Slieve Carr

Overview

Slieve Carr is the most remote point of land on the Irish mainland. That is the reason to climb it, and it is also the catch: at 721m the mountain is not especially high, but you have to walk a long way across open bog just to reach its foot, and there is no waymarking on the upper ground. The reward is a summit that almost nobody stands on, with a prominence of 646m and a place on the Arderin, Vandeleur-Lynam and Irish Highest Hundred lists.

The mountain sits in Wild Nephin National Park, 15,000 hectares of blanket bog and mountain in north-west Mayo. Several small lakes lie on its eastern slopes, draining into a landscape the naturalist Robert Lloyd Praeger called ‘the very loneliest place in this country’. He meant it as praise. If you want a hill with a café at the bottom and a queue at the cairn, this is the wrong one.

History and mythology

On the summit stands a burial cairn known as Laghtdauhybaun (Leacht Dáithí Bháin, roughly ‘the monument of white Dáithí’). It is tied by tradition to Dathí, a 5th-century king of Connacht and, in the old stories, the last pagan high king of Ireland. Whether or not a king lies under the stones, the cairn is real and it marks the top.

The Irish name Corrshliabh is usually read as ‘conspicuous mountain’, though the Ordnance Survey name book also allows ‘pointed mountain’, so you will see both. William Bald’s 1830 map of Mayo records the peak as Curslieve, one more spelling for the same hill.

The old approach is the Bangor Trail, a route dating to the 16th century that runs close under the foot of Slieve Carr. It is not a stroll. Walked end to end it is a 12-hour day over wet, exposed and rough ground, which tells you most of what you need to know about the country the mountain stands in.

Routes to the summit

There are at least four approaches, one from each cardinal point, and none of them is casual. The upper plateau has no markers, so a map and compass are not optional.

• The eastern approach starts near the OwMore River (grid ref F97586 16634) at a gate that is sometimes locked, then climbs onto open ground and up the south-east ridge. It avoids the worst of the bog.
• The western approach uses the Bangor Trail to reach the foot of the mountain before the climb proper begins.
• Direct bog routes from the road cross long stretches of blanket bog and demand strong navigation. They are for experienced hill-walkers only.

Whichever line you take, treat this as a full-day committing walk rather than an afternoon out.

What to see

• The summit cairn and the lakes. The walk crosses heather and moorland to the cairn; the small lakes on the eastern slopes make a natural rest stop with the mountain reflected in them on a still day.
• Wildlife. The park holds red grouse, curlew, meadow pipits and ravens, with the odd otter along the rivers and Greenland white-fronted geese wintering on the bog.
• Stargazing. Wild Nephin is a Gold Tier International Dark Sky Park, one of the darkest places in Ireland. On a clear night the absence of light pollution is the whole show.

Seasonal and weather advice

Late spring through early autumn gives the longest daylight and the firmest footing. In winter the summit can hold snow and the bog turns treacherous, and most walkers leave it alone. The National Parks and Wildlife Service is blunt about bad weather: don’t go. Atlantic storms arrive fast, mobile coverage is patchy across the range, and a wrong turn on featureless bog in low cloud is a serious matter. Carry a charged phone and, if you can, a personal locator beacon.

Practical information

If you only do one thing here, stand at the cairn and take in how far you are from a road. Few places in Ireland let you feel genuinely alone; this is one of them. Plan for a long day, carry more water than you think you need, and do not set out if the forecast is against you.

Nearby: Combine Slieve Carr with a lower walk in the rest of Wild Nephin National Park, or push west towards Bangor Erris and the Mullet. On a clear day Achill Island is visible from the top.