In a fairly densely populated place like Ireland it’s really rare not to have anything man made in your view if you’re up on the tops. Ireland’s long history of building in stone and ancient liking for memorialising the dead in high places makes this even less common. There are places in Wicklow with no houses visible, but you can usually see the military road from them, and although the Nephin Begs get pretty remote the skirts of forestry are always there. Always assuming that you can see more than a few dozen yards, of course – not always a given in the hills! The only Irish high place I can think of where you are completely out of sight of human traces on even the clearest day is the heart of the Dunkerrons where the ridge broadens out into a plateau slung between the bedposts of Knocknagantee, Knockmoyle, Coomura and Coumnacronia. For me this is Ireland’s wildest place.
Above Coomavoher
The Dunkerrons may not have the shapeliness of the Reeks or Errigal, or the sheer rockiness of the Maum Turks but their crumpled and rock-plated hides exude “otherness” more strongly than anywhere else I know. Look up at Knocknagantee or Coumcallee from the Sneem road and they seem another world beyond the human. In truth, if you’re not happy with rough ground and complicated navigation these hills may well take you out of your comfort zone, and who’s to say that’s a bad thing in our technologically cushioned society.
Once you get west of the Reeks the number of people venturing into the hills drops off markedly, and the chances of you meeting someone on the Dunkerrons are not high – I’ve never met anyone in well over a dozen trips. In a way this is surprising, given the quality of the hills. Look in Mountainviews "100 Best Rated” list and 10 of them feature, only the Maum Turks have more. Perhaps it’s the intimidation factor referred to above, or the roughness, or the lack of paths, or just that (Mullaghanattin apart) they don’t have distinctive 'climb me' silhouettes. Whatever the reason, they seem to be missed out by many walkers, and if that’s true for you, and you’re someone who loves wild mountain country, I recommend you change this. You won’t be disappointed.
Knocknagantee from above Sneem
The easiest way in is to take the road up the Sneem River, blackberry heaven in late season. This eventually (in the 'will-it-won’t-it' way of Kerry boreens) turns into a stony landrover track that zigzags up to high on the west ridge of Knocknagantee. This outflanks the rocky front of the hill and enables you to tackle it comfortably from behind. This has a bit of an air of cheating about it, of gaining the sanctuary too easily, but the view from the summit is stunning. The East Face drops a sheer 1000 feet to Eagles Lough (Joss Lynam put up climbs on it but they’re very vegetated), while the opposite side of the coum is only slightly less impressive. The grassiness of the plateau to the north comes as a surprise given the intimidating front the range shows to the world, but wander across it and soon more steep rock drops away into Coomavoher, Coomura and Coomreagh.
Knockmoyle and Coomura
A better way in using the same start is to leave the vehicle track soon after it reaches open country and traverse round to Eagles Lough (care needed with fences). Sadly the eponymous birds are here no longer but it’s still an impressive place. A rough ascent through boulders leads to the rocky shelf containing Lough Coomeenassig and a gateway through to the plateau. Here either swing round to the left to outflank the cliffs and go up a blunt spur to Knocknagantee or head across the plateau to visit the summits on the north rim first. A short but quite hard scramble (Grade 3) can be contrived up the right end of Knocknagantee’s cliffs but it seems trivial relative to the surroundings.
The Coomacronia scramble goes up the left edge of the gully
There is a much better scramble in Coomnacronia a bit further east. This is best reached by the road that runs from Sneem up to Fermoyle (although a waymarked route links the two roads to let you make bigger loops). A broad gully backs the beautifully poised Lough Coomnacronia and the scramble climbs the left edge of this. Although its 120m of sandstone slabs are broken by numerous grass ledges the rock itself is clean and rough. There are moves at a rock climbing grade of Moderate but the ledges make it feel less serious than that. As usual with Kerry sandstone you can jink about a bit to make things easier (or harder!) and the whole thing can be bypassed up the gully. From the top the summit of Finnararagh is a relatively gentle kilometre east or Coomnacronia top is even closer to the west. From the latter it’s easy to make the round of the four “bedposts” then descend the track from the west ridge of Knocknagantee.
Knocknagantee above Eagle's Lough
Do any of these three routes in good weather and you will have a good picture of the Dunkerrons heartland, but you will have only just begun to scratch the surface of the place. For a start there’s the classic ridge running eastwards over Beann to Mullaghanattin, taking in the two highest peaks of the range (and five of Mountainviews "100 Best Rated” summits). The energetic can combine this with an investigation into the complex of summitlets and lochans at the lip of Coumreagh. Further west there are several excellent loops to be contrived over Slievenashaska and Coumcallee, superb hills both.
Coomnahorna and Slievenashaska from above Sneem
West again the ground eases off a little but a long chain of hills with a nice ‘perched above the sea’ feel runs out to Farraniaragh Mountain above Derrynane. Do the ridge section facing west to get the best views, then return along the Kerry Way below the south flank. This can be done in one longish day (or easily if you’ve two cars) or split into several still enjoyable circuits. Whatever you do in these hills you’re guaranteed a great day, often a challenging one but one you will remember forever.
And sometimes it even does this! Beann from near Finnararagh
A previous version of this article was published in Mountainviews Annual in 2018
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