Featured Hike – Knocknahillion and Letterbreckaun – Maumturks

The Maumturks lie to the east of the 12 Bens, on the far side of Lough Inagh, in Connemara. Like the Bens they are made from tough quartzite rock that weathers to a pale hard gravel and which holds very little vegetation on the upper slopes where soils are very thin or non-existent. Like the Bens, the Maumturks are rocky and steep sided, giving them a rugged mountain feel that belies their relatively modest stature, the highest point being Barrslievenaroy at 702 metres. Their closeness to the Atlantic makes these mountains a tough proposition in bad weather.