I set off my fairly regular loop of Kilronan mountain from Keadue shortly before 9. There was an ominous looking cloud hanging over the mountain but I figured it would probably clear by the time it was up there and I had map and compass handy anyway.

By now I know this route pretty well and didn’t really have to bother with the map. I headed out of the village, turned left and started heading up the hill.

The route climbs sharply for the first three kilometres or so. First it’s on minor roads before switching to odd an old track. This takes you right past an old sweat house. Then you pass a cairn that was built to commemorate the  victory of a candidate in the 1918 general election.

Not far after here we split away from the miners’ way proper and the trick is to follow the red way-markers although they may change colour soon since there are a whole load of new waymarker posts installed. The route takes you towards and then pass a row of wind-turbines.

I had a quick stop for coffee and a banana at the end of the turbines and as it was getting quite windy, I put on my raincoat and gloves. After this welcome break, I headed on towards the abandoned mine.

From here it’s on to another short road section before going back to tracks and eventually going on animal tracks across the bogs. The mist had long cleared and the views from here were quite spectacular.

I was getting due another break so stopped at 10 km and had a rest against a peat hag to get out of the wind. This has this Devil’s matchstick in spore.

After my break, I passed this holy well which pretty much marked the highest point of the day and the end of the rough tracks. About 400m past this, I joined a rough old mountain road and started heading down.

There seems to be all sorts of interesting things in spore as I went down – there were loads of horsetails.

From here on, it was a fairly simple road walk and it was getting time for lunch. I headed on until I passed the 15 km mark and had lunch on a little bridge on a fairly busy regional road. Suitable refreshed, I headed on towards Ballyfarnon

From here I headed through the Kilronan castle estate and ended up back in Keadue 6 hours after I’d left it.

260 km