TOWNLAND TALES: One Lug or two?

I joined Tom and Wendy from Westport Hillwalkers recently on a hike that commenced in the townland of Aillebaun, An Aill Bhán, ‘The White Cliff’, located just off the N59 road to Leenane, up the hill to the left after Erriff Bridge.
This location is unique in that it contains one of our few remaining native Irish oak woods. This is also sheep-farming land in private ownership, and I should stress at the outset that anyone venturing into the hills from this point needs to obtain the permission of the landowners. Also, be extremely mindful of fences and remember that no dogs are permitted in the area. Enjoy the beauty of the native oak wood and the stream from Luga Buidhe, ‘Yellow Hollow’, that feeds the Owenmore River, and observe the Leave No Trace principles – ‘Take nothing but photographs, leave nothing but footprints’.

Curiosities
We slowly made our way up along the bank of the ever-deepening stream, into the first of the three ‘lugs’, or hollows, that are gouged out of the northwestern face of the Partry Mountains.
Luga Buidhe is the first coum or hollow, and this also marks the highpoint of the plateau, at 544 metres. However, once the contour lines eased, we swung left onto Aillebaun Hill, topping out at 509 metres. In this way, we were now on the crest of the white cliff that gives the townland its name and simultaneously marks the start of the majestic semi-circular wall of cliffs surrounding the corrie lake of Lough Glenawough, far below. I have written about this ‘Lake of the Glen of the Spirits (or Phantoms)’ before on this page.
Turning due south along the rim of the corrie, one encounters two steep-sided gullies dropping off to the left into the coum. It is best to maintain a bearing to the right of these and if there is good visibility, head towards an obvious conical cairn that marks the highest point of Luga Buidhe.
It is curious that this 544-metre highpoint does not possess a proper name other than the name of the hollow or coum it overlooks, ie, ‘Luga Buidhe’. It is also unusual that the more common word for ‘yellow’ in Irish, ‘buí’, is in this rather elongated version of ‘buidhe’. Such are the vagaries of Irish placenames. It is possible that because further south there is a higher peak called Binn Bhuí (682 metres) in the Mámtrasna range, having two of the same name would be confusing. The Partry Mountains and Maumtrasna were once named together as the Formnamore (‘High Shoulder’) Mountain Range, but this name has fallen into disuse.
As an extra to our planned walk, we made a collective decision to veer left at this point along the southern rim of Glenawough corrie, a detour of some 1.75 kilometres, in order to have our lunch at ‘Beal Atha na Croise’, ‘Edge of the Cross’, a tiny col where a memorial cairn and plaque commemorates ‘the man who died here during the famine years’.

Seldom seen
After our lunch in the sunshine, with lovely views over Barr na hAbhna (Top of the River) to Lough Mask and Lough Corrib, we retraced our steps across the plateau and found ourselves looking into the second ‘lug’ – ‘Luga Gowlan’ – ‘Hollow of the Fork’, probably so called because of the two spurs that project into it from where we stood.
Our intended route was going to take us down the ridge or spur that divided the two Lugs, favouring the left side initially with splendid views across the Erriff River valley into Tawnyard Lough and the mountains beyond. Once we had negotiated the small rocky outcrops, and descended sufficiently, we veered right into Aillebaun once more and made our way back to the edge of the magnificent native oak wood that dominates the landscape around Erriff Bridge.
Lough Glenawough featured before in this series, in the heady days of September 2021. Nonetheless, I hope you have enjoyed reading this short reprise, with the addition of Aillebaun and the two Lugs for good measure, as much as I enjoyed walking there and taking some new pictures in the good company of the ‘weekday branch’ of Westport Hillwalkers!
Topographically, this is a truly unique part of Mayo, seldom visited, apart from anglers who fish mountain lakes, sheep farmers and hillwalkers like ourselves who hold a deep respect for the uplands. Lough Glenawough is one of the finest corrie lakes in Ireland.