Accommodation near Mweelrea?

Kedo93

Hi all! This summer myself and a few friends are looking to climb Mweelrea in co. Mayo and some other mountains in the area for a weekend. Unfortunately it's not looking to likely that we'll have access to a car for driving around. I've spent the last few hours trying to hunt down some nearby accommodation that is somewhat walking distance from the Mweelrea mountains though all I could find was the Delphi Adventure resort, a 4 star hotel which to be honest would probably be out of our limits in terms of price. A hostel of some sort would be much more ideal however I can't seem to find anything of the likes. Would anybody here care to suggest somewhere nearby? Also I've been kind of tempted to try wild camping in the mountains if all else were to fail though I've never camped there before, would be greatly appreciated if someone could suggest a suitable area for camping if any exist.
Thank you

Fuinseog

Kedo93 wrote: »

Hi all! This summer myself and a few friends are looking to climb Mweelrea in co. Mayo and some other mountains in the area for a weekend. Unfortunately it's not looking to likely that we'll have access to a car for driving around. I've spent the last few hours trying to hunt down some nearby accommodation that is somewhat walking distance from the Mweelrea mountains though all I could find was the Delphi Adventure resort, a 4 star hotel which to be honest would probably be out of our limits in terms of price. A hostel of some sort would be much more ideal however I can't seem to find anything of the likes. Would anybody here care to suggest somewhere nearby? Also I've been kind of tempted to try wild camping in the mountains if all else were to fail though I've never camped there before, would be greatly appreciated if someone could suggest a suitable area for camping if any exist.
Thank you

there is a hostel and hotel in Leenane.
wild camping should not be a problem

Kedo93

Ok cheers though looking at the map, Leenane is on the other side of Killary harbour. To get to Mweelrea Mountains it looks like we'd have to walk all the way around the harbour and cross at Aasleagh falls which seems like a fair oul' trek tbh :S Though we might be able to hitch a lift if were lucky I suppose. Is there an easier way to access the mountains from Leenane by any chance?

Fuinseog

Kedo93 wrote: »

Ok cheers though looking at the map, Leenane is on the other side of Killary harbour. To get to Mweelrea Mountains it looks like we'd have to walk all the way around the harbour and cross at Aasleagh falls which seems like a fair oul' trek tbh :S Though we might be able to hitch a lift if were lucky I suppose. Is there an easier way to access the mountains from Leenane by any chance?

Mweelrea is a dangerous mountain if you are not familiar with it.

If you do not have transport Citilink and possibly Bus Eireann would bring you to maam cross. from there you could do the Maamturks and sleep at leenane which I believe is served by Citilink.

alternatively you could do the twelve pins, maybe get out of the bus a bit beyond Recess. there is a hostel at Benlettery

not sure about hitching a lift. those days are gone, unless you come across another hiker.

a148pro

From my knowledge of the area Mwealrea is pretty isolated and while there's a road going by it I'm not sure if there are any buildings, certainly to the East or South of it. I think there might be another route up it from the West and from recollection looking across Killary bay from that side there were buildings visible along the coast so maybe there is somewhere to stay there.

There is lots of budget accomodation on the Leenane side of the bay, I think there's a place called Sleepzone Connemara or something. There are also several adventure centres which I think also do accomodation. You would have to walk or cycle from there to Mwelrea, or hitch. It would be a decent distance, prob over an hour's walk. I thought there is also a cheap adventure centre in Delphi but maybe I'm mistaken. That would be a lot closer to Mwelrea.

As the above poster pointed out there is a hostel near the 12 Bens, again I cannot remember the name of it but I think its near Recess, on the Clifden Road. The 12 are stunning, as are the Mamturks as is Mwelrea so you're spoilt for choice around there. You could literally spend a couple of weeks climbing if you had the weather, which you very rarely do out there it has to be said. There is also lots of accomodation in Letterfrack which is within shooting distance of some of the other mountains.

If you are stuck with public transport then Fuinseog's suggestion of the 12 makes much more sense.

Haven't hitched there myself but picked up some Polish climbers the last day I was there. I reckon you'd be fine if you weren't doing it alone.

Kedo93

Cheers for the replies guys, this is very helpful information! Yeah we we're kinda set on doing Mweelrea just cover another of the four highest peaks in each province though looking at the Bens and Mamturks, they both look equally as smashing needless to say. I'll run it past the others and see what they say.

brownian

Easiest way up Mweelrea is from the Silver Strand Road, south of Louisburgh. Three or four pretty handy hours up and down, easy access and navigation. Not the best way up, but the easiest. I've done it with my kids (10,13).

This side means looking for a B&B or other accommodation on the N/W side, on the road from Louisburgh to Killadoon. There's very likely something there. Alternatively, it's not a long cycle from Louisburgh itself, though too far to walk (20k?). A bus is out of the question - you'll see why when you the road. See http://goo.gl/maps/fUyb to get some idea of where I mean.

Mountainviews.ie has excellent info about getting to and up Mweelrea.

Mickeroo

Delphi lodge is at the foot of Mweelrea.

maryb26

Just climbed Mweelrea on Sat after about 10 days of our "heatwave" and still very boggy and wet in places. Would hate to do it in spring/autumn.
Ocean Lodge , Killadoon is a lovely pub/restaurant and 14 rooms b&b overlooking a beach just 3kms from base of mweelrea. It is really clean and they do lovely reasonably priced food. Drink is also a lot cheaper than we are used to. They have self/catering houses adjacent. Only came accross it by accident when I couldn't find anything in Leenane. Leenane is a good 14 miles away on narrow roads.