Cuilcagh Cavan and Fermanagh Stairway to heaven hike

Cuilcagh mountain is the highest point in the counties of Fermanagh and Cavan. The mountain sits at an elevation of 665m. In recent years Cuilcagh mountain has become a very popular walking route with the addition of a new boardwalk, which leads very close to the top of the Cuilcagh mountain summit.

This mountain is one of the few mountains that we have hiked twice. We originally decided to try and reach this county high point summit in November last year for Ourlittlehikers first birthday. At this stage, we had probably hiked all the easy county high points and we were trying to progress to the higher stuff but in gradual increments, which would allow us to increase our confidence with a 12-month-old baby on our backs.

When we originally arrived at the boardwalk / the marble arch caves side of the mountain, we were greeted with a very foggy and damp day. We didn’t let this discourage us and loaded Ourlittlehiker on our back and put on our wet hiking gear. We were hoping that the sun would break through the clouds and clear the fog.

The hike up the boardwalk was very enjoyable and as it was midweek we didn’t meet many other people. We’d imagine walking on a tight boardwalk with a wide baby carrier on your back would be very tight on this timber structure.

We eventually reached the top of the boardwalk and the fog had become even denser if that was possible. We knew we were within touching distance of the top but we just couldn’t take that chance with a baby on our back and such large cliffs all around the summit. We turned around without summiting Cavan and Fermanagh’s highest mountain but we really enjoyed the hike on this boardwalk hike which gathers such large crowds to see the stairway to heaven.

Attempt 2 to hike Cuilcagh Cavan and Fermanagh’s highest mountain

After hiking to the top of the stairway to Heaven on Cuilcagh Cavan, we started to concentrate on all our local county high points. We classed all the CHP hikes within 2-3 hours as driveable (with a baby) and concentrated on ticking these off the list on free weekends. This was honestly an enjoyable time for all of us and we really loved making these amazing memories.

On one of our many bank holiday adventures, we decided that we were going to hike 3 County high points in the one day. Obviously, the county high points were going to be reasonably low. So we set off at 5 am and hiked Longford and Roscommon’s highest points. We then drove to Cuilcagh Cavan and Fermanagh highest point. This time we decide to hike the mountain from the other side. We didn’t want to hike the Cuilcagh stairway to heaven boardwalk again because we knew there would be massive crowds and we wouldn’t enjoy it because of that.

We parked the car at the end of a wooded forest road with a yellow barrier. It was now 2 pm in the day and Ourlittlehiker was getting restless. If she wasn’t in her car seat she was in her hiking bag and she wanted to walk herself, so we let her. This was the first time that she ever looked to walk in the mountains. We let her walk the first section through the wooded area, a section that would usually take us 20 minutes probably took us over 1 hour this time but we were loving her excitement. Everything was new to her, she was running and pointing at Bees, flowers, grass and puddles. It was like she was up in her bag looking at all this nature and beauty and was dying to get down and explore.

We eventually reached the end of the wood road which zigzagged up to the TV mast, just below the top of a steep hill. From here, we had to follow a wire fence up the hill to reach the top. When we reached the top, we could see the summit of Cuilcagh Cavan and Fermanagh high point. According to the OS map, we only had over 100 vertical meters left to the summit but we had to walk 3-4 km to reach it. There is a trail along this mountain but it cuts very close to the cliff edges, we chose to stay inland a bit more because Ourlittlehikers bag acts like a sail sometimes and we were afraid that it could be caught with a random wind gust.

This county high point was proving to be a real adventure, the route to the top cuts in through peat bogs, down through gorges and up along a very steep cliff, we were loving it. Obviously, there was loads of sheep and Ourlittlehiker was pointing out every one of them to us.

From this side of Cuilcagh, the mountain is shaped like a semi-circle or horseshoe and we were walking around the top edge to reach the summit. Just as we reached the last section we had to climb a steep slope to reach the top section, this is where the Cairn rests. When we reached the top of the steep slope, we could eventually see the Cairn. We walked over to the Cairn, which rests on a large pile of stones on the opposite side of the Cuilcagh Cavan mountain top.

We expected to see large crowds of people up here because of the stairway to heaven boardwalk but we quickly realised that most people don’t know that Cuilcagh is Cavan and Fermanagh amazing county high point after the end of the boardwalk. We only met 2 other couples at the top of the mountain. The views from the top of this mountain are pretty amazing, we were loving all the heather and cliff views.

At the top of Cuilacagh Cavan and Fermanagh high point, Ourlittlehiker was trying to get out of the hiking back, she was trying to stand up and take her arms out of the straps. We think that she had got a taste for walking and exploring for herself and wanted more. Unfortunately, the top of a mountain is not a place for a toddler to walk on their own so we re-adjusted her straps to keep her safe in her bag. She eventually saw the funny side of it after a small tantrum.

We traced our trail back toward the car but we became very tired, as at this stage we were all hiking most of the day. Ourlittlehiker fell asleep just as we left the summit and her Mammy and Daddy accelerated pretty quickly to get to the bottom before she woke up. Like all descents on the mountains, we made excellent time but going downhill is really hard on the knees especially with a snoring baby on our backs. We think we have perfected the art of swapping the bag between each other while she is sleeping without waking her up.

When we reached the car we all had a very quick picnic and we started our 3-hour drive home. Tomorrow’s work will not be the most productive but it was all worth it.

What an amazing day, we climbed 3 mountains and ticked 4 county high points off our list.