Ben Gorm & Ben Creggan

Tuesday 25th March 2008

When I got up this morning it was pouring with rain once again so it was with some frustration that I left Sleepzone Connemara for the last time and returned to the small car park above Tawnyard Lough. After the wash-out of the day before I was not looking forward to a repeat performance, especially on two of Ireland’s finest mountains, nevertheless I set off in the rain, descending through the wood and across the river along the course of the Western Way. When the track began to cross the low ridge opposite I climbed over the fence and started walking along the ridge towards Ben Gorm, 6 kilometres away. The ridge was very muddy with a lot of surface water due to the recent abundant rain, but the mud was firm underneath and I was able to walk over it without much difficulty (though my boots and trousers took a real hammering). Soon after reaching the ridge the rain stopped and, would you credit it, the sun came out, so maybe someone likes me after all! Hoping the weather would stay like this I climbed the never-ending ridge onto rockier ground and as the ridge narrowed I enjoyed every moment of the climb, even when an occasional rain shower passed over. Eventually I reached the summit of Ben Gorm where I had my lunch while admiring the fantastic views of the neighbouring hills and Killary Harbour with the Twelve Bens in the distance. I was astonished and relieved that a potentially disastrous day had become such a perfect one.

Crossing the col, I descended and ascended the steep slopes onto Ben Creggan's south top, and then over to the main top, which required even steeper descents and ascents, until eventually I reached the top of the highest rated mountain in Ireland. The Mountainviews.ie website has a list of the best rated mountains in Ireland, and it places Ben Creggan at number one with a 99% rating (at time of writing). This made me look at the mountain rather critically to decide whether I also thought it deserved this accolade, and I’m not sure that it does, in my opinion. The mountain was certainly very rugged with abundant rock and steep cliffs, but it seemed to be too small to me, in bulk and area, I don’t mean height. Ben Creggan was a good mountain with some fantastic features, but if I didn’t consider it one of the best, which mountains would I rank highly?

Walks that I have really enjoyed, that I often remember, include my walk across the Grey Corries in summer ’06; that was an unforgettable walk over tremendous terrain in fantastic weather, and I’m sure other mountains in Scotland would also vie for consideration. Somewhere near the top of my list would have to be Snowdon because it is such a fantastic mountain with so many different ways up, you can go up a different way each time and I have been there so many times. Some of its features, especially Crib Goch have got to rank as some of the best in the country. But we mustn’t forget the Lake District, surely some of the Lakeland Fells are strong contenders, such as the Crinkle Crags, Bow Fell or Scafell Pike (it is not a coincidence that these fells are all in upper Eskdale as I love that whole area, it’s my favourite in the Lake District). I cannot possibly name my single favourite mountain ever, but those above might be in the list, or others.

Leaving the summit of Ben Creggan I began a glorious descent down the wonderfully rocky eastern ridge and I was having great fun hopping from one boulder to another while exploring every nook and cranny (and a fascinating fissure in the rocks). Descents are always more fun than ascents, but this one was extra special, unfortunately it deteriorated near the end as mud began to predominate over rock and forced my boots to earn their keep again. At the bottom I had a tricky crossing to the road that required I climb over several fences, jump over several streams and walk through several farmers’ fields. You have got to love Ireland; if this were England there would be clear footpaths leading to and from the ridge, but here I barely saw any sign all day that anyone else had ever been over these mountains, and I certainly never saw anyone else all day. This was a great walk over great mountains; I was fortunate the weather held off long enough for me to enjoy it as while I was returning along the road to the car it started raining again. I now moved over to the Ben Lettery Youth Hostel and that was for just one thing: the Twelve Bens.

The Sheeffry Hills

Monday 24th March 2008

The weather on this walk unfortunately was not very good with low cloud, strong winds on the higher ground and regular rain showers. It was not the sort of day to be out walking up a mountain, unfortunately that is what I was there for. So first thing in the morning I set off to and parked at Tawnyard Lough. With a grim face I set off up the road and within a couple of hundred metres I turned around and went back to the car. The weather was so bad I decided that the walk I had planned along the full length of the Sheeffry Hills was just too ambitious in this inhospitable weather. When the weather is like this, if you have to do a walk, you don’t want to do a complicated one, you want a straight forward up and down, nothing fancy. You go up to the summit by the most easily navigable route and then come straight back down. After much debate about what to do instead, including seriously considering going up Devilsmother (seriously, that was the name of a local mountain), I eventually parked near where I’d parked the day before and made an ascent of Barrclashcame, which is the western most top in the Sheeffry Hills and coincidently also the highest. I climbed up onto a low ridge near the road and followed it up as it climbs ever steeper onto Barrclashcame’s north-western ridge, plunging into clouds when the gradient became very steep and into strong winds.

When I eventually reached the top of the ridge, at Barrclashcame’s 580m north-western top, the weather was so bad with rain and very strong winds, that I had to put on a second cagoule (!). Battling against the elements, I made my way along the ridge and up to the summit plateau, where I eventually found the summit cairn of Barrclashcame. The conditions were really terrible so any thoughts of traversing the summit ridge to the centre top of the Sheeffry Hills, Tievummera, which sports a trig point was never seriously considered. I had lunch sheltered below the southern slope, but I didn't want to stop for long so I quickly reversed my steps using my GPS, or at least that was the plan, but the GPS was acting crazy and giving me wildly varying positions and messy tracklogs. I guess the bad weather was playing havoc with the reception. Somehow, I found my way off the summit plateau and walking back along the ridge I reached the north-western top, where I thankfully descended away from the strong winds. The descent was just as steep as the ascent had been, but eventually I emerged out of the clouds with the spur ridge clear below me that led back to the car. At this point the weather cleared up a bit, which provided me with an enjoyable descent along the ridge and good views across Doo Lough, but it didn't last and soon it started raining again. I’ve got to say that was a tricky walk! The weather conditions at the top were really bad, mainly due to the wind. Rain and the cold can be easily deal with, but there is nothing that can be done against strong winds except battle against it. I was hoping that the weather would improve but it never did (in fact it did get better, but only once I was back at the youth hostel). This was not a great walk by any standard but I don’t think the Sheeffry Hills are that great, despite being right next to mountains that are. Their views are perhaps their only advantage, unfortunately.