Ireland day 1271. Saturday 22 March 2025- Carnavaddy Recce 2

Today’s summary	Got up early and drove to Ballymakellett to recce the Carnavaddy loop walk while Val was working at the museum. A very enjoyable hike and the weather was good apart from the last couple of km. Back at the flat by 4:30 and Val an hour later. She made a cake in advance of our visitors’ arrival, and I did some tidying up. Tesco pop-pop meal for dinner and then some “Mad Men”
Today’s weather	Overnight rain then mostly dry for the rest of the day but some showery drizzle late afternoon. Light south easterly wind but becoming strong northerly later. Appx 11c

Today’s overview location (The blue mark shows the location of my route)		Close-up location (The blue line shows where I walked) (Click button below to download GPX of today’s walk as recorded, or see interactive map at bottom with elevations corrected): Carnavaddy 5 Recce

Commentary

Val was away working at the museum, so today presented the ideal opportunity for me to head up the M1 to recce a Club walk I’m leading in the Cooleys next weekend. Our guests arrive tomorrow, so today was actually pretty much my last opportunity to do it. I’d made the packed lunches a couple of days ago, so after our regulation cups of tea in bed, I shoved my lunch and waterproofs in my bag, and Val got herself togged up for a day at work. Then we both headed out.

For me, it was a straightforward 1hr drive up the M1 to the start of the walk at the Lumpers Pub, in Ballymakellett. I was parked, out of the car and walking by 11am promptly (next weekend we start half an hour earlier). Miraculously, the Curse of the Cooleys [i.e. wind rain and fog] held off most of the way so it was a comfortable and easy walk up the slopes, alongside the Poc Fada markers and then up from Annaverna to Clermont Carn on Black Mountain.

The views were good – though I had to remember to keep stopping and look behind me to see the best of them. Dundalk and the nearer Cooleys stood out, but more distant sights were lost in the haze. It took me 1¾ hours to get to the top of Clermont Carn, which I was pretty pleased about, and I sat atop it to enjoy my packed lunch. There was remarkably little wind at that stage (though it picked up quite suddenly and spectacularly later on), so it was a enjoyable 20 minute break.

From there, I headed south east along the ridge to Carnavaddy, and its prominent rubble-shaped cairn of obscure antiquity. The path sets off quite clearly, but it gradually peters out and gets more boggy as it approaches the Carnavaddy itself. Beyond the summit, the path disappears completely so it was a question of navigating by GPX until I reached the bigger path at Moneycrockroe. From there on, the route follows what I think is part of the Táin Way (pronounced “Torn Way”) back to Ballymakellet and the Lumpers. At this point, the clouds closed in, the wind got up quite dramatically, and it started to drizzle. But I counted myself lucky as, up to that point, the conditions had been pretty good. I was back at the car by 3:15pm, which was about 45 minutes earlier than I had expected.

After a quick drive back to Malahide, I decamped to the flat and Val joined an hour or so later. She then set about making a cake, while I did some cleaning and recycling in advance of our guests’ arrival tomorrow. The rest of the evening was spent sharing a Tesco pop-pop meal that I retrieved from the freezer, and finally a bit more “Mad Men” before calling it a day and retiring to bed.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Lumpers pub at the start of the walk. I think it is probably named after the Irish Lumper potato – which used to be widely grown here in the first half of the 19th century. It was well suited to Irish conditions but was uniquely susceptible to the blight which caused the disastrous famine in the 1840s	*The folly-dolmen at An Fhána Mór, Annaverna, on the slopes of Clermont Carn, with the yellow markers of the Poc Fada* course in the foreground and distance**

On the top of Clermont Carn, with summit decorations	The decking on the section between Carnavaddy and the Tain Way is looking in need of some TLC now

Descending through the woods for the last 3km or so of the walk	Attractive-looking bridge on the R174 over Tippings Stream. It’s right by where you park your car at the start of the walk, but I’d never noticed it before

Poc Fada course stretching away towards the faux dolmen on the opposite hillside