COUNTY KERRY
The COOMLOUGHRA HORSESHOE ticks off Ireland’s 3 highest peaks,and we reckon it’s up there with the best hikes in the world. But the mountains have much more to give than just three bucket list ticks.
The first thing I need to tell you about Ireland’s highest mountain, is that you have to climb it.
Where to start the story after that though, is a little less clear. Should I jump straight in at the Beenkeragh Ridge on the way up to Carrauntoohil, one of the finest mountain arêtes I’ve experienced? Or maybe I should tell you about the incredible scenery of the MacGillycuddy’s Reeks mountain range? I could start by painting a picture of the magical County Kerry and its hills, lakes, coastline and pubs (oh, the pubs!). And then there is the not so small matter of a near-death experience at the hands of Mother Nature…
I’m guessing you’ll probably want to know about the brush with mortality, and all in good time. But it’s only right that the mountains come first. They are, after all, the reason why I’m so excited to tell you about this part of the world, and why you’ll be wondering why you’ve left it so long to visit (or revisit) this spellbinding place.
Ireland’s big one
Aside from a Dublin weekend in my 20s, I’d never been to Ireland. But finally, it was happening – and there was one mountain on my mind. Carrauntoohil (Corrán Tuathail in Irish). It is 1039m high and as you will have gathered, is Ireland’s highest mountain. It’s the crown in the MacGillycuddy’s Reeks range, surrounded by azure lochs and dramatic ridges. Defender of the south-west corner of Ireland, it faces off every kind of weather that blasts across the Atlantic Ocean, with the nearest land in that direction being Newfoundland in Canada. However much I told myself there was so much more to see in Ireland than the headline peak, its draw was irresistible. I had to tick it off.
We landed in County Kerry, the base camp of MacGillycuddy’s Reeks, and true to form, the Atlantic promptly hit us with the tail end of a typhoon that had left the shores of America a few days before. Hurricane-force winds and a deluge of rain barrelled across the west coast of Ireland. Luckily, our guide and Mountain Rescue volunteer, Piaras, was more than used to working around the weather after 30-odd years of experience. So the next day we set out for “The best walk in Ireland”.
The Coomloughra Horseshoe
This is a walk worthy of a once-in-a-lifetime trip. Not only do you bag Carrauntoohil, but also Beenkeragh (1010m) and Caher (1001m) –
