Knocklmealdown Mountain

Today, for the first time since October, I went for a walk. The objective; to summit Knockmealdown mountain. I woke and immediately peeked out of the bedroom window to find the sun shining and a hard frost on the lawn, an auspicious start to the day promising perfect walking conditions and fine views. It felt great to be back on the hills again and at 794m high, its fairly large by Irish standards.

The views from the top were extraordinary as expected, straddling the border between Tipperary and Waterford, the sea can be seen to the south and the Galtees to the north west, Slievenamon and the Comeraghs were also clearly visible roughly east. Underfoot the ground was easy and dry, I would perhaps go so far as to say Knockmealdown from the Vee gap offers some of the best ground in the country. No bog was encountered on the entire route.

The route itself was a doddle, following a low stone wall from the Vee all the way to the summit, passing Sugarloaf and Knockmoylan along the way.  As I said the height at the summit is 794m but the fact that the car park at the Vee sits at 300m, the actual ascent required is vastly reduced. A walk can be completed from the bottom of the Vee and I plan on coming back to complete the entire Knockmealdown range next year.

Total route time, from the Vee to the summit and back; 3.5hrs although we stopped for a good 30mins for lunch and since the views were so good, we stopped frequently to take them in. Ill leave you with a couple of examples of those views.