The Mountains Of Ireland - A Walker's Guidebook

• Location
• Description
• Contents
• Introduction
• Sample Route
• Maps

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (Gen 1.1)

In Irish mythology there is no creation account. In the beginning...was Ireland. True, it had only one plain, three lakes and nine rivers, but other landscape features were added later - usually in bizarre circumstances. Partholan was the first man to set foot on the Auld Sod - and it probably went squelch! Some things never change.

Partholan had a son called Slanga, who died and was buried on a northern mountain-top which became Sliabh Slainge on that account. Right from the beginning, there was a reverence for the mountains of Ireland. The western mountain of Cruachán Aigle was deemed to be sacred by the druids who performed mysterious rites on its summit. In the south-west of the country, Sliabh Daidche was also venerated.

I mention these three mountains because they were all thoroughly Christianized. Sliabh Slainge was renamed Slieve Donard after a follower of St Patrick. It was St Patrick who fasted and prayed forty days on Cruachán Aigle, which is now called Croagh Patrick. The sailor-saint Brendan put to sea from the foot of Sliabh Daidche, now known as Brandon Mountain in his honour.

The Paps and Caherconree were named after powerful deities. The name of Slievenamon recalls how the women raced up the mountain for the love of the hoary old warrior Finn. The old man himself got around a lot, as witnessed by the number of Seefin - seat of Finn - placenames. The rugged Caha Mountains may once have been named after the Seven Deadly Sins and to this day pilgrims scale the mountains to expiate those same sins. Alas, many of the old tales are lost, but those which remain show how Irish mythology is intimately woven into the Irish landscape. This guide is not about the mountains and their myths - only about the mountains - but remember that there is more to these mountains than meets the eye!

    The purpose of this guide is simply to lead the reader to the top of every mountain in Ireland. It is, therefore, a guide for mountain walkers who like to respond to a challenge. There are over 200 mountains in Ireland, which sounds rather daunting, but a very determined and fit walker could cover them all in a month. Mere mortals, however, would prefer to allocate rather more time for the task and should aim to enjoy the experience.

Defining an Irish Mountain

The term “mountain” is used to describe all sorts of humps and bumps across the face of Ireland. Height or appearance seem to have nothing to do with the use of the term. It is simply a legacy of the days when the Ordnance Survey - the map-making wing of the British army - translated Irish placenames as they measured the length and breadth of the country. The resulting “mountains” form no part of my definition.

In Scotland there are the Munros - mountains above 3,000 feet. There are the Corbetts - from 2,500 to 3,000 feet. There are even the Donalds - which are summits above 2,000 feet in southern Scotland. These heights are named after those who drew up various tables of heights. In England and Wales, anything above 2,000 feet is generally deemed to be a mountain. You may see a pattern beginning to emerge. Irish landforms are on the same general scale as those in England and Wales, though the overall wilderness aspect is often more akin to Scotland. Lists of Irish mountains above 2,000, 2,500 and 3,000 feet have been published in the past. I’m settling for the 2,000 feet level - anything above that level is an Irish mountain.

2,000 Feet - From Where?

There is a problem, so I’ll try and keep it simple. Basically, the 2,000 feet is measured vertically from sea level, but the sea rises and falls twice daily, so clarification is required. When the Ordnance Survey first mapped Ireland, all the heights were measured from Low Water in Dublin Bay. All the heights I have quoted in feet are measured from that point.

Following the partition of Ireland in the 1920s, the Ordnance Survey retired to their British HQ after setting up the Ordnance Survey of Ireland (in Dublin) and the Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland (in Belfast). These new survey agencies inherited all the heights measured above Low Water in Dublin Bay, but were left to map out their respective territories in any format they wished.    The Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland obtained data on Mean Sea Level at Belfast Lough and measured all their heights from that point. Later, both surveys pooled their skills and calculated the Mean Sea Level at Malin Head. All the new 1:50,000 maps which have been published through the 1980s and 1990s have heights measured in metres above Mean Sea Level at Malin Head.

Here’s the problem. If I try to convert an old height from feet into metres, I end up with a value which is greater than the new metric maps admit. Not only that, but there were some mistakes made in the early surveys which are still coming to light.

Here’s how I’ve tried to deal with the problem. First, I’ve credited all the mountains with their original heights in feet. Second, where new metric heights have been calculated, I’ve made a note of them. Third, where new metric heights aren’t available, I’ve had a go at guessing what they will be. Obviously, this will need to be tidied up in subsequent editions of the guide, and none of this affects the overall quality of the mountains of Ireland!

How many 2,000ft mountains are there?

I was determined, right from the start, that not every hump or bump above 2,000 feet would qualify as a separate mountain summit. I toyed with the idea of mathematical formulae designed to exclude the less significant summits, but finally settled for on-site appraisals. Basically, if a summit didn’t look or feel separate from its neighbours then I simply didn’t list it. Some walkers may feel that I have been too harsh in “removing” summits from the Comeragh Mountains, or may wonder why I have included others elsewhere. Very keen summit baggers will find that I’ve mentioned most of the “also-ran” heights in the text.

After much deliberation, both on the mountains as well as afterwards, I arrived at a final total of 212 separate mountain summits. I have a tidy mind, so I was disappointed that it didn’t turn out to be a nice, round 200. I looked again, and discovered that there were in fact just 200 summits above 2,000 feet - and a further 12 summits above 3,000 feet. That satisfied me immensely!

Paddy's Way

Most books dealing with the mountains of Ireland start from the Wicklow Mountains and move from range to range in a clockwise direction to finish on the Mountains of Mourne. If you step back from a relief map of Ireland, you may agree with my general arrangement of mountainous areas: east, south, south-west, west and north. I was happy to fall in line with the usual clockwise progression and conducted my researches in that direction.

Many years ago I made a winter ascent of Carrauntoohil. It was the first Irish mountain I climbed and I thought that the rest would be easy by comparison. I was wrong - but it was great fun being proven wrong! I followed no particular plan, but would sometimes set myself a target, such as visiting the highest point in every county, or climbing every summit on a particular range. The trouble is, if you don’t have an overall plan you never seem to get anywhere!

When I decided that a guidebook offering routes to every 2,000-foot summit in Ireland was a good idea, I went straight back to square one. I decided I’d climb the whole lot - even those I’d climbed many times before. I’ve included brief details of my tour under the heading “Paddy’s Way” at the beginning of each of the five sections. I don’t expect readers to follow slavishly in my footsteps, but you might be interested in how I structured my approach to what might seem like a Herculean task.

For a start, I walked over 1,200 miles, but the routes in this guide amount to little more than 600 miles. I had to check a number of routes before settling on the ones in this guide. I used public transport, or hitch-hiked from range to range. You could do it much quicker by car. I made three separate tours of about a month apiece, but some of my time was spent on long-distance walking routes such as the Wicklow Way, Kerry Way and Dingle Way. If you were to restrict yourself to the mountain walks, you’d cover the course in less time than it took me. I’m not advocating record-breaking, though that may appeal to someone eventually, but I am advocating a planned approach as being the best way to tackle the ascent of every mountain in Ireland.

Anyway, for the benefit of readers, I show roughly how I travelled from range to range, including notes about where I stayed and what the weather was like. My tour followed roughly the same plan as the layout of this guide, though there were minor differences. All the photographs in the guide were taken while engaged on the tour. If they show anything, they show that it doesn’t always rain in Ireland!