Today’s original plan was to complete a Club Hike to the highest point of the Bluestacks at 674m. However, with thunderstorms and heavy rain in the forecast the decision was made yesterday afternoon to call it off.
Looking at the forecast this morning I thought that was a bit over-cautious and decided I had a decent weather window to tackle a walk I had downloaded a few months ago to take in Slieve Snaght and Slieve Main. At 615m Slieve Snaght is the highest point of Inishowen, an Arderin, the only Vandeleur-Lynam in Inishowen and one of the 50 highest summits in Ulster. Slieve Main (514m) is also an Arderin, one of only 3 in Inishowen, meaning I’d get two of the three in this route.
I also decided to take Cooper with me. I have a decent waist belt now and the adjusted lead is at a good length to let him wander without being too far away from me. I had some concerns about sheep grazing but decided it was worth the gamble that I’d be able to keep him under control.
The route starts with a climb to the top of Damph. At 420m it’s too low to appear on any significant lists but I figured it would be a nice loop and would add a bit of variety.
Starting from the road it’s straight up a steep track for a few hundred metres. No time here for much of a warmup! The track mostly follows a small stream and when the track eventually peters out the stream is a handy guide.
There were a few sheep on this section that wrecked Cooper’s head. It’s like a chip switches on that just makes him want to run. However, I was reasonably pleased how he mostly came when I called and didn’t haul much on the lead.
The ground from the get-go was hard going. Lots of holes, wet spots and humps of grass and rushes. It’s a terrain that’s hard to describe but it is really difficult going. My calves were soon burning. Crossing the stream I angled across the hill before meeting and crossing a fence. This one was tricky with Cooper as it had barbed wire on top. I was wary of him pulling the lead at an inappropriate time leaving me snagged. I tied him off to a fence post with the lead, chucked him over and then crossed nearby, with just my own clumsiness to deal with.
I was still angling WSW but with a change of terrain it was now straight up. The ground became increasingly rough with lots of little gulleys and humps that drained my legs and left them feeling like concrete.
A second, easier, fence and a couple of false summits and I finally reached the top. Or did I? Damph is a featureless summit with 3 or 4 small mounds, any of which could be the highest point. With no clear marker I tramped over them all just to make sure!
It’s hard to get Cooper to sit still for photos but somehow I managed to get a few shots of him with Slieve Main and Slieve Snaght in the background.
At this stage I could see the full route ahead of me. It was a steep descent into a coll before a steep climb up to Slieve Main, followed by another descent and climb up Slieve Snaght and then descending back to the start. The coll before Slieve Main looked horrible, lots of boggy bits, more gulleys and rough as hell. Judging how tired I felt with just this first hill I knew I was way out of my league today and decided to cut it short. My legs were suffering badly and I knew the climbs ahead would be slow and painful and basically I wasn’t going to enjoy it.
I’ve read some of the route and summit descriptions on Mountainviews.ie and they describe Damph as easy enough but with difficult ground. Maybe those guys are fitter than me but I struggled today. Maybe it’s tiredness? I had a long week at work that left me pretty worn out this week and I don’t think I recovered enough since Friday.
Whatever the reason, I reluctantly decided that was enough for today and after a circuit of the summit I headed back to the car, eventually picking up my route out and following the earlier stream and track.
Cooper got quite muddy on the track so I decided he needed a dip in the stream. I found a little pool with about a 20cm drop into it. He wouldn’t go in! A shove got him mostly in but he managed to get his front paws on the bank and fought like hell to avoid going in any further. He was getting distressed so I hauled him fully out and I got the dirtiest looks once he’d shaken himself off. Trust was gone now as he wouldn’t even paddle in the shallower bits, even when I stood in them myself! Funny how he has no problem running through muddy drains though!
Walk Stats:
Total Distance: 3.7km
Elevation Gained: 260m
Total Time: 1hr 35min
Moving Time: 56min
Damph in Irish is An Damh, meaning ‘the stag’ or ‘the ox’. Today felt more like an ox day!
Sawel or in Irish Samhail Phite Méabha. This translates to ‘the likeness of Méabh’s vulva’ proving once again that Irish men have always been obsessed with female body parts!
Sawel at 678m is the highest summit in the Sperrin Mountains, the 8th tallest in Northern Ireland, the tallest in Northern Ireland outside of the Mournes but, more importantly, it’s the County High Point for both Derry and Tyrone as the summit sits on the traditional border between the two.
I have been up here before. It was 2007 with my friend Jim. It’s strange how the mind works as it feels much longer ago than 2007 but also feels nothing like almost 20 years ago!
Much younger versions of both of us!
That day we walked a pretty long 17km route with a big section of road that straddled the start and finish.
From my offline logbook I was keeping at the time
This time I wanted something shorter with less road walking and found a good route on Mountainviews.ie Predicted at 9.5km and only 1km on road.
I parked in a small layby right where the route pops back out on to the road at the finish. This gave me a 1km walk to the start of the off-road section. There’s a bigger parking spot here but it would have meant walking the road at the end and I felt that would have reduced the enjoyment. Better out of the way when I’m fresh and use it as a warm up.
Sawel from the road. Steeper than it looks! I assumed this was a reference to the contentious gold mining that is happening in The Sperrins?
Once you leave the road there’s a pretty steep climb up the first shoulder. It evens out after about 1km for a short stretch and then you gain approximately 250m elevation in the next 2km. The usual false summit and then you are rewarded with a nice trigpoint surrounded by a rocky collar. The views were excellent despite the overcast sky. I think you can see the full Sperrin range from up here and I could even make out a hazy Errigal and Muckish in the distance.
Terrain on the way up was squelchy at times but much better than I expected. There were some dodgy patches but a clear track helped avoid those. This is a well trodden summit with easy access and the lure of the County High Point. One boggy stream required a big jump to cross and also a bit of a leap of faith but I made it without getting wet or embarrassing myself!
The track follows a fence line all the way right across to the second summit of Dart so navigation is easy. The fence has been upgraded over the years and as is the habit in The Sperrins the old rolls are left on the hillside. I’ve seen this in other locations and find them strangely fascinating as the bog slowly reclaims them.
As I started the climb to Sawel I could see a group about an hour ahead of me on the track. When I got to the summit they were a little way off sheltering out of the wind and having lunch. I went over for a chat. They seemed to be a group that met online or possibly on a guided walk with a local. One of them was a 75 year old lady up from Limerick ticking off her County Highpoints. Only 5 more to go!
I left the group and headed on over to Dart (An Dairt ‘the lump’). This is more mountainous looking with quite a craggy top from the Sawel side. After a steep descent from Sawel it was a very nice walk across the coll between the two with nice views to the North and South.
Dart from halfway down Sawel
A shorter and not quite as steep a climb brought me to the fairly large summit cairn at 619m.
Sawel from the Dart cairn
Historically there have been access issues in this area of the Sperrins and unfortunately, 20 years after my previous visit there is still a sign warning walkers away from the adjacent ground and the fence on this section of the hill is much higher and topped with barbed wire 😔
Friendly bunch!
After some photos I retraced my steps partway back across the coll towards Sawel. At a fence junction my route diverged down but first, a handy rocky outcrop provided a good seat and a windbreak from the cool breeze that was blowing through. Time for my lunch.
Crossing the fence I was heading in more of a Southerly direction. This is off the usual track so I was having to pick my own best route across the rough ground overgrown with waist high rushes. I came out of this after a few hundred metres on to more grassy terrain and I veered off East towards the gulley that the hill is named for.
I crossed another fence into a more active grazing area that covers both sides of the gulley. A large flock of sheep was in this area and they definitely didn’t like me coming through. Lots of bleating and they marched off across the hill in lines to stare accusingly at me from the other side.
Sheep on the march
Dropping down into the gulley I was aiming for the waterfalls marked on the map. However, I had low expectations as the stream was fast but less than a metre wide. Multiple small falls gave me the impression that I would be disappointed.
Walking along the stream that eventually becomes Oughtmame Burn was hard work. More waist high rushes, lots of holes, some boggy bits and smaller hidden streams flowing into the burn. Unsurprisingly, the burn once again confirms the male obsession with female body parts…
I was seriously doubting the effort was going to be justified when suddenly this appeared:
The photos don’t really do it justice and if you’re into wild swimming I’d say the pool is deep and good to explore. Probably freezing cold too!
Leaving the waterfall was a steep climb up out of the gulley across ground that was a mix of grassy clumps and heather before topping out to an area that seemed to have been burned in the last couple of years.
Navigation from here was easy as I could see the car on the road across the hill. In poor visibility though, this would require a lot of care and a compass bearing as the hillside is pretty featureless and it would be easy to get turned around. Not today though as I was clearly able to see the stream confluence and fenceline that was my next target.
To get there I had to drop down into yet another gulley, cross a low fence and then pick up the fenceline for one last steep climb back to the car.
Walk Stats:
Distance: 10.3km
Elevation Gain: 615m
Total Time: 4hrs
Moving Time: 2.5hrs
This was a walk I’d been looking forward to for a while and one I really enjoyed. It reminded me why I like the Sperrins so much.
I had signed up to do a walk today with the Club but only two of us and the organiser were going so it was cancelled last night. I guess it’s too close to Xmas for most people but it will be run again in 2026.
The weather was looking good and I had myself geared up for the hills so I decided to go myself instead. First time walking solo since January!
With limited daylight I wanted something relatively easy and not too long so after a trawl through my saved routes I found one that fit the bill in the Bluestack Mountains taking in two summits I haven’t been on before and at 10.5km manageable in about 4 hours.
The first section is along access tracks for the windfarm that sits on the lower slopes between Silver Hill and Carnaween. It’s simple walking but steeper than I expected as it rises steeply from 200m along the Eany Beg Water to the Anarget Reservoir at just under 400m in just under 3km.
It was on this very first section that I realised I had made a bad assumption about sheep. I figured there wouldn’t be many about the hills this late in the year but I was wrong. Especially wrong here as it looks like the windfarm company have leased the land from a local sheep farmer! Also with the land sitting in a valley it’s very sheltered and a perfect location to over-winter a flock.
Cooper and sheep in a staring contest
This was Cooper’s first experience of sheep “in the wild” and he really struggled to cope. He’s hardwired to chase when something runs so it became a constant challenge to keep him under control. Thankfully I’d decided to bring my 10m long lead that allowed him to explore but also gave me the ability to restrain his exuberance!
The steep track, heavy boots that are better on hill than road and the constant stress of keeping Cooper under control meant I was glad to reach the reservoir and the main hill.
A bit OTT but the track/water interface is quite sudden!
The reservoir appears to be a small lough that has been dammed at one end to create both a larger lough and a controllable stream that has a small hydro plant close to where we started. From the map I wasn’t sure how to cross the outflow end but there’s a large concrete wall that acts like a ford. I’m not sure how deep this gets but it was only a few inches deep today and easily crossed.
Cooper’s talents include the ability to walk on water
Across the lough and it was straight into open hillside. I should know better by now but I had expected better ground than what was in front of me. The Bluestacks are renowned for heavy, wet and boggy terrain but above a certain height it tends to be drier and rockier making for really nice walking. Today I had about 100m to go to get onto the good ground and in between it was some of the most difficult I’ve crossed. A constant mix of peat hags, boggy sections and cut by small steep ravines that knocked my legs for six! I was still hyper alert for wandering sheep so I’d kept Cooper on the long lead and it was a constant challenge to keep it from getting tangled in my legs and from getting caught on rocks and clumps. He had his own ideas about the best way to navigate this terrain and at 10 times the speed I was moving!
Once I made it to the drier ground it was pretty clear that I was going to need more daylight than I expected to get the full route completed. The day was quite dull with patchy low cloud rolling across from about 500m and above. Combined with my slow pace I made the decision to skip Carnaween for today and just focus on Silver Hill and getting home safe.
Looking back at Carnaween hiding in the clouds
The downside of hitting the drier ground is that it’s also steeper! Legs that were tired from the boggy bits were now complaining about the power being demanded to scramble up the rocky slope 🥵
Silver Hill is a really nice mix of rocky outcrops on this side. It was a challenge to pick the best route through but it made for interesting walking and very atmospheric as wispy clouds were blowing in and out.
After the inevitable false summit at 550m 🙈 I got sight of the summit with a distinctive rocky cairn built on a small crag. A very regular shaped rock has been inserted into the cairn. Covered in moss, it has obviously been there for many years but gave a strong impression that it was a man made mini trig.
Cooper’s first summit. He wasn’t as impressed as I was! Very picturesque views all around with intermittent cloud cover.
Rather than head back the way I came I decided to drop off the summit staying above the route in and heading for the highest of the windmills. This brought me roughly parallel to the planned route across to Carnaween but at a lower elevation and with an easy finish back along the windfarm tracks.
Despite improving visibility I was happy with my decision to do the shorter walk as I was once again in the same kind of ground I’d experienced just above the reservoir. Descending though was a bit easier than climbing up through it.
Descending the first section off the summit with Cooper was a challenge for the two of us. Still on the long lead Cooper was bombing on ahead in full 4×4 mode. He was happily picking his own route that usually didn’t suit me and once again at 10 times the speed I was moving. I had to keep a close eye on him to make sure he didn’t go over too steep a drop, hit the limit of the lead and jerk me off my feet. Poles were once again, unmanageable due to the lead so I was already feeling less stable than normal and was very wary of taking a tumble on slippery, steep terrain.
Pausing on the descent to admire the brightening sky
Finally reaching the windfarm again the afternoon decided to brighten up. The clouds had mostly blown away and the sun came out to give me fantastic views of Carnaween and its craggy summit. Despite this I was happy with my shorter walk and I’m looking forward to reaching Carnaween’s summit via a different approach, hopefully in the Spring.
Carnaween in the sunshine Fabulous, clear views down the Eany Beg Valley Glacial erratic with a turf top. How many years did that take to develop!
Running the final sheep gauntlet with a tired and therefore, better behaved Cooper, I was back at the car just under 3hrs after starting. I finally took the chance to have lunch and sat in pleasantly warm sunshine. You wouldn’t think it’s Xmas in 4 days!
⛰️ Silver Hill, Bluestack Mountains, Co. Donegal. 600m which qualifies it as an Arderin and also the smallest of the Vandeleur-Lynams, just sneaking over the line. Also on my Local 100 and 50 Highest in Ulster lists.
Silver Hill is definitely a summit I’d like to go back and revisit in a different season. Gerry McVeigh has a video of a wild camp on the summit as part of a longer two day hike in May this year. It’s a bit adventurous for me but I think the loop taking in Lavagh Beg and Lavagh More from Silver Hill would be manageable.
Yet another absolutely stunning walk on Donegal’s North Coast with the Bluestack Ramblers. This time on Horn Head with amazing cliff views seen from multiple angles and a trip out to the tip of the horns before heading inland to the “helicopter landing pad” (Duncap Isle) and a stiff climb back up to the highest point of Croaghnamaddy (252m) ⛰️👣
9.5km and an accumulated elevation of 734m with all the ups and downs typical of a coastal walk
What a day! A hard earned 11km climbing Dooish (651m) via Maumlack (480m) and returning via Dooish SW Top/Edenadooish (528m). We had every weather today with heavy rain showers and hail that turned to snow leaving Maumlack. Lots of sunshine between the occasional shower before more heavy rain and hail to finish.
Heavy snow leaving MaumlackLooking ahead to snow capped Dooish Errigal and Mackoght from Dooish Summit Errigal and Mackoght on the left, Aghla More on the right. From Dooish Summit. A cross in the Dooish Summit Cairn
Dooish is an Arderin and Dooish SW Top is an Arderin Beg. I’ve climbed both before but not from this side and Maumlack was a new summit for me.
Brilliant walk up on the Knockalla ridge in North Donegal. Brilliant day and one of the most enjoyable hillwalks I’ve had for a while. Great views in all directions out over Mulroy Bay, Lough Swilly and along the coast to Horn Head, Fanad and even North East to Malin Head.
A place I’ll definitely be returning to and having identified a couple of possible camping spots I might even get up here with a tent.
I forgot to start my watch until I was almost 2hrs in so I’ve no real idea of the distance.
Edited 03.03.25 22:45
One of the other group members was tracking the walk and shared his gpx file with me. Turned out to be 9.7km with lots of up and down 🙂
A trip to visit the two summits on Slieve Gallion in September. A repeat of a walk from 15 years ago but this time visiting both tops.
Starting from the car park at Inishcarn Forest I followed the track through the deciduous woods, back into the conifers and eventually out on to the open mountain. Two tops with a trig pillar on the main Slieve Gallion summit before following tracks and lanes back to the car park.
Back in August I went for a hike under and over Binevenagh, the most Northerly summit of the Sperrin Mountains. I managed to lose my way in the trees, follow a track that didn’t go where I expected, logged a geocache and tapped a trig. It was a mixed up day that I mostly enjoyed and the video is now live on YouTube 👣⛰️🎥
Friday evening was spent meeting Martin and a few others from the Galtee Walking Club I’d met before. We went for something to eat in a pub up the street having missed the cutoff in the South Pole. Long story but it was Martin’s fault 😉
Turned out well anyway as I had one of the best fish and chips I’ve had for a long time as well as a lovely pint of local golden ale Béal Bán
Friday night we spent in the car park at the starting point of the challenge hike. It’s the first time I slept in Catriona’s car and it was surprisingly roomy and comfortable. Only problem is dawn comes early just after 4am and there’s no escaping it in a car.
Our plan was to skip the bus transfer from Annascaul and start at 6am and be approx 1hr ahead of the crowds. Also giving us an extra hour on the cutoff, just in case…
Wakening up it was obvious that the weather forecast was accurate. Low cloud was hanging over the tops and partway down into the valleys. We still had a great view out to sea but only had partial views of what I think was Great Blasket Island.
Starting from the car park we followed a rough track before turning off onto the grassy and sometimes rocky path that heads straight up to the summit of Mount Brandon. At 952m Brandon is the 3rd highest mountain in Ireland. It’s named after St. Brendan and on the summit there is a stone building (Sáipéilín Bréanainn) believed to have been used by him. The route we followed to the summit is part of a Pilgrimage Route (Cosán na Naomh – The Saint’s Road) and is clearly marked by small white posts and large metal crosses marked with numbers that I think denoted stations of the cross.
The weather forecast was for low cloud which was correct. It also predicted pretty windy conditions on the tops (30km/h or 19mph) and light rain for most of the day with more prolonged rain for the late afternoon. Well it was worse than that. We were getting rain spots from the car park and at 1km in the rain coat came out and stayed on for the rest of the day. After a further 0.5km we crossed 400m and into the clouds and the rain started properly. We weren’t to escape the clouds for the rest of the hike.
As you can see the first 4km is pretty full on. From the car park at 170m you climb almost 800m to the summit of Mount Brandon at 952m. This was the part of the hike that I was most concerned about. My fitness is far off what I would have liked for this event, I’m carrying about 13kg in excess weight and I had Covid about 4 weeks ago that left me breathless up until about a week ago. Climbing Brandon definitely challenged me, I struggled with my breathing but kept it steady and managed to keep my heart rate relatively steady without red-lining.
The last couple of hundred metres to the summit was pretty rough. The rain was pretty constant and by now the wind had really picked up driving the rain hard. The rain stopped briefly just before the summit but the wind was very strong and it definitely wasn’t a place to hang around. We got some shelter in the lee of the summit cross before a couple of summit photos, a very quick chat with a couple of other early starters and headed on. It was shocking how cold it was in that wind and my hands were painful as we headed off along the ridge.
i think that’s sáipéilín bréanainn behind the trig but it wasn’t a day for sightseeing!
Leaving the summit we had a long and soggy drop down that was a relief for the legs before picking up a track. Cloud cover reduced visibility to 30-50m and the wind was blowing very strong, once again driving the rain into us. At times I could see Martin ahead of me walking at an angle as he leaned into the wind to stay upright
This was a lonely section with no possibility to talk, no views and just your own voice in your head. On days like this it’s hard to stay positive.
come for the views they said!
In a brief stop Martin warned me that we were approaching the ridge proper. This is a section called An Géarán and is a rocky, sharp and exposed ridge. Apparently the views down into both valleys are amazing but not today!
Crossing the ridge there was a real sense of a steep drop to both sides even with the thick cloud cover. Thankfully we were able to cross on the leeward side and stayed out of the wind. I’m not sure we would have been able to cross safely otherwise.
look at those contour lines!
On the approach to Brandon summit and heading across this ridge there was the very real feeling that there were a world of fantastic views that were hidden by the clouds. For this reason alone I’m very sure I’ll be back to walk this route again.
Leaving An Géarán we steadily dropped elevation along a fenceline and across boggy terrain that was oozing water everywhere. There were a number of tricky areas that were very boggy and verging on small streams that required a bit of thought. However, as we dropped down here the rain and wind eased a bit and we were finally able to have a proper conversation for the first time in over an hour.
I think it was around here (possibly earlier?) that Martin first mentioned the possibility of finishing early at the halfway point on The Connor Pass. I was glad to hear him voice what I’d been thinking in my head already. What was always going to be a tough walk was becoming even more difficult due to the weather. Although we were in a sheltered area now we would soon be a lot more exposed again as we climbed higher. I was pretty sure that I wouldn’t be finishing today.
Coming down the fenceline we came to a junction and crossed over. The little marker flags that had marked the way were gone and we soon realised we had lost the proper route. It just shows you how easily it is to get off track in poor visibility as Martin has walked this exact route 4 times before! A few others had made the same error as ourselves and within 5min we realised what we had done wrong and how to swing around back to where we needed to be. You can see clearly on the two maps below where we went wrong.
official route my recorded track
Having gained some height on this loop around the 623m point we dropped back again and reached the unmanned water station at Mullaghveal and 10.5km where we filled both ourselves and our bottles for the next big push.
Along the route so far I’d found it difficult to get food into me. The rain and wind just made it too much work but I took the opportunity here to scoff two bars.
Shortly after leaving Mullaghveal the climbing starts again. Martin told me that this is the last big climb before Connor Pass but that it was a long one. Later we were informed that the summit is called Ballysitteragh but is known on this route as Bally-fucking-sitteragh. It is well named!
I really struggled on this climb. It goes from 400m to 620m in just over 1km and the terrain is pretty boggy and rough. My brain was tired, I was soaked from the waist down and my legs were feeling it by now. However, I really struggled with my breathing. I was very breathless and struggled to get a proper breath at times. I have to say mentally I gave up too!
With many stops I eventually reached the top but once again we couldn’t hang around. We were back in the rain and the wind was really strong again. We pushed on towards Connor Pass for 4km gradually descending but getting absolutely battered by the wind. This was definitely the worst weather I’d ever been out in and the fun was definitely gone today.
Connor Pass came on me unexpectedly at the end. I was expecting a significant drop into a lower altitude level but didn’t realise that the pass sits quite high at 410m. Because I wasn’t expecting it so suddenly the final km to the pass seemed to be never ending but the car park and checkpoint appeared magically out of the clouds.
I have to give a huge amount of credit to the volunteers at this checkpoint. They were waiting here with fruit, cake and water with a smile for everyone, full of positivity in terrible conditions. They were getting battered by the same wind and rain that we had been getting on the hike.
Martin spoke to some of the ladies and we were soon hooked up with a guy (Seamus I think?) that was taking people back to town in his car. We felt pretty shit about having to cut it short, despite knowing it was the sensible thing to do but our guy soon made us feel better when he told us a number of people turned back at the summit of Brandon and quite a lot more came off at the 10km water station. They were expecting a high drop out rate at Connor Pass so he was expecting to be kept busy all day.
We seemed to be taking a long time to get to Annascaul when I suddenly realised that he was taking us to the car park at the very start of the walk! I was really pleased and Seamus really went out of his way to look after us so well. I was expecting to have to get a taxi from Annascaul!
Once back at the cars we wasted no time getting changed into dry clothes and getting some much needed food down our necks. There is a free BBQ in the evening after the walk but we were at least 5-6hrs too early. After a good chat we decided not to wait around and to head for home. Another 7hrs and 480km in the car for me but I felt it was worth it to get back home and sleep in my own bed that night….
Overall I enjoyed my trip to Kerry but I really did feel that it could have been so much more. On the drive home I made the decision to give it another go in 2025 and hopefully get the real experience. I also hope to be at least 10kg lighter and in a lot better shape now that I know what is ahead of me!
I’m finishing this post on Monday afternoon in offline mode somewhere over The Bay of Biscay as we head for Faro and the start of the second part of my holiday break with a family holiday near Albufeira. The forecast for the next few days is 28-30°C and wall-to-wall sunshine ☀
As part of the holiday I hope to be able to complete a hike approximately 30min drive from our accommodation that I found on Outdooractive but seems to be well described in a number of places as it’s part of an official group of waymarked routes.
niall harran 