Macha na Bó – Binn an Túir

Start Point: Baile Dubh Graveyard @ O.S. Map 70 Q541 100

Starting from An Baile Dubh graveyard there is a short road walk before turning onto a gravel track leading southwards from a sharp bend in the road. We follow the Glennahoo River into a valley called Macha na Bó,
the Plain of the Cattle, the green, riven flanks of which soon tower on each side.

We make our way along the track for 2.5km to the head of the valley, where under a seemingly insurmountable wall of mountains, there are ruins of a clachan of ancient farmsteads. The families that lived here in the 19th century were the O’Donnells and the Dinneens. The route bears left and uphill away from the clachan, and climbs steeply up the side of a grassy ravine on a narrow path to a flat rock that is called The Wolf’s Step which fords the stream. It is one of the many places where the last Irish wolf is said to have been hunted down and killed, in about 1710. 

At this point there is the option of returning by the same route for an easier Grade D walk. From the Wolf’s step we face an ascent of 300 m, the first 100 m of which is up a steep grassy slope. The gradient eases at this point as we make our way to the summit of Binn an Tuair 592m.

The views as we overlook Macha na Bó are spectacular with the Glennahoo snaking its way along the valley floor. From the summit we follow a spur to the north for approx. 700 m before a steep descent back down to the valley floor and a return to our starting point.