mountains, a tunnel of the famous Glengarriff to Kenmare road can be seen.
We reach a gate with a style alongside and descend a steep, narrow lane to the road, where we turn left, walking on tarmac for a few minutes (on the ditch early purple orchids bloom annually) and then turning right at a waymark and crossing a style to a wide laneway which takes us down to the Esk Stream, its passage across the landscape marked by the line of alders and willows along its bank. We cross the Esk via a quaint and pretty bridge created from superannuated railway track rails and so narrow that we must walk in Indian file. This was a ‘school bridge’, part of a path that allowed children on the other side to save a mile of walking to reach the old school on the Kenmare road.
The yellow waymark now directs us right and we walk up a grassy lane to a small road, where we turn right again. This road is tree-lined and pretty, wild land to the left, the lower slopes of Esk mountain straight ahead, a few neat white farmhouses on our right and, beyond them rolling green fields with verdant hedges. On the other side of Esk mountain, there is a copper mine dating to 2000BC. Looking west, into the distance over the farmhouses, we can see Baurearagh Mountain, and to the right, the shoulder of the Caha range. Across the river valley, we see the ridge along which we walked at the start. A small waterfall on the stream running down the left of the road breaks the silence. Cliffs on the high slopes on our left break the green swards with shadows, and a line descending diagonally from a saddle on the skyline traces the old road to Glengarriff. Just beyond a farmhouse, we see a ladder style and green waymark arrow on the right indicating a short route (The Druid’s Loop) back to the start. We ignore this and continue on the road, rising slightly ahead, and then pass a barn and a shed and farmhouse with a duck pond and attendant ducks. The road flattens out and we turn off to the right, going north, as we reach boggy fields with shaggy bog horses grazing amongst reeds. The road is now treeless, flat and straight, potholed and with sheep-wire fencing on either side. We cross the headwaters of the Esk, flowing east to join the Sheen River. At the end the bog road, we reach the N71 and, turning left, are back at the start after a few hundred yards.
Our thanks to Pat O’Sullivan of the Kenmare Walking Club who guided us on this enjoyable itinerary.
Start point: The N71 Tunnel Road from Glengarriff to Kenmare, about 1.5km before Bunane, 10km before Kenmare. Molly Gallivan’s Tourist Centre will be easily spotted on the left of the road, a vintage vehicle parked in front and a large car park alongside.
Time/distance: 6km, 1hr 30 mins to 2hrs.
Difficulty:
Map: Discovery Series No 85.
* For maps and information on Ordnance Survey products visit: www.osi.ie
MIDLETON HILLWALKING CLUB
Oct 6: Ardmore Cliff walk, meet St Coleman’s Community College car park, 2pm.
Oct 7: Coumfea walk, 12.5kms, meet Distillery Lanes car park, 8.30am.
FOXFORD WALKING FESTIVAL:Oct 6: Nephin Mountain, 10kms, 5hrs, meet Sports and Leisure Centre, 9am; Tavnaghore Loop, 14kms, 4hrs, meet Sports and Leisure Centre, 11am; Rinnaney Loop, 4,5kms, 2rs, meet Sports and Leisure Centre, 12am.
Oct 7: Ox Mountain/Larganmore, 15kms, 6hrs, meet Sports and Leisure Centre, 9am; Braid/Currinara, 12kms, 4hrs, meet Sports and Leisure Centre, 11am; Oct 7: Moygrove Loop, 6.5kms, 2hrs, meet Sports and Leisure Centre, 12am.
ARDARA HILLWALKING CLUB, OFFALY
Oct 7: Source of the Barrow, 20km, 7hrs, meet Glenbarrow car park, 11am.
THE HILLWALKERS CLUB
Oct 7: Introductory hard hike, Wicklow Gap to St Kevins Way, 16kms, meet for pick-up at bus stop before roundabout in Loughlinstown, 9.45am.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
