Carrauntoohil

The wind had died down and the weather seemed set fair so we decided to walk the Coomloughra horseshoe. The others decided that as they had been hillwalking the previous 2 days, they’d have a rest day. Some were going back home and friends S and R went to the Dingle Peninsula. We parked at the hydro track car park and walked up to Lough Eighter where we had some lunch before the ascent to Beenkeeragh. It was warmer than previous days so I was happy to be in shorts and T shirt. The hill is Ireland’s second highest and is connected to Carrauntoohil by a narrow ridge that we had to scramble along. The blip is part way along this ridge looking towards Carrauntoohil; interestingly there was a little snow left from the winter. We then went up to the summit where there was a great view in all directions; the extra is a panorama from the top with Caher (the 3rd highest peak) on the left and Beenkeeragh and the ridge on the right. There were plenty of people making the climb as it was public holiday; most came up the tourist route as that is relatively straight forward. We went on over Caher and back to the Lough before going back down the hydro track and the van.  The walk ‘ticked’ 5 of the Irish ‘Munros’ and ‘Munro Tops’; a good haul.