tips on the glen coaghan horse shoe walk in clifften

johnny 71

just wondering if anyone out there has done the above walk in galway....... any advice would be wecome!.... cheers

hi

I've done this walk a couple of times, have to say, one of the best walks in Ireland.
-give yourself plenty of time, this walk can take between 7 1/2 and 10+ hours.
-if the weather is too bad, there are only a couple of places to come down, and be prepared for a long trudge through the wet valley
-easier, I think, to do it, anti clockwise and come down, beside the hostel at Binn Lettery.

It's a tough, demanding walk, on a good day, in bad foggy misty,weather be careful. You have to know what you're about in terms of navigation, with very steep sides to the mountains.
The tops can be very windy, but nothing too bad in terms of exposure,

johnny 71

Thanks for that ...... lets hope for good weather....... could you recommend any other walks?

Mickeroo

Mweelrea isn't far from there, its a pretty long walk too and the highest mtn in connaught, well worth the effort.

Havent done glencoaghan yet myself but will be doing it teusday, 1st day of ML training, eek!

hi

I must be getting old, but I would say if the weather is bad, do something else.
I would recommend "Connemara" by Paddy Dillion, published by Collins as a guide book, with plenty of walks,
btw he says the Gleann Chóchan Horseshoe should take 6 hours approx, while David Herman in Hill Walker's Conemara and Mayo says 8.5 hours.

K2

GLEN COAGHAN HORSE SHOE is a good days walk, try and do it before the clock changes at the end of this mth. The derryclare - bencorrbeg horseshoe is also quite good (infact i just did it yesterday) Not as long but if you get the clear day the views are stunning and it will give you a good feel for what the longer walk will be like. Attached are a some pics I took.

K2

2nd pic is pretty crap so heres some more (yep I'm real smug about getting in a good days walk mid week )

johnny 71

Mickeroo wrote: »

Mweelrea isn't far from there, its a pretty long walk too and the highest mtn in connaught, well worth the effort.

Havent done glencoaghan yet myself but will be doing it teusday, 1st day of ML training, eek!

good luck doing that walk.... let me know how you get on. my friend and i will be attempting this walk later on this month so any feed back would be greatly appreciated

Mickeroo

johnny 71 wrote: »

good luck doing that walk.... let me know how you get on. my friend and i will be attempting this walk later on this month so any feed back would be greatly appreciated

Howdy johnny

So we tackled the walk on teusday, we went anti clockwise, the weather was miserable, visibility was only 20 metres or so, so navigation was challenging. Unfortunately i didn't get to finissh the whole horshoe, one of our party started getting dizzy spells so me and 2 others escorted them off the mountain from the second summit(711m), the rest went on and finished it. It took them about 8 or 9 hours altogether. If you get good weather the walk will be spectacular but pretty demanding regardless, between each summit you will be dropping 200-300m, so there is well over 1000m of vertical ascent over the course of the walk. If the weather is misty or any way bad, be prepared for challengng navigation, its very easy to get disorientated and head off in the wrong direction after you stop for a rest(which happened to one of my companions yesterday). As long as ye know how to use a map and a compass you'll be grand though. I would recommend getting hold of the Harvey's connemara map,it's way more detailed than the OSI one. You can pick it up cheap from www.jackson-sports.com or the harveys website. LEt me know how ye get on, I fully intend to get back and do the walk full.

Mick

K2

I would second the recommendation by Mickeroo on the harveys map. The scale might through a bit if you are used to just using the os series but I find it excellent for the detail it gives on the crags and cliffs which are numerous and sometimes hugh in this area.

Esroh

You will find the Harveys map on sale around the area. I got mine in Maam last year. Also available in shops in Galway