Glencushnabinnia Horseshoe | Northern Galtees

This horseshoe takes Slievecushnabinnia, Galtymore, Galtybeg and Cush starting from Clydagh Bridge and finishing at the same place.

Galtybeg & Galtymore seen from Cush

Lough Curra

The weather conditions on the day weren't great from the start and started getting worse as we followed the forestry road and the open field after crossing the fence. Soon we were forced to change our plan of doing the full loop starting with climbing Slievecushnabinnia. We decided that following the path to Lough Curra would be safer as we were more sheltered from the wind which can make rain unbearable. At the lake we were thinking about going back for a while but our decision was to give it a go and climb Lough Curra Gully and go to the top of Galtymore where we were going to make our last decision if to continue the loop or go down leaving Galtybeg and Cush for a better day..

Galtymore summit

Climbing up Lough Curra Gully wasn't too bad but when we reached the top and found ourselves in more open space it started to feel more like winter... We were trying to hide behind the stone wall and the shortest ones of us were the luckiest getting more shelter from the wind. That wall is the border between Limerick and Tipperary an it's one of many famine walls in Ireland. 

After having our lunch at the top of Galtymore the weather started to improve a little bit so we decided to continue the loop. At the col the clouds started clearing and we even got a little bit of Sunshine but Galtybeg summit was covered with fog again.

Foggy Galtybeg

The path going down north east side of Galtybeg is very steep but the views of lough Borheen Lough below on your right hand side and Cush mountain in front of you are amazing. Thankfully we got some sunny spells, but the wind was still very strong. Taking pictures from the top of Cush wasn't easy because of that wind and we didn't stay there long. As we followed our descent path we could see all the beauty of the Galtees.

A little bit of sunshine at the end of the day

The full horseshoe is about 14 km long and it's quite tough with some steep climbs. It offers amazing views on a clear day and takes about 5 to 6 hours depending on your pace. We missed Slievecushnabinnia this time because of bad weather at the start, but we managed to continue and finished the loop.