Ireland County High Points

paulocon2

Just wondering if anyone on here has done all the County High Points of Ireland?

Something I started some time ago but never got round to finishing.

Has anyone done any challenges incorporating multiple high-points into the one day/week?

Read about a couple of women doing all the Ulster ones tomorrow. They've set themselves a target of getting them all done withing 24hrs which would be a great achievement - not sure I'd like all the driving though!

Donny5

paulocon2 wrote: »

Just wondering if anyone on here has done all the County High Points of Ireland?

Something I started some time ago but never got round to finishing.

Has anyone done any challenges incorporating multiple high-points into the one day/week?

Read about a couple of women doing all the Ulster ones tomorrow. They've set themselves a target of getting them all done withing 24hrs which would be a great achievement - not sure I'd like all the driving though!

Here you go.

In or about 20 summiteers on mountainviews claim to have done them all.

Never got the attraction, some would involve a lot of travel for very little gain, even Knockboy in Cork is nice...but there are so much nicer ones in the neighbouring Cahas.

paulocon2

Deleted User wrote: »

In or about 20 summiteers on mountainviews claim to have done them all.

Never got the attraction, some would involve a lot of travel for very little gain, even Knockboy in Cork is nice...but there are so much nicer ones in the neighbouring Cahas.

Done Knockboy myself last year - was a bit of a trudge to be honest and if I was down that way again, I'd tackle something down on Beara.

duckysauce

paulocon2 wrote: »

Just wondering if anyone on here has done all the County High Points of Ireland?

Something I started some time ago but never got round to finishing.

Has anyone done any challenges incorporating multiple high-points into the one day/week?

Read about a couple of women doing all the Ulster ones tomorrow. They've set themselves a target of getting them all done withing 24hrs which would be a great achievement - not sure I'd like all the driving though!

http://www.kierongribbon.com/outdoorwritingandphotography/outdoorbooks/irelandscountyhighpoints-awalkingguide

Benny_Cake

This guy did the lot in the space of a year, plenty of reading on his blog for anyone interested in trying it. I'm new to hiking myself and the only one I've done so far is Kippure. I'td be a nice way of seeing the country but there would be a lot of driving involved - although I live less than 10 minutes from the lofty heights of Cupidstown Hill and I still haven't got around to going there!

acorn

County Tops was my challenge for 2010.

I had a ball- see pics here

https://picasaweb.google.com/maryconway99/CountySummits?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Some of them were bagged in true peak bagger style ie. Cornhill and Cupidstown while others were worked in as part of 6-8 hour treks ie Lugnaquilla, Truskmore and Benbaun.
http://mountainviews.ie/ was invaluable for route information.

I saw parts of the country I had never been to before, stayed in hostels, tents, friends of friends couches.. . . .
Walked a lot and laughed a lot.

Many of the weekends included side trips,
Errigal - Gola Island
Cuilcagh - Shannon Pot
Truskmore - The iconic Ben Bulbin and Benwiskin
Trostan _ Giants Causeway and Carrickarede
All new to me.

My advice - for what it's worth
Don't rush it.
Read : The Height of Nonsense by Paul Clements. http://www.paulclementswriting.com/books.shtml
ENJOY !!

coalshed

Benny_Cake wrote: »

This guy did the lot in the space of a year, plenty of reading on his blog for anyone interested in trying it.

Hi Folks, that's my blog referenced above, thanks for the link Benny Cake.

I'd agree with Acorn that the county tops is a great challenge. It's given me memories that I'll always cherish.

In doing it you get a great introduction to the variety of hills and mountains that we have here in Ireland. Sure, there are some dudes like Corn Hill, but for every dud there are gems that you might not otherwise visit like Slieve Na Calliagh or Slieve Foye in Louth.

You'll also get to experience places that you can mark for further investigation, or if you have the time as Acorn did you can make side-trips to take in local highlights such as visiting the Poisoned Glen while you tackle Errigal.

Also, purely because you have decided to complete the list it gives you motivation to get out there and hike. I ended up feeling my way up Galtymore in a driving blizzard, an unforgettable experience I wouldn't have had if I wasn't trying to achieve the County Tops.

Similarly, myself and some pals had our best ever day in the hills as we topped Carrauntoohil in waist deep snow late in December 2010. Again, we wouldn't have been there if we weren't 'on a mission'.

So, if you want a project that will see you visiting some fantastic parts of the country, you can do a lot worse that trying the County Tops.

paulocon2

Cheers for the replies folks.

Like I said, I've done a few myself. Will hopefully get through them all eventually but I'm not in any great hurry.

I've followed Murray Nolan's excellent blog and it's a great resource.

Acorn, great set of pics there. You seem to have done them in a very short period of time.

Agree re 'The Height of Nonsense', it's a really great read for anyone interested in doing the County Tops and is a great companion to the Kieron Gribbon book.

What interested me was the various challenges set out in Kieron Gribbon's book where multiple Counties were combined into a challenge. Would love to know if anyone has ever done a continuous traverse of them all and what the record time is.

coalshed

paulocon2 wrote: »

What interested me was the various challenges set out in Kieron Gribbon's book where multiple Counties were combined into a challenge. Would love to know if anyone has ever done a continuous traverse of them all and what the record time is.

Must check out the book, and those challenges.

I guess you could combine several hills into one day. i.e in a long day you could tackle Slieve Foye, Slieve Gullion, Donard and finish up with Trostan...but you'd need an early start!

paulocon2

coalshed wrote: »

Must check out the book, and those challenges.

I guess you could combine several hills into one day. i.e in a long day you could tackle Slieve Foye, Slieve Gullion, Donard and finish up with Trostan...but you'd need an early start!

Interesting that you should mention Foye, Gullion and Donard as I was thinking of doing something involving the three of them given their relative proximity to each other!

coalshed

Well, I guess they are in a logical cluster, as are the likes of Corn Hill, Slieve na Calliagh and Mullaghmeen or Cuilcagh/Beagh/Seltannasaggart.

Donard would be a tough end to a day that featured Foye and Gullion though - not that Gullion presents too much difficulty.

paulocon2

coalshed wrote: »

Well, I guess they are in a logical cluster, as are the likes of Corn Hill, Slieve na Calliagh and Mullaghmeen or Cuilcagh/Beagh/Seltannasaggart.

Donard would be a tough end to a day that featured Foye and Gullion though - not that Gullion presents too much difficulty.

Gullion is pretty straightforward alright, particularly if you drive to the upper car-park!

I was thinking something like start at a designated point in Newcastle->Up Donard->Cycle to Gullion->Up Gullion->Cycle to base of Foye->Up Foye->Cycle to designated end-point in Carlingford. Should be very doable in a day and would be a great challenge..

coalshed

paulocon2 wrote: »

I was thinking something like start at a designated point in Newcastle->Up Donard->Cycle to Gullion->Up Gullion->Cycle to base of Foye->Up Foye->Cycle to designated end-point in Carlingford. Should be very doable in a day and would be a great challenge..

Would you bring a mountain bike? That'd speed things along. Much of Donard would be bikeable I'd say and I've been high on Foye a couple of times on the bike...coming down from the gap into Carlingford is great!

paulocon2

coalshed wrote: »

Would you bring a mountain bike? That'd speed things along. Much of Donard would be bikeable I'd say and I've been high on Foye a couple of times on the bike...coming down from the gap into Carlingford is great!

I'm not a fan of biking to be honest so would leave the bike at the road and hike up.