We had five walkers on the Hag’s Tooth Ridge walk on Sunday, and it lived up to its billing as a long, tough but rewarding walk. It was a beautiful bright summer’s day with no wind and dry underfoot, perfect for this walk. Cronin’s Yard car parks were all full when we arrived, and I don’t think I have ever seen so many people walking the Reeks. We made good steady progress up the ridge, and had to make frequent stops just to admire the views, which were stunning on the day. We enjoyed lunch at the top of Beenkeragh, and then on to Carrauntoohil, where we joined the ‘crowd’ for a short break. On reaching the path to the Heavenly Gates descent we decided to take that route back, and got back to Cronin’s Yard for coffee and apple tart, a well-deserved treat after our energy burning day.

Cork Mountaineering Club enjoyed a choice six walks, in magnificent weather, over the four days of Easter.  Being based in the Glen enabled us to provide the club “taxi” service necessary to complete two superb linear walks, something not easily arranged on a Sunday day-walk.  These walks took in all the Galtee peaks, from Temple Hill to Farbreaga, over two excellently-planned routes.   Other walks took us to Loughs Muskry & Farbreaga (where we were disturbed by a person with a drone!) and to Cush Mountain, where our planned descent was blocked by a gorse fire.  We rounded the weekend off with a fine loop walk on Slievenamuck – just right for limbs exhausted by the travails of the previous days.  Happy Easter everyone!

Twenty-one people left the car park at Muckross bound for Gowlane Cross to start our 16.1/ 17/ 18 or even 19 Km hike (depending on which “fitbit” you believe).  The road, originally built to connect Killarney to the sea, is now a rough track, strengthened in places by boardwalk.  Our walk was enlivened by nature talks and wildlife observations and by banter with members of another club that we met along the way.  In the Esknamucky Glen, we found some graffiti dating back to 1815 (most likely drawn by the 99th Prince of Wales Tipperary Regiment). 

After an efficiently-managed car split, six of us set off in bright weather from Barfinnihy Lough. We walked along the north shore of the Lough, then climbed steeply to the summit of Boughil, 631m.  A lovely ridge walk took us west over an Cnoc Garbh, 595m and Cnoc an Tobar, 569m from where we  descended to the picturesque Loch Fada.  The “hards” in the group then undertook a very satisfying scramble up the southern side of Knocklomena, 641m – a great finish to the day’s walking.

15 members set out from King’s Yard on a perfect day, chilly but with good visibility.  We headed northwards along the Attychraan River and through Cooper’s Wood for three kilometres. The pace was leisurely, occasionally interrupted by expert translations of local Gaelic names and features – from our own in-house expert!  From the Glen, we headed eastwards to meet the Black Road and onwards to Knockeenatoung 601m.  Heading southwards, we enjoyed lunch in a sheltered spot, with distant views of the Knockmealdowns and Comeraghs.  From there, it was a hop, skip and jump to Seefin North 444m and Seefin South 447m, before returning to King’s Yard.  An really excellent walk, with great company.

A group of six met in Cronin’s Yard on Sunday the 24th for our walk on the Eastern Reeks.  We set out in bright cool weather, ideal walking conditions.  Leaving the track into the Hag’s Glen near the first bridge we followed the stream flowing from Loch Cummeenapeasta to the shore of the lake. After a brief rest it was onwards and upwards through the boulder fields to Cruach Mhór at 932m. From here we moved carefully along the ridge to the Big Gun at 939Mtrs. We took a well-earned lunch break at the col before tackling the ridge up to Cnoc na Péiste and on to our last high point Maolán Buí at 973m. before heading down The Bone and our walk out the Hag’s Glen to Cronin’s Yard for a cuppa and chat before heading home.

Our group of eight climbed steadily to the magnificent Curraduff coum, home to the two Scillogue Loughs.  While our friends were having their lunch above the Sean Bhean and her plume of “smoke”, we were enjoying the view from below with ours, followed by a few iterations of exhilarating weather which involved some turning of “tóin le gaoth”.   It was a very pleasant route around Coumlara, on to the Gap and back to the cars via Bóithrín na Socraide, then on to Ballymacarbery to meet our friends for coffee and rugby.

Just three of us set off from the car park at 10am. The dire weather forecast had obviously put off some of our regulars. The weather was harsh at times, but was exhilarating with squalls of snow and hailstones followed by blue skies and sunshine.  Several iterations of this made for a fascinating circuit.  We crossed over the first Nire bridge (in very poor condition) and then to the stepping stones which were only just passable.  It’s a good long pull up to the top of Coumfea (711m). We were buffetted by wind, snow and hail on the way up but it eased at the top and we quickly followed the edge around to the top of the Sgillogues and sought shelter for lunch. After lunch, speeded up to avoid the next squall of hail, we headed over Coumlara.  We looked back on our way down and admired the “Sean Bhean ag Caitheamh Tabac” smoking away as is her wont in high winds.  Then it was back to Ballymacarbery for coffee and rugby in the company of our friends from the Scillogue Loughs walk.  It’s days like this that keep us coming back for more.

The weather on the top prevented the taking of photos, but we found this character lurking in the undergrowth just after we crossed the river!

Twenty members left Cronin’s Yard in very blustery conditions.  In spite of the wind, conditions were so mild that they even spotted frogspawn!  After a leisurely lunch at Loch Caillí, they proceeded to the stepping stones, to cross to the main Hag’s Glen track.  It was a lovely day, with the pleasant surprise of meeting our friends from the O’Shea’s Gully group on the way back.  They had taken the safe and sensible decision to reverse their route in the face of strong winds high up.  We filled the Cronin’s Yard Tea Rooms to standing room only.

Seven set off from Cronin’s Yard in low cloud and very gusty conditions.  We picked up our eighth member along the way. We proceeded through the Hag’s Glen, and began climbing up toward O’Shea’s Gully. However, by the time we reached the Second Level, just below Loch Coimín Uachtair, it was obvious that the wind speeds were becoming dangerous. So, we reversed direction and headed back. On reaching the main track, we did meet the other CMC group, and accompanied them back to the Cronin’s Yard Tea Room for refreshments.

There are no photos of this adventure – they were too busy coping with the elements!