Go Walk:Following the route taken by IRA commander Tom Barry to safety on the Cork-Kerry border is not for the faint-hearted, says John G O'Dwyer
IT WAS JUNE 1921 when the IRA’s West Cork Flying Column marched up the Borlin Valley towards the Cork/Kerry border. Commanding the column was the charismatic Tom Barry (pictured) who had recently rendered Cork virtually ungovernable with a highly successful terror campaign against crown forces.
In hot pursuit were thousands of British troops who had been deployed to west Cork for the purpose of eliminating him while more soldiers blockaded his escape route to Kerry. The position seemed hopeless until Barry did the unexpected. Under cover of darkness he moved his men onto the isolated Sheehy Mountains and headed towards Gougane Barra. If this sanctuary could be reached, he knew he would be safely outside the British blockade on the Pass of Keimaneigh.
Barry's account from his book Guerrilla Days in Irelanddescribes a nightmarish march in thick darkness, often sinking knee-deep in boggy ground. Eventually the column reached the top of Poll – a steep rocky defile that narrows to an unstable gully but offered an escape route to Gougane Barra. Volunteers now began slithering down supported by their rifles and a rope. An hour later "bruised and wrenched", but without other injury, they reached the valley and a short time later were enjoying the hospitality of Cronin's Hotel. Soon after British forces abandoned the blockade – Barry had outwitted them once again.
To follow in the footsteps of Tom Barry, start your walk amid the bewitching bleakness of the Borlin Valley at Upper Gowlane Bridge (See panel). Then follow the Gowlane Stream initially east and then northeast tagging an ancient Mass path until the stream peters out. Continue in the same direction through a shallow coll amid undulating but relatively benign moorland terrain.
What is known locally as the savage cleft of Poll lies directly ahead at the southwest corner of the great cliffs above the Coomroe Valley of Gougane Barra. For experienced hillwalkers operating in daylight, Poll may not exactly seem savage but it will certainly seem a loose, precipitous, knee-twisting gully where great care must be exercised. For the hundred or so volunteers descending in darkness without mountain experience it must have been a terrifying ordeal, with the constant danger of falling or being hit by rocks displaced by those above.
EVENTUALLY POLLopens out to less steep mountainside and later in your descent it is necessary to traverse a small forested area before reaching the valley floor and the metalled roadway in Gougane Forest Park, which enjoys the distinction of being the source of the River Lee. Follow this circular roadway right or left to leave the forest and continue by a short spectacular lakeshore walk to Gougane Barra.
Here you have a choice of refreshments amid the olde worlde charm of the Gougane Barra Hotel or in the well appointed Cronin’s Bar and Café next door.
If you have had the foresight to organise a lift from here, your walk with the ghosts from Ireland’s independence struggle is now complete. Otherwise you must retrace your steps up the valley to join a track that rises (left) beside a thatched toilet block.
It is now just a question of following a well defined track past some farm buildings to open mountainside. The track doglegs upwards to reach a fence containing a gate and two stiles. From here the route becomes less distinct and the yellow arrows of the Beara-Breifne Way are an invaluable guide in mist as you ascend to join another fence and traverse rough ground past the fine viewing point of Foilastookeen.
The fence leads past some small lakes and eventually pitches up by the shore of the more substantial Lough Fadda. Now you part company with Beara-Breifne and ascend a short distance to Lough Glas. From here it’s just an easy descent in a westerly direction to rejoin the Gowlane Stream and follow it back to your starting point.
Tom Barry Walk
ACCOMMODATIONThe three-star Gougane Barra Hotel (026 47069) is ideally located with olde worlde charm and great mountain views.
STARTING POINTFrom the Kerry village of Kilgarvan take the minor road south towards Ballylickey and Bantry. Follow this winding route to Gowlane Bridge (clearly marked on Discovery Sheet 85). If you have a friend dropping you off and continuing to Gougane Barra to collect you they should depart immediately. The roads are so tortuous in this area that your driver will hardly be settled in Cronin's Bar and Café by the time you arrive.
SUITABILITYEven in the best of weather this is a demanding outing. Carry a map and compass, and have at least one person in the group with competence in coping with steep ground. Nervous walkers may appreciate the security of a rope when descending Poll.
TIMEAllow four to five hours to complete the route and return to Upper Gowlane Bridge.
MAPSOrdnance Survey Ireland, Discovery Series, sheet no 85.