Diamond hill

blueskys · 10-09-2020 2:26pm

obi604 wrote: »

Where did you park, could you pin it on a map if possible?

Just drive up Corker hill (L1014) about 500m.you will see a small gravel/stone lane on your right as you get 3/4 way up. People normally park there on the left side. Look up 'Abbey Hill, Clare' on Google it will make it easier

obi604 · 10-09-2020 3:46pm

blueskys wrote: »

Just drive up Corker hill (L1014) about 500m.you will see a small gravel/stone lane on your right as you get 3/4 way up. People normally park there on the left side. Look up 'Abbey Hill, Clare' on Google it will make it easier

Thanks, final q, it seems you can do a loop, i.e go up on one side of the mountain and down on the other.

is this what you have done?

blueskys · 10-09-2020 4:50pm

obi604 wrote: »

Thanks, final q, it seems you can do a loop, i.e go up on one side of the mountain and down on the other.

is this what you have done?

Yes just make sure to follow the stone wall boundary down to the green road. Alternatively you can just come back the way you came. There's a holy well on the green road too worth a visit, water is drinkable and a cure for something!

obi604 · 12-09-2020 2:26pm

blueskys wrote: »

Yes just make sure to follow the stone wall boundary down to the green road. Alternatively you can just come back the way you came. There's a holy well on the green road too worth a visit, water is drinkable and a cure for something!

so when I reach the top and don't want to go back down the way I came, are you saying there is a stone wall on another side of the mountain that I can just follow to come down?

Just want to be sure when up there with kids etc.

obi604 · 12-09-2020 7:49pm

obi604 wrote: »

Any comments on Moylussa hike in county clare? would kids that have done diamond hill be able for this? its 532 metres so fairly high

Any thoughts on this one?

sentient_6 · 12-09-2020 10:01pm

obi604 wrote: »

Any thoughts on this one?

I did Moylussa earlier this week. In terms of length its way longer than Diamond Hill. My watch measured 11 km's of a walk full loop. Its a very long gradual walk before you get to Moylussa itself and I was fairly beat come the hills near the end. Its not difficult really, more of a issue of pacing yourself. If the kids managed Diamond Hill they should be ok.

Signage wise its a bit strange, you follow the Ballycuggaran Forest loop and Moylussa is a divert off it thats only has a hand written sign or two near the top. Take a pic of the trail map at the start of the forest.

obi604 · 12-09-2020 10:29pm

sentient_6 wrote: »

I did Moylussa earlier this week. In terms of length its way longer than Diamond Hill. My watch measured 11 km's of a walk full loop. Its a very long gradual walk before you get to Moylussa itself and I was fairly beat come the hills near the end. Its not difficult really, more of a issue of pacing yourself. If the kids managed Diamond Hill they should be ok.

Signage wise its a bit strange, you follow the Ballycuggaran Forest loop and Moylussa is a divert off it thats only has a hand written sign or two near the top. Take a pic of the trail map at the start of the forest.

Thank you. So a lot of walking to actually get to the start of the climb.
Is it a loop - as in you reach the top of the mountain and then go down the mountain via another route?

Any steep or dodgy bits?

sentient_6 · 12-09-2020 10:52pm

obi604 wrote: »

Thank you. So a lot of walking to actually get to the start of the climb.
Is it a loop - as in you reach the top of the mountain and then go down the mountain via another route?

Any steep or dodgy bits?

There's the forest loop and Moylussa itself is one way up and down off that loop. The very top is a stretch of boardwalk and you go back the way you came. There are a couple of steepish short climbs on loose gravel paths alright. You need to watch the step especially on the way down. 20/30 metre sections.

obi604 · 12-09-2020 10:57pm

sentient_6 wrote: »

There's the forest loop and Moylussa itself is one way up and down off that loop. The very top is a stretch of boardwalk and you go back the way you came. There are a couple of steepish short climbs on loose gravel paths alright. You need to watch the step especially on the way down. 20/30 metre sections.

Thank you again.
May give it a go tomorrow. Either this or 12 o clock hills.

Undecided right now

sentient_6 · 12-09-2020 11:13pm

obi604 wrote: »

Thank you again.
May give it a go tomorrow. Either this or 12 o clock hills.

Undecided right now

I've not heard of the 12 O'clock hills before so I'm not trying to influence you either way. I will say the spotless facilities at the start beside the car park were an absolute pleasure before heading off on the walk and after a drive getting there. And I enjoyed sitting out on the benches eating my sandwich after, looking out at Lough Derg and watching the ducks! 12 possibly looks more manageable after a quick read there though.

obi604 · 12-09-2020 11:16pm

sentient_6 wrote: »

I've not heard of the 12 O'clock hills before so I'm not trying to influence you either way. I will say the spotless facilities at the start beside the car park were an absolute pleasure before heading off on the walk and after a drive getting there. And I enjoyed sitting out on the benches eating my sandwich after, looking out at Lough Derg and watching the ducks! 12 possibly looks more manageable after a quick read there though.

Yeah. I’m nearly leaning towards Moylussa though

obi604 · 12-09-2020 11:35pm

sentient_6 wrote: »

There's the forest loop and Moylussa itself is one way up and down off that loop. The very top is a stretch of boardwalk and you go back the way you came. There are a couple of steepish short climbs on loose gravel paths alright. You need to watch the step especially on the way down. 20/30 metre sections.

Where did you park?

sentient_6 · 12-09-2020 11:48pm

obi604 wrote: »

Where did you park?

Ballycuggaran Forest
R463, Craglea, Co. Clare
https://maps.app.goo.gl/z1HWBoa7KpJ8dLyC8

obi604 · 13-09-2020 2:04pm

GalwayGrrrrrl wrote: »

https://12oclockhills.com/ I haven’t been there myself yet but the 12 o’clock hills in Clare have some marked trails of different lengths.

Anyone know how long the hike time is in total. Up to summit and back for the 12 o clock hills?

obi604 · 13-09-2020 10:19pm

blueskys wrote: »

Theres abbey hill just past kinvara in the burren. Nice walk to summit for kids 6years up, bout an hour up and an hour down with kids.Drive up Corker hill and park on the entrance to the green road. Walk along the green road till you see a gap in the wall and the trail opens up from there. Great views from the top on a clear day.
There's also The Galway wind farm walks by Oughterard, different grades walks for various abilities. Perfect for young children. These are the best two locations for hill/mountain walks within 45 mins of galway city. Beyond that theres the caher valley loop walk that starts at fanore beach carpark which is 3hrs long and the connemara walks. Good luck and enjoy.

Due to time constraints, ended up doing abbey hill in Clare. Parked at the entrance to the “green” road (or a Boreen) and then walked to the gap in the wall. Bar that sign in the car park, the signage is non existent, I would have Nearly missed the gap in the wall if not Looking out for it. Way up was ok. There were Only paths (Worn grass etc) to follow in some areas so was not sure of certain parts of the way up. Made it up in 30 mins. Views at top and on the way up are very nice.

Then decided to go down a different path. Followed the stone wall. Problem is there were 2 stone walls so was not sure of which one to follow.

Took the one to the right as you look down. Coming down was harder than going up. Took 45 mins and followed the wall. But there were places where it was fairly steep declines etc. Made it down eventually after trying to figure out the route which was best if staying close to wall was not an option etc.

Nice walk but the lack of signs Is not too good and then guessing which wall to follow down etc.

obi604 · 18-09-2020 9:35am

sentient_6 wrote: »

I did Moylussa earlier this week. In terms of length its way longer than Diamond Hill. My watch measured 11 km's of a walk full loop. Its a very long gradual walk before you get to Moylussa itself and I was fairly beat come the hills near the end. Its not difficult really, more of a issue of pacing yourself. If the kids managed Diamond Hill they should be ok.

Signage wise its a bit strange, you follow the Ballycuggaran Forest loop and Moylussa is a divert off it thats only has a hand written sign or two near the top. Take a pic of the trail map at the start of the forest.

what do ye reckon for this weekend with a 6 year old?

Moylussa or 12 o clock hills?

Triangle · 18-09-2020 9:46am

obi604 wrote: »

Noted on croagh Patrick. Was contemplating it but someone I know actually mentioned the same thing, these loose stones. And then with children, may not be advisable.

Back in the day when my kids were around the same age, I took them up croagh Patrick.
We stopped at the loose stones and came down. But it was still impressionable to them. One still talks about not reaching the top, but the others loved it.

obi604 · 21-09-2020 2:09pm

sentient_6 wrote: »

I did Moylussa earlier this week. In terms of length its way longer than Diamond Hill. My watch measured 11 km's of a walk full loop. Its a very long gradual walk before you get to Moylussa itself and I was fairly beat come the hills near the end. Its not difficult really, more of a issue of pacing yourself. If the kids managed Diamond Hill they should be ok.

Signage wise its a bit strange, you follow the Ballycuggaran Forest loop and Moylussa is a divert off it thats only has a hand written sign or two near the top. Take a pic of the trail map at the start of the forest.

I did Moylussa yesterday with the 6 year old.
It is as you said, long and gradual. Tough going especially near the top part, however from the point of view of a 6 year old, no major dangers really of steep falls off the side of a mountain etc or narrow paths up.

Yesterday was a lovely day in fairness and it was very busy, I was sweating like a $%^&*(, the 6 year old didn't even sweat...............age
It took us 1.5 hours to get up and 1 hour to come down, the reason the way up was longer was because of the lack of signage, twice we went wrong at forks due to no signs, I had taken a photo of the map etc but hard to follow for a very specific fork in a road.

I heard numerous others complaining yesterday about the lack of signage also. we got asked 3 times, "is this the way to the top "

We lost about 15 minutes on the way up due to going in the wrong direction.
We drove up a bit of the hill to the car park, that was steep enough in parts and hard for 2 cars to get by each other etc.

all in all good walk, hard enough going (for me:))

would be great if they spent half a day puting up a few signs at the forks

obi604 · 26-09-2020 10:00am

Going to do Mount Gable near Clonbur today

obi604 · 26-09-2020 9:31pm

obi604 wrote: »

Going to do Mount Gable near Clonbur today

Did this today. Not bad. About 45
Minutes up. Boggy enough in spots.

Anyone done Lackavrea?

obi604 · 27-09-2020 7:58am

The ground was fairly boggy on the last hike. And our hiking boots were ok but we still got wet above them in a couple of spots.

Would standard wellies be ok on some of these climbs?

sentient_6 · 27-09-2020 8:54am

I did Mount Errigal a few weeks ago and I had read about the first section being very boggy. So i brought wellies but just for that bit. Put back on my footwear at the start of the mountain proper and put the wellies in a black bag and into the backpack. Which saved the day for me. But I personally find wellies very hard on my legs and hips if wearing for anything substantial.

obi604 · 27-09-2020 9:12am

sentient_6 wrote: »

I did Mount Errigal a few weeks ago and I had read about the first section being very boggy. So i brought wellies but just for that bit. Put back on my footwear at the start of the mountain proper and put the wellies in a black bag and into the backpack. Which saved the day for me. But I personally find wellies very hard on my legs and hips if wearing for anything substantial.

Thanks for input. Understood.

Have you by chance done Lackavrea near Maam Cross?

sentient_6 · 27-09-2020 12:18pm

obi604 wrote: »

Thanks for input. Understood.

Have you by chance done Lackavrea near Maam Cross?

No I haven't, only getting into doing this kind of thing this summer to be honest, so I'll definitely add it to the ever growing list.

tphase wrote: »

Carting a pair of wellies around wouldn't leave much space in my backpack - I use gaiters and bring a spare pare of socks

Ya it was a bit of a pain and I'll admit I certainly need to get familiar with some better ways of handling stuff like that.

Aglomerado · 29-09-2020 8:20am

obi604 wrote: »

Anyone know how long the hike time is in total. Up to summit and back for the 12 o clock hills?

About an hour from the Belvoir trailhead car park. If it's a weekend, get there early (parking is good but can get very busy).

hmmm · 17-04-2021 11:35am

Mod - Lackavrea hill posts moved to their own thread.

Diamond hill

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