A circuit above Gougane's glaciated valley provides an easy introduction to the Shehy Mountains, writes TONY DOHERTY
GOUGANE BARRA is beloved of Cork people. It is the source of the River Lee, at the mouth of which the city and port of Cork are located. It was from here that St Finbarr emerged from his monastic solitude to found the first settlement in what is now Cork City. It is also a favoured location for weddings – and, for an older generation, honeymoons.
For the hillwalker, a circuit above Gougane’s glaciated valley provides an easy introduction to the Shehy Mountains, which link mid-Cork with the Beara Peninsula.
Start the walk from the car park by the little church. Walk into the valley along the third- class road to the first car park. Take the right fork here; just beyond the double bend in the road you’ll come to a one-and-a-half-metre-wide gravelled track that zigzags up through the forest and out on to the slopes of Bealick. Keep right at the first track junction and left at the second.
When you come out on to the mountain keep to the track until you get to its highest point, which is just beyond two little wooden bridges. From here you can head up to the summit of Bealick (537m) on a terrain of tussocks of white grass interspersed with small outcrops. The summit cairn is a pile of stones on top of a boulder on a plateau with many similar outcrops; it can be difficult to spot in mist.
From Bealick head down across gently sloping open moorland to spot height 503. From here the terrain changes to the typical west Cork mountain topography of bare ribs of rock running at right angles to your course. And it is a strange thing that no matter in what direction you are hiking in this part of the world the rock ribs seem always to be at right angles to it.
Keep to the centre line of the spur, as it is much easier to find a route down the grassy ramps. Away to the right are the great cliffs of Caoinkeen and Nambrackderg and, beyond them, the innocuous peak of Knockboy (706m), Cork’s highest mountain.
Just before reaching the col you’ll come to the first fence of the day. There’s a stile just above the little lake. This pass was on the route of a well- known “Mass path” that led down into a gully in the headwall of Coomroe. Because of its isolation, Masses were held in Gougane during the times of the Penal Laws.
There is another fence with a stile on the far side of the col. Once over that follow the fence that runs uphill over firm boggy ground to Glas Lough. Go left over the stile just before you come to the lake. It’s worth taking a small diversion to your left to get good views of the valley and the cliffs of Foilastookeen.
Pick up the fence again and follow it down past Lough Namrat, where your route joins with the Beara-Breifne Way. Now you simply follow the fence, the posts of which are the waymarkers, up over Foilastookeen and down its northeast spur.
Parts of the path are steep and very muddy, but it’s possible to divert to the left to bypass them. Keep the fence in sight if you do so. As the ground levels out the markers bear off to the left, away from the fence, and the path links up with a green road that leads you back to the car park.
You can, of course, do this route in reverse, but that is a choice that is entirely up to you.
Gougane Barra, Co Cork
Start and finishThe car park at the oratory.
How to get thereTurn off the N22 just east of Macroom and follow the R584 through Inchigeelagh and Ballingeary. Turn right on to the L4643, five kilometres past Ballingeary.
MapOrdnance Survey Ireland Discovery Series sheet 85.
TimeFive or six hours.
Distance11km.
Total Ascent520m.
SuitabilityRoute is moderate. Map, compass, warm clothing, good boots and rain gear are essential. Careful navigation would be needed in mist.
Food and accommodationFrom April to October, at the Gougane Barra Hotel and Cronin's bar and cafe