Brandon Hill East

 

Ordnance Survey: Discovery Series 68.

Distance: 18.5 kilometres. Time: 5 hours +, including 15 minutes for lunch. 

Degree of difficulty: Moderate. Crushed-stone tracks, earthen paths and tracked mountain trails which may be wet in winter.

Total ascent: 365 metres.

Trailhead: Grid Reference S 677 423. From the village of Inistioge, take the R700 towards New Ross. Shortly after crossing the bridge, take the first turn left (the L 4210, signposted Graiguenamagh 10). Proceed for 6.5 kilometres, and the approach to the mountain is an unpaved lane on the right between two houses. There is parking for 3/4 cars at the metal barrier 1 kilometre up the lane.

Cross the barrier, and as you make your way uphill you can just make out the cross on top of the hill on your left, which is your eventual destination. After a few hundred metres, ignore a turn-off on the right, and pass through some evergreen trees interspersed with the odd mountain ash. The track rises and falls again, and 1.3 kilometres after the barrier you will pass a second turn-off to your right signposted with a "yellow man" sign. Again, ignore this, but note that this is where you will subsequently re-emerge onto the crushed-stone roadway, having descended the mountain.

The track then turns back on itself and descends sharply. Down below, and to your left, you catch your first glimpse of the town of Graiguenamanagh and the river Barrow, while on your right, over a walk-board, you will pass Freney's Well. The water here is chilled, pure and sweet, and this is your ideal opportunity to refresh your water bottle. Ahead are the Blackstairs Mountains and Mount Leinster while to the north-west  are  Coppanagh and Crohan hills.

A little later, you will arrive at a Y fork, the left path descending towards Graignamanagh and the right, marked by a carved "BW" sign ascending towards the hill. Your destination lies uphill. 

Continue on, noting the well-tended fields below on your left, until you arrive at another Y fork. Again the left fork leads back down toward the public road and Graignamanagh, and once again you will choose the right.

One kilometre later, the road having climbed steeply uphill, and shortly after passing through a broad cleared section, there is another Y fork, with the left branch leading downhill. This time you will take the left hand option which descends sharply. After 500 metres, arrive at  a clearing marked by a grey "yellow man" post, with the arrow pointing in the direction from which you have come. The path here lies to the right. at that part of the clearing furthest from the arrow.

This narrow, grassy, less-trodden track is a relief from the unrelenting greyness of the commercial path, and is softer underfoot. Here, as you plunge through the forest, blackberries abound in season, and though it may be slightly overgrown at times, the trail is always clearly visible. 

After a little while, the path enters a tunnel-like section of the evergreen woods, before immediately merging with another well-marked trail. We will now swing uphill and to the right, and we run parallel with  an old moss-covered stone wall through this magical part of the woods. Here, the trail is soft underfoot with leaf-mould, and attention is diverted by the numerous mushrooms, toadstools and assorted fungi which abound in season. This track eventually re-emerges onto the harsher crushed-stone roadway, where you will turn left, uphill.

As you emerge from the woods, it may be time to think of lunch. You have passed the half-way point, and there is little shelter available from this point onwards.

Continue on the trail, noting a turn-off to your left through a cleared area, before picking up a mountain path (marked by a series of arrows) to your right. The is the beginning of the mountain ascent. The stony path passes through a stand of eucalyptus trees on the left and cleared ground on the right, as we see the summit of Brandon Hill gradually revealing itself.

A concrete stile leads over the barbed-wire fence, and we turn right, uphill, along an eroded track, before following the arrows to the left and upwards onto the open mountain. This path, through purple heather and yellow gorse, is marked by some reassuringly-placed posts and leads directly to the summit.

On a clear day, the panoramic, 360 degree view from 515 metres above sea-level is breathtaking. A circular stone table points out the direction of the Saltee Islands, Slieve Colltia, the Slieveardagh Hills and other notable landmarks, while the summit itself is marked with a cairn and a trig point. Also, an ugly grey concrete shelter provides some shelter from the elements, while a looming rusted cross glowers over the valley below.

The trail continues to the left of the cross and descends steeply along a rough stony path which may be wet and slippery at times. At a T-junction marked by a purple arrow, turn right, keeping the hill on your right. This leads towards another T-junction, where you will cross the green metal stile leading to the left and downhill. After 100 metres, follow the arrows to the left, before immediately swinging right, onto a stone roadway. Turn left. through a wide clearing, and continue straight ahead, noting the spring-blooming rhododendrons on your left, to rejoin the main crushed-stone roadway. Turn left, uphill, against the direction of the yellow arrow, and return to your starting point.

Three facts concerning Brandon Hill:
 

>>>   Brandon Hill, at 515 metres, is the highest point in County Kilkenny and is the 423rd highest mountain in the country. The vertical distance between the highest point in County Kilkenny, and the lowest, (Dunmore Cave)is 561 metres.

 

>>>  The slopes of Brandon Hill have been settled for about 4000 years, as evidenced by the cairn at the top, and there are a number of neolithic sites located locally which were used for animal, and possibly human, sacrifice.

 

>>>  Freney's Well is named for the 18th century highwayman James Freney, who once used Brandon Hill as a refuge. He is said to have placed the shoes backwards on his horse, Beefstakes, to confuse his pursuers. His treasure was never located and is believed to be buried on Brandon Hill.