Dúchruach

Pictured here is the rocky wild summit of Dúchruach with two of it’s several locháns.  It lies less than three kilometres as the crow flies from the well known Diamond Hill in Connemara. But the contrast could not be greater, whereas hundreds of people will file daily in summer along the constructed paths over Diamond Hill, Dúchruach would barely see more than a few souls in a week, if at all.

The reason lies somewhat in the name Dúchruach, where ‘dú’ is a form of black or dark and ‘cruach’ is a stack or peak. Literally the ‘dark peak’ but ‘dú’ here really means rough, wild, bad ground, little grazing for animals etc. This hill may only be a bit over 500 metres in height but it’s littered with crags and rock. It’s a challenge for anyone hillwalking to pick their way up and down around the various obstacles.

Both Dúchruach and Diamond Hill are mapped in good detail on our Connemara Mountains map at 1:25,000 scale.

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