Torc Mountain

Torc Mountain rises some 500 metres above the waters of Muckross Lake, near Killarney. The trek to the summit is a popular one and fairly easy, as mountain climbs go. Wishing to avoid the crowds and enjoy a peaceful picnic lunch on the summit, we set out early from our holiday cottage. 

That's Torc Mountain up on the skyline. To a couple of hardened hill walkers like us it looked easy enough... and indeed it was, thanks in no small part to the provision of boardwalks (make of old railway sleepers) over the boggy bits. I do look a bit tired though, don't I. In truth, I was by now wondering why I'd bothered to bring along that thick green cardigan.

As we neared the summit we met two groups of people descending, who encouraged us to go on. "The views are amazing," they told us.

And they were.  That's lovely Lough Leane spred out before me, with its many small islands, and the houses of Killarney on the far side of the lough.

Torc Mountain (Gaelic: Sliabh Torc) means 'Mountain of the Wild Boar'. I am reliably informed that one unfortunate hill walker who fell foul of the Devil was required to spend his nights up here, transformed into a boar. Later, due to an unfortunate encounter with a hill farmer, he burst into flames and was never seen on Torc Mountain again.  I think the moral of the story is that one should avoid staying on the mountain after nightfall – a warning that I was happy to heed.

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In the photo below you can just see Muckross Lake and the narrow peninsula of land that separates it from Lough Leane. If you look closely, you might be able to make out Brickeen Bridge and Dinis Island (with what looks like a river on its left side), that I mentioned in my last Irish post.

Muckross House is in the centre of this photo, and Muckross Lake in the foreground.

Finally, having passed on the pleasures during our walk around Muckross Lake of climbing up to Torc Waterfall via the infamous Cardiac Steps, we climbed down to it on our way back from the mountain.