Take a relatively easy stroll to the top of Rossbeigh Hill, in Co Kerry, and you will be rewarded with some of the most breathtaking views the county has to offer, writes Tony Doherty
ROSSBEIGH HILL, just off the Ring of Kerry at Glenbeigh, is that most wonderful thing: a small mountain with big-mountain views. So whether you are looking for a brisk walk on a short winter’s day or a lazy trundle on a long summer’s day, this little fellow is just the job.
The best place to start a climb of the hill – which, unnamed on Ordnance Survey maps, is also known as Carra Hill – is the car park at Rossbeigh Beach. Walk back along the road towards Glenbeigh for 1,500m, until you come to a forest picnic area. Take the track that leads up into the forest. About 300m along, just past a few fallen trees, you’ll come to the second Kerry Way marker. Leave the waymarked track at this point and follow the path on the right, which leads straight up through the forest. This has become the de-facto route of the Kerry Way at this point, for the better views.
Once across, you will see a fence that runs straight up the mountain and a narrow boot-eroded track that runs beside it up a steep heathery slope. From here you have almost a bird’s-eye view down into the village of Glenbeigh. The slope levels off at the 200m contour, and it is an easy stroll to the first summit, at 275m. You can now take a speculative look at one of Ireland’s great mountain “horseshoes”. Stretching from Seefin around to Drung – a distance of 24km and an ascent of 1,550m – it is a good challenge for a long summer’s day.
The route encircles the valley of the River Behy (Gleann Beithe). A cave in this valley is said to be the first hiding place of Diarmaid and Gráinne on their seven-year flight from Fionn Mac Cumhaill.
Continue along the fence down to a rather boggy col and then back up the second summit, at 274m. Because of the steep drop down to the beach you feel that you are at a much higher elevation. The view now encompasses the Blasket Islands, the Dingle Peninsula, the Glenbeigh Mountains and Macgillicuddy’s Reeks. Directly below you the great sand spit of Rossbeigh Beach runs out into the head of Dingle Bay for four kilometres, mirrored on the far side by Inch Beach. Rossbeigh Beach is reputed to be where Oisín and Niamh Cinn Óir took to the sea on their white horse, bound for Tir na nÓg.
Keeping to the fence, drop down to the second col and then go back up to the final summit cairn, at 261m. Don’t be tempted to head straight to the beach from here, as the slope is steep, covered in gorse and undercut at its base where a road has been constructed. Instead take the broad track on the landward side that leads back down to the road. Turn right at the junction and you have an easy stroll downhill to the car park, where a swim in the sea or a sup in the pub (or both) brings the day to a most satisfactory conclusion.
Rossbeigh Hill, Co Kerry
Start and finishRossbeigh Beach car park.
How to get thereFollow the N70 from Kilorglin. Just past the village of Glenbeigh, go right on to the R564.
TimeThree or four hours.
Distance6,500m.
Ascent345m.
SuitabilityAn easy walk
MapOrdnance Survey Ireland Discovery Series sheet 78.
AccommodationBB and self-catering in Rossbeigh and Glenbeigh.
RefreshmentsFood at Rossbeigh Inn and in Glenbeigh at Towers Hotel and Glenbeigh Hotel. Fish-and-chip shop also.