Knocknadobar (Cnoc na dTobar) is a pilgrim path located approximately 5km from the town of Cahersiveen in Co. Kerry. It has long been a pilgrim site and in ancient times was the site of such festivals as Lughnasa. In 1885, Canon Brosnan, parish priest of Cahersiveen decided to put 14 stations of the cross on the mountain, finishing with a giant altar at the peak. It is now considered an important pilgrim path along with Croagh Patrick and Mt Brandon.

The facts ;

690mts, 8km and takes between 3-6 hours to complete.

Parking;

There is a small car park at the door of the mountain. It has an honesty box and costs €3.

What do I need?

Snacks, loads of them , walking boots (proper ones as it’s muddy), rain jacket, hat, water.

The walk follows the well decorated stations all the way to the top. The views are delightful on the way up.

The first few crosses are close together and after that there are way markers to point the direction. They look like they were done in a fit though. There are loads where we didn’t need them and hardly any when we did!

This was obviously taken at the start.

The walk gets tougher and tougher the higher you go and I think it was the boredom. Apart from the crosses to keep you going, it’s a fairly boring walk. By cross number 9, I almost wanted to go back but I wouldn’t let the crosses win so I stayed going. I was glad I did because cross number 11 gave us the BEST views!!

On the inside I was DYING but look at that view!

From 11, it is a fairly straightforward push to the summit. The ground gets very uneven so you have to exercise a lot of caution. It got really foggy at the top so the photos weren’t great.

The gang.

It took us 5 hours before we were back at the car. This was mostly because a) we needed 10,000 photos and selfies and b) we took a rest at EVERY cross. Literally all of them.

I won’t be rushing back to do this but it definitely has to be on your to do list.

*Before the PC brigade get on to me, I did this long before Level 3