Hill Walking in Cork / Kerry

Hi All,

I looked at previous threads and could only see references to Hill Walking in Galway / Mayo but apologies if there is already a thread on this.

As the weather is improving and the days are getting longer I was wondering f anyone could let me know of walks that would take 4-8hrs on a round trip (ie 2-4hrs each way) in the Cork / Kerry region and directions as to where they start or good books on this?

I have googled this so I really want personal experiences rather than url links.

My experience from websites and books are that you are given an area but once you get there it is not very clear where the walk starts or ends.

Idea is to leave from Cork city early on a Sat morn and get down to start of walk by 10ish, spend the day walking and end at 5pm approx and then treat one self to a nice meal and a few pints, ie undo all the good work

Get the book "Best Irish Walks" by Josh Lynam and you cant go wrong.
He is the guru on irish hill-walking. Gives detailed start/end points, description of hike and estimated completion time. You'll get that book in any decent bookshop. Also, buy the ordinance survey maps for Cork/Kerry.

Thanks TeaBag, will head into Waterstones after work and get this. Trying to get out of the heavy Fri / Sat nites and the resulting waste of the following day and replace it with some fresh air and exercise followed by a few scoops which should have a quicker effect after the day's exertions

Two walks that I have enjoyed in Cork were Lough Hyne and The Gearagh. To be honest, neither of them would be as long as you requested (4-8 hrs), but I thought you might be interested non-the-less.

Lough Hyne was a pleasant walk, nothing too strenuous. There are some nice detours that you can take from the path, one which brings you down to a nice little harbour (perfect for a picnic). The main disadvantage is that there is a good bit of road walking involved, and even thought these are very quite country roads, this may not be your cup of tea. http://www.skibbheritage.com/hyne.htm


The Gearagh is another walk that I have done a couple of time and enjoyed a lot. It can be wet underfoot, so much so, that at very wet times it can in inaccessible. http://npws.ie/Conservationsites/SpecialAreasofConservationSACs/SiteSynopsis/Cork/Name,907,en.html

I hope the links work - I've never tried to post links before

Thanks Wollran, your ideas are very much appreciated.

www.mountainviews.ie is pretty good.

The Beara Way is gorgeous [broken link removed]

The walk from Eyries to Allihies is beautiful with lots prehistoric sites and copper mines along the route.

Yeah,the beara way is fantastic,but along way down.Gougane Barra is very good for walking as well.Infoseeker,you sound exactly like someone I know-your first name isn't Steve by any chance.
PS Good walking book in waterstone's in Cork,specific to Cork county,can't remember the name though!

Very impressive JohnnyBoy, ur correct. Are you JOM or JH?

JH,Infoseeker,I thought you were studying for exams?