If I am not mistaken Slievebawn means White Mountain and it is easy to see where the name comes from as you walk up to the cairn.
Firstly, the route is studded with large pieces of quartz and metal bearing rock that shines at you in the sunshine - it actually made my eyes hurt it was that bright.
Secondly, just passed the cairn is an enormous solid quartz outcrop that also shines forth.
The cairn itself is very poor and not really worth a visit. This does not mean that you should come here though. The views are fantastic and the quartz outcrop is beautiful.
Someone has tried to find peace here by laying out a CND sign in stones.
Directions to this place are fairly cumbersome and so I will recommend that you get the OS map to help you. Park near the Nine Stones and walk up the hill.
This is an explanation of (and a bit of a disclaimer for) the coordinates I provide. Where a GPS figure is given this is the master for all other coordinates. According to my Garmin these are quite accurate. Where there is no GPS figure the 6 figure grid reference is master for the others. This may not be very accurate as it could have come from the OS maps and could have been read by eye. Consequently, all other cordinates are going to have inaccuracies. The calculation of Longitude and Latitude uses an algorithm that is not 100% accurate. The long/lat figures are used as a basis for calculating the UTM & ITM coordinates. Consequently, UTM & ITM coordinates are slightly out. UTM is a global coordinate system - Universal Transverse Mercator - that is at the core of the GPS system. ITM is the new coordinate system - Irish Transverse Mercator - that is more accurate and more GPS friendly than the Irish Grid Reference system. This will be used on the next generation of Irish OS maps. |