Ireland day 1017. Thursday 11 July 2024- Conavalla Recce

Today’s summary	Drove down to Glenmalure to meet up with three Club friends to do a recce for a possible walk that I am leading in August. Went up Table Mountain, past the Three Lakes and on to Conavalla. Great walk, very remote, and tough on the pathless section in the middle. Good weather. Tesco half price pizza for dinner. Val back tomorrow
Today’s weather	Overcast with heavy low cloud first thing but brightened up during the day and even some sunshine in the afternoon. Moderate northerly wind. Appx 16c (in valleys)

Today’s overview location (The green mark shows the location of our route)		Close-up location (The red line shows where we walked) (Click button below to download GPX of today’s walk as recorded, or see interactive map at bottom with elevations corrected): Conavalla Recce

Commentary

(Summary blog only. Last full blog was Day 0368).

It’s been a while since I last led a walk for the Club so I thought I better put my hand up and volunteer. I’m down to lead something in August so today was an ideal opportunity to test out a route in Glenmalure that I’ve been thinking about for some time.

I’d managed to persuade three other Club friends to join me today and we met up at 10:30 this morning in the Baravore car park, right at the end of the Glenmalure road. Our objective was to test out a route up the valley to Table Mountain, then across the featureless bog to the Three Lakes, on to the summit of Conavalla and then a loop back to the Glenmalure valley and the cars.

I was a bit apprehensive about the weather – especially after Tuesday’s experience – and it didn’t look great when we set off. Low cloud, strong cold wind, and the threat of rain.

I need not have worried. The conditions steadily improved through the day, and by mid afternoon we were even enjoying some sun. Which made our walk even more enjoyable. Being able actually to see where we were going was such a joy! And the route was good -well at least it was as far as the military bunker at the top of the Table track.

But the 6km / 4mi section from there, to Conavalla and beyond, via the Three Lakes (of which there are only two, by the way) was very remote and completely pathless. It was extremely boggy, with peat hags everywhere that took time, effort and care to negotiate. Our lunch stop, in the shelter of a rapidly-decaying hag at the top of Conavalla, felt very well deserved. But the sight of two distant hares and numerous deer along the way helped lift our thoughts away from the toil underfoot.

It took us 3hrs to traverse the 6km to the track at the far end of Conavalla. I think we were all pretty glad to reach it and to have made it in one piece. The track then looped right back round the southern flank of Conavalla and back to the head of Glenmalure before leading us back down the valley to the cars. I had hoped to avoid some of this loop by cutting straight down the slope and onto an old track that I thought would make a good short-cut. But the slope was too rough so after a few moments consideration we opted for the easier option and stayed on the high track.

For the remainder of the walk we followed the course of the infant Avonbeg river, and by careful choice of route, we were able to avoid covering the same ground as on the way up, even though our outward and homeward paths were only a few meters apart in some parts.

After a brief pause to look at the An Óige youth hostel, we made it back to the cars just after half past five, and almost exactly seven hours after we had set off. All in all, we agreed it had been an excellent walk and I for one certainly really enjoyed exploring somewhere new. It will make a good walk for the August programme, though I think I shall have to come with a “plan B” to deploy on the day if conditions are too poor to attempt the pathless bog section.

A swift drive back followed – which luckily seemed to avoid the worst of the M50 rush hour – and I was back in the flat by 7:30. By this stage I was starving and very glad of the half-price Tesco pizza that I’d got ready prepared in the fridge.

Anyway, Val’s back from her travels tomorrow, so I must stop writing now, and start tidying. No time to waste!

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Very wet after the last few days (and last night’s) rain. But water levels had fallen quite a lot by the time we finished	Picking our way carefully through the bog on the Table path

*Devils matchstick lichen (Cladonia) growing in a remote spot close to the Three Lakes*	On the top of Conavalla and very pleased to have made it one piece

This bridge on the track back down the valley at the end has definitely seen better days	The Glen Malure An Óige hostel. It’s only open by appointment and there’s no warden

Looking south east from our lunch spot on the top of Conavalla. The Spinc, Glenmalure, is in the centre of the picture