Cappanawalla

Rising steeply above the coastal village of Gleninagh, this characteristic Burren peak offers a quintessential experience of the region's terraced limestone pavement. The climb reveals a stark, grey landscape that belies its botanical richness, rewarding walkers with a dramatic vantage point over the turquoise waters of Galway Bay and the distant Connemara peaks.

• •The name is derived from the Irish Ceapa na bhFála, which translates as 'the tillage-plot of the walls'. It is a fitting description for a landscape where every available acre of soil is enclosed by the painstaking dry-stone masonry characteristic of the Burren.
• •On the northern slopes lies a significant stone ringfort, or cashel, known as Cappanawalla Fort. This early medieval defensive farmstead was strategically positioned to monitor the coastal passes and the entrance to the Ballyvaughan valley.
• •The summit offers a clear, earned view across the Atlantic to the jagged grey silhouettes of the Twelve Bens in Connemara, while closer to hand, the lighthouse at Black Head is visible to the west.
• •Despite its barren appearance, the deep grykes (fissures) in the limestone pavement create a unique microclimate that shelters rare flora, including the spring gentian and mountain avens, which thrive in the calcium-rich environment.
• •Given the name translates to 'tillage-plot of the walls', one can only admire the stubborn optimism of the original settlers who looked at this solid block of limestone and decided it was the ideal place for a farm.