Qualla: Cuilcagh https://qualla.com/cuilcagh en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:12 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/d/k/cuilcagh-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Cuilcagh https://qualla.com/cuilcagh Cuilcagh: Introduction https://qualla.com/cuilcagh/ Photo credit Oliver Gargan, CC BY 4.0. Six hundred and sixty-six metres. The summit of Cuilcagh tops out at exactly that height, a digit-of-the-beast figure for a mountain that holds an unusual distinction: it is Ireland's only cross-border county top. Cuilcagh is the highest point in both County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland and County Cavan in the Republic of Ireland, with the international frontier running across its ridge. Water from its southern slope sinks underground and emerges miles away at the Shannon Pot, the traditional source of Ireland's longest river. Water from its northern slope vanishes into swallow holes named Cats Hole, Pollawaddy, Pollasumera and Polliniska, then resurfaces as part of the famous Marble Arch cave system. Cuilcagh is, in other words, less a mountain than a hydrological hub for two entire river systems.

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Image: Oliver Gargan | CC BY 4.0

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/d/k/cuilcagh-wp/gcdk-cuilcagh-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Cuilcagh: Chalk or Calcite? https://qualla.com/cuilcagh/ Photo credit Gerd Eichmann, CC BY-SA 4.0. The name comes from the Irish word Cuilceach, traditionally translated as 'chalky.' The mountain is mostly sandstone and shale, covered with bog and heather, so 'chalky' looks misleading on first inspection. But the cliff-edged summit is formed of the hard-wearing Lackagh Sandsto...

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Image: Gerd Eichmann | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/d/k/cuilcagh-wp/gcdk-cuilcagh-chalk-or-calcite.mp3 0:06 2 full Cuilcagh: Bog of International Importance https://qualla.com/cuilcagh/ Photo credit Oliver Gargan, CC BY-SA 4.0. The Cuilcagh Mountain Park was opened by Fermanagh District Council in 1998. In 2001 it joined with the popular Marble Arch Caves and the Cladagh Glen Nature Reserve to form one of the first UNESCO-recognised European Geoparks. The Cuilcagh Mountain Ramsar site, designated under ...

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Image: Oliver Gargan | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/d/k/cuilcagh-wp/gcdk-cuilcagh-bog-of-international-importance.mp3 0:06 3 full Cuilcagh: The Stairway to Heaven https://qualla.com/cuilcagh/ Photo credit Nzeemin, CC BY-SA 3.0. Then a boardwalk happened, and everything changed. Starting from the Legnabrocky Car Park, a trail over six kilometres long runs to the mountain's upper reaches. The first five kilometres climb gently on a wide gravel track. The final kilometre is the now-famous part: 450 wooden ...

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Image: Nzeemin | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/d/k/cuilcagh-wp/gcdk-cuilcagh-the-stairway-to-heaven.mp3 0:06 4 full Cuilcagh: Two Rivers, One Mountain https://qualla.com/cuilcagh/ Photo credit Rosemary Nelson, CC BY-SA 2.0. What makes Cuilcagh genuinely unique is how its waters split between two destinations. Streams on the southern slope sink into the limestone, travel underground for miles, and emerge at Shannon Pot in County Cavan, the traditional source of the River Shannon, which then flows 360...

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Image: Rosemary Nelson | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/d/k/cuilcagh-wp/gcdk-cuilcagh-two-rivers-one-mountain.mp3 0:06 5 full Cuilcagh: Border on the Bog https://qualla.com/cuilcagh/ Photo credit Gareth Buchanan, CC BY-SA 2.0. Walking the boardwalk on a clear day you can see Benaughlin to the north, the rest of the Fermanagh hills stretching east, and on a really clear day the distant Atlantic to the west. The international border runs invisibly across the upper slope. Cross it on the boardwalk and you...

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Image: Gareth Buchanan | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/d/k/cuilcagh-wp/gcdk-cuilcagh-border-on-the-bog.mp3 0:06 6 full