Background
"O the town it climbs the mountain and looks upon the sea" is the first line of a poem and song about Cahersiveen. It recalls the life of the author's boyhood friends starting from when they were young children through to the Black and Tan period, the civil war and finally to emigration to England and America. Later set to music, the song has been recorded by numerous traditional and folk singers including Christy Moore and Tim Dennehy and has become the unofficial 'National Anthem' of South Kerry.
To find the cache, you need to gather some information about the poet and the song. Google is your friend!
Your tasks
1) Who wrote the poem? He grew up in Cahersiveen but was not born here. In which town was he born? Number of letters of that town = A.
2) The song is about a street in Cahersiveen which is mentioned at the end of each verse. The street name is given in Irish, but what is it's English name? You can check and confirm the street name in both Irish and English when driving or walking to the parking area/trailhead (P1) from Cahersiveen town. Number of letters in English street name, without counting 'street' = B
Example: if the street name was 'Church Street', we are looking for 'Church' and B would be 6.
Final Coordinates
The cache is hidden at N51 56.(A/2)78 W010 13.(B-2)56
The walk and cache
We recommend that you start your visit at Killavarnogue cemetery just outside Cahersiveen at the published coordinates where you will find the grave of the poet with a nice view of the area and the mountain you will climb. You can also get our other cache 'Over the Water: Barracks view - GC3JR3B' while you are there.
For the actual walk, there are three options:
- Fastest: Park at the coordinates given outside of town (P1), but beware of the very narrow road. From there to the cache and back should take no more than 1 hour for an average fit person. Please stay on the signposted walking route.
- Medium: Park in Cahersiveen behind the Market House (coordinates given: P2). From there walk through the town and along the road that is mentioned in the song towards parking P1 and enjoy the views along the way. Return the same way.
- Long. Park in Cahersiveen behind the Market house (P2) and follow the complete Beentee Loop walk. According to the information board, this should take 3 - 4 hours and is graded as 'hard'. The cache will be in the second half of that walk, coming down the mountain. Terrain rating for this longer option will be increased to 3.5.