munster &mdash; Oh no, it's a blog. https://blog.chez.gay/tag:munster Stuff that falls out of Brad's brain. Wed, 12 Aug 2026 17:39:54 +0000 Our First Peak: Moylussa https://blog.chez.gay/our-first-peak-moylussa <![CDATA[We climbed the first of our 27 peaks yesterday, Moylussa in County Clare. It was simultaneously challenging and boring. It's the nearest one to home as the flamingo flies but the roads most of the way aren't great so it took over an hour to get there.!--more-- Peak Summary Peak: Moylussa County: Clare Height: 532m Ascent: 459m Distance: 10.1km Time: 2h 45m Moylussa is a flattened hill overlooking Lough Derg, a large lake on the border between Galway, Clare and Tipperary. From the road, it's a pretty featureless lump looming over the countryside. Moylussa. A flattened hill with some trees on the lower slopes but a bare top. The trail starts in the carpark of Ballycuggaran Forest; there is a logging road winding up the hillside and you follow that for a good portion of the route. At the beginning, it's a series of switchbacks through the forest, with steep footpaths cutting between them so you don't have to follow the road back and forth. That took a big chunk off the distance, but when I say steep I mean STEEP! My poor achilles tendons felt the strain immediately. But it was really pretty and tranquil walking through the trees, with trickling streams and glimpses down to the lake from time to time. The map online has some really interesting names for some of these trails! A screenshot of the map of Ballycuggaran Forest, showing the logging road in brown, and a tangle of other trails with some whimsical names such as "Mile High Club" and "Jumpy Trail". All too soon you're at the top of the forested section, and you just follow the road for another few kilometres. This was the boring bit. There's a steady incline, it's not difficult, the views a lot of the way are concealed by vegetation... but occasionally it opens up and you get a really gorgeous view of the lake from higher and higher vantage points. Lough Derg as seen from the logging trail on the way up the hill. Eventually, there's a sign for Moylussa, and you turn off the road onto a very narrow trail bounded on each side by thick overgrowth, and the "fun" begins. As we walked up a straight section of trail, I could see what appeared to be a cliff at the end of the tunnel of vegetation. I assumed the trail would turn before the cliff. No such luck; the trail goes up! Thankfully it wasn't a cliff but an incredibly steep section of trail with a dry streambed running down it, large rocks interspersed with shale. I would imagine there is water trickling down it much of the year. It was tough going, but we made it to the top and carried on... only to find another incline as steep as the first, but taller. This one twisted around and out of sight at the top. Us at the sign for Moylussa, warning you not to leave the boardwalk. The second steep shale climb. Around the corner was the start of a narrow wooden boardwalk which we followed across the boggy hilltop to a large stone which marks the peak of Moylussa. The boardwalk across the bog. Paweł and me at the stone marker at the peak of Moylussa. The top of the hill is quite flat so the "peak" isn't much higher than the surrounding hillside, and as such the views were not really any better than we had seen on the way up. If anything, they were less dramatic, because we had a stretch of bogland between us and the view. Nevertheless, we stopped to admire them for a while, got our bearings and spotted some landmarks such as the windfarm we can see from the back of our house, and some more interesting peaks we might be visiting over the next few months. The views of Lough Derg from the peak. The view back towards Loughrea from the peak. After a while, we headed back along the same route. There is a smaller peak between Moylussa and the lake, Feenlea, which you can take in as part of a loop, but all the guides I read online said the paths are not so well trodden and it can be very boggy and difficult, and since our target was the county peak, we decided to give it a miss. I enjoyed the trip back more than the way up, because we were walking towards the lake and had the nice views all the way, instead of only when we looked behind us now and then. And it was downhill, of course! The boardwalk and the lake. The view of the lake on the way back. Paweł foraging for blackberries. I really liked the forest, and the views from near the top, but it was an underwhelming peak compared to Diamond Hill the other week. I would visit the forest again, but probably not Moylussa. A tunnel of greenery, the path back the carpark. --- Tags #peaks #ireland #clare #munster #hiking #countyhighpoints]]> We climbed the first of our 27 peaks yesterday, Moylussa in County Clare. It was simultaneously challenging and boring. It's the nearest one to home as the flamingo flies but the roads most of the way aren't great so it took over an hour to get there.

Peak Summary

Peak: Moylussa County: Clare Height: 532m Ascent: 459m Distance: 10.1km Time: 2h 45m

Moylussa is a flattened hill overlooking Lough Derg, a large lake on the border between Galway, Clare and Tipperary. From the road, it's a pretty featureless lump looming over the countryside.

Moylussa. A flattened hill with some trees on the lower slopes but a bare top.

The trail starts in the carpark of Ballycuggaran Forest; there is a logging road winding up the hillside and you follow that for a good portion of the route. At the beginning, it's a series of switchbacks through the forest, with steep footpaths cutting between them so you don't have to follow the road back and forth. That took a big chunk off the distance, but when I say steep I mean STEEP! My poor achilles tendons felt the strain immediately. But it was really pretty and tranquil walking through the trees, with trickling streams and glimpses down to the lake from time to time. The map online has some really interesting names for some of these trails!

A screenshot of the map of Ballycuggaran Forest, showing the logging road in brown, and a tangle of other trails with some whimsical names such as "Mile High Club" and "Jumpy Trail".

All too soon you're at the top of the forested section, and you just follow the road for another few kilometres. This was the boring bit. There's a steady incline, it's not difficult, the views a lot of the way are concealed by vegetation... but occasionally it opens up and you get a really gorgeous view of the lake from higher and higher vantage points.

Lough Derg as seen from the logging trail on the way up the hill.

Eventually, there's a sign for Moylussa, and you turn off the road onto a very narrow trail bounded on each side by thick overgrowth, and the “fun” begins.

As we walked up a straight section of trail, I could see what appeared to be a cliff at the end of the tunnel of vegetation. I assumed the trail would turn before the cliff. No such luck; the trail goes up!

Thankfully it wasn't a cliff but an incredibly steep section of trail with a dry streambed running down it, large rocks interspersed with shale. I would imagine there is water trickling down it much of the year. It was tough going, but we made it to the top and carried on... only to find another incline as steep as the first, but taller. This one twisted around and out of sight at the top.

Us at the sign for Moylussa, warning you not to leave the boardwalk. The second steep shale climb. Around the corner was the start of a narrow wooden boardwalk which we followed across the boggy hilltop to a large stone which marks the peak of Moylussa.

The boardwalk across the bog. Paweł and me at the stone marker at the peak of Moylussa. The top of the hill is quite flat so the “peak” isn't much higher than the surrounding hillside, and as such the views were not really any better than we had seen on the way up. If anything, they were less dramatic, because we had a stretch of bogland between us and the view. Nevertheless, we stopped to admire them for a while, got our bearings and spotted some landmarks such as the windfarm we can see from the back of our house, and some more interesting peaks we might be visiting over the next few months.

The views of Lough Derg from the peak. The view back towards Loughrea from the peak. After a while, we headed back along the same route. There is a smaller peak between Moylussa and the lake, Feenlea, which you can take in as part of a loop, but all the guides I read online said the paths are not so well trodden and it can be very boggy and difficult, and since our target was the county peak, we decided to give it a miss.

I enjoyed the trip back more than the way up, because we were walking towards the lake and had the nice views all the way, instead of only when we looked behind us now and then. And it was downhill, of course!

The boardwalk and the lake. The view of the lake on the way back. Paweł foraging for blackberries. I really liked the forest, and the views from near the top, but it was an underwhelming peak compared to Diamond Hill the other week. I would visit the forest again, but probably not Moylussa.

A tunnel of greenery, the path back the carpark.

Tags

#peaks #ireland #clare #munster #hiking #countyhighpoints

]]> https://blog.chez.gay/our-first-peak-moylussa Sun, 02 Aug 2026 15:45:15 +0000