Trying For A Pre Christmas Mountain Run On Tomies

Looking across Lough Leane towards Crohane

I finished my week of nights this morning and as there is yet another storm coming in this afternoon I decided to head back to the Kerry mountains first thing to see if I could get a quick blast of mountain air in before Christmas. The skies were mostly clear and there was nothing more that a stiff breeze down in the valleys so I opted to head for Tomies Wood and I hoped to go up Tomies and from there on to Shehy and around towards the end of Tomies Wood and so back to the car. I set off from the car and shuffled in the track to the wood. I was delighted to see plenty of Deer on the trail and the views over Lough Leane once I gained some height was lovely. I was struggling with fatigue this morning but it still was great to out and about. I was under no pressure and I walked when I felt like it and I certainly had no choice but to walk when I left the forest trail at it highest point and I broke out onto the open mountain. It was steep and out here the wind was becoming more problematic and it was a bit of a struggle to climb into it. The long slog all the way to the summit of Tomies was a chore but I reached the top in just under 70 minutes. As I neared the top the wind really increased in speed and I had to drop to my hands and knees at times to prevent myself being whipped aside. The chance to a nice long high level run was gone so I decided to give up the fight with the wind and I turned for Tomies Rock and I descended the long spur that heads for the road near Kate Kearneys. Once on the road I ran easily back to my car. Just about 7.5 miles and around 2200 feet of climbing in just over two hours and I was well pleased with my morning. Hopefully I will get the chance to return and complete the original route in the near future.

Yhr view across towards The Reeks.