Bird Hill to Knockboy

Five miles south of Kilgarvan lie a lovely range of hills in the shape of a horseshoe. I am to lead a walk here in April so it is time to get to know the area fairly well. It's been about ten years since I walked the area but, as I am not back to fitness yet, we decided to do half of the walk today and the rest later on. So we parked a car at the top of the pass for collection at the end of the walk and then returned to the start in another car.

The climb to Bird Hill is steep and I found it tough enough. From here we picked a nice gully to the top of Gullaba.From here starts the long bog slog to the foot of Knockboy and a hard climb to the summit. From here it is over a 3km walk, all downhill, to the car but the ground is rough and boggy so the going is fairly slow

The walk took five hours and I hope to return in the next week or so to complete the horseshoe.