First published in: The Times Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window
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Never ones to curb their lust for life, my cousin Vicky Clancy and her Irish husband Dermot left me in no doubt about the charms of the Glens of Aherlow Walking Festival. ‘You’ve got to come,’ Vicky declared, unequivocally, ‘you’re going to absolutely and totally love it!’
The Glens of Aherlow Festival, held yearly over the May/June Bank Holiday weekend, is a great occasion. Thousands turn up for 3 days of walking, from half-day saunterers to hard mountain hurdlers. They go out with gusto into the Galtee Mountains, a magnificent but pocket-sized hill range that straddles the Limerick/Tipperary border a few mile north-east of Cork city. They walk all day, talking even harder than they walk, spouting verse and worse, making the hidden hollows ring with shouting and laughter. And that’s all just a preparation for the evening’s crack in Moroney’s of Lisvernane or the bar of Aherlow House Hotel.
Assembling with Vicky, Dermot, Dermot’s irrepressible cousin Ferghal and their many friends under a peerless blue sky in the lane below the splendid peaks of Galtybeg and Slievecushnabinnia, I found I’d somehow joined myself to the ‘A’ group, heroes of the hill, who meant to storm the heights of the Galtees and look down in turn on the Five Lakes.
We set off fifty strong at a clinking pace, all shapes and sizes of rambler, and were scrambling up the steep rock slide above Lough Curra before my breathing had properly caught up with the rest of me. Up on the roof of Galtymore, lord of the Galtees at 3,015 ft, I leaned my sweaty back against the big iron summit cross and stared out over many green and lumpy miles of Ireland. ‘Did you know,’ said walk leader Jimmy Barry to no-one in particular, ‘copper wire was invented in Caragh by two men fighting over a penny.’ That was the start of a most ridiculous shaggy dog story that carried us on above the loughs of Diheen and Borheen, breathless with laughter.
We teetered along the tight path around Greenane, and came down by the pond-like Lough Farbreaga and the beautiful harp-shaped lough of Muskry, with Dermot and Ferghal bounding ahead neck and neck like a couple of Fionn MacCumhaill’s merry men. Spattered with turf splodges and bog water, we stayed a moment to contemplate the still, steely lakes in their bowl of hills. Then it was on along a moorland path, heading for the waiting buses that would waft us down to the sign-off in Lisvernane. And then … ? A pint of Guinness in Moroney’s with new-found friends, a plate of hot potatoes and a bloody good sing.
Start & finish: near Clydagh Bridge, Lisvernane (OSI ref R 873280)
Getting there from Moroney’s pub, Lisvernane: Bus – Festival minibus.
Road: R663 towards Tipperary; first right to T-junction; left for half mile.
Walk (10 miles/16 km approx; about 1,000 m/3,500 feet of climb; hard grade; OSI Discovery 74): From road (873280), steeply uphill to right (west) shore of Lough Curra (866242); climb very steeply to saddle of Slievecushnabinnia (864239); east along ridge for 3½ miles via summits of Galtymore (919 m/3,015 ft; OSI ref 879238) and Galtybeg (799 m/2,621 ft; 890241), along north face of range above Loughs Diheen and Borheen, descending to west shore of Lough Muskry (915245) and track towards Rossadrehid.
NB – online map, more walks: www.christophersomerville.co.uk
Lunch: Take picnic
Accommodation: Aherlow House Hotel, Glens of Aherlow, Co Tipperary (tel 00-353-62-56153; www.aherlowhouse.ie) – 4-star lodge (stylish, comfortable, superb mountain views; sleeps 6) over the Festival weekend, around £550 for 4 nights.
More info: www.discoverireland.com
Glens of Aherlow Festival (29 May-1 June 2009; www.aherlow.com)