Park in the car park at S231996 A just on the county bounds, room for 10 cars. Drop down a short grassy slope on from the carparks east side, cross a stream and up a boggy, mud track to the summit. The top is marked by a OS trig point at ground level and a small cairn. The road up from the Mountrath side has a very good surface however the road down the western side is rutted and collapsed in sections. Linkback: https://new.mountainviews.ie/summit/399/comment/5158/

Part one

Sliabh Bloom is half of God’s round lap in my own county of Laois, the other half stretching into my neighbours, Co. Offaly. I am inclined to believe, like the poet Patrick Kavanagh that my God is surely feminine as this lap is large, round and accepting as mothers laps should be. One can hop on from many points all almost within half-hours drive or less from Mountrath, Portlaoise and Ballyfin, that is, from the Laois aspect. Mountainviews would probably consider these mountains bumps, at only 440m to Stony Man on top of Ridge of Capard, or at The Cut.
Arderin, (height of Ireland) is a mighty 527m in comparison. I have sadly never completed the entire Slieve Bloom Way, 43 miles in total. Have done as you would eat an elephant, little bits at a time. What you see here is heather glens and ridges, conifer forests, ford rivers and birch woodland. What is particular up here is the extent of the views away from the hills, when very high. I think this is because the midlands have such a flat basin generally that there is no competition to impede the far horizon and but for the limitations of sight when the skies are clear, I feel I could see forever.

Two falls up here, Clamp Hole Waterfall and White Horse Falls. More Glens than you can shake a stick at, Glendelour gleann deileabha,(Valley of the two forked river) Glendine gleann doimhin (Deep Valley), Glenamoon gleann na móna or Mumhan,(Valley of the bog), Glenbordowin gleann bórd abhainn ( Valley of the River Bank), Glenconra gleann cuan, cónra or con, (Valley of the hollow, coffin or hounds, edges a bit fuzzy on this one), Glenall, gleann aille ( Valley of the cliff), Glenkitt, gleann ceath valley of the showers or mists, Glenafelly, gleann……, open to interpretation this one too, could be valley of treachery, Glenkeen, gleann caoin, pleasant valley, Glenlahan, gleann leathen (The broad valley) and Glenbarrow, gleann beiriú, the boiling valley, to name just a few. If the place needed a blanket name methinks Sliabhnaglen, Mountain of valleys, might be apt.

More in part 2. Linkback: https://new.mountainviews.ie/summit/399/comment/2449/

I wanted to get this summit out of the way and as the road through the Glendine Gap was covered in ice the last time i tried, this time i decided to track it from the Camross side. On the morning of the 28th January i parked the car at S241967 B and made my way to the summit from here. The views behind me towards East were fabulous on the way up and as it was a perfect day the views from the summit were also splendid. It takes about 50 mins to reach the summit from this side but its an enjoyable walk. There's a farm track for about a third of the way but after this the ground becomes very heavy as you're walking across bog. Linkback: https://new.mountainviews.ie/summit/399/comment/3550/

Quoted in Bladhma (TP Joyces 1995 guide to the Slieve Blooms) J. Baldwin reported in 1819 that "The view from the Heights of Ireland comprises 15 counties, and is perhaps the most extensive and richest in Ireland"
When I visited it with a Slieve Blooms cognoscenti on a wet November day the view was limited to around 20m and included what looks like the remains of an amateur TV re-transmitter.
It was an easy walk from a car park at S231996 A, across a stream and up a boggy track to the summit. We knew for sure we had reached the top because of an OS marker there, otherwise this would not have been very certain.
Incidentally the easiest way to reach this carpark is from Glendine to the East along a surprisingly twisty road which was only completed in 1994.
The photo shows the summit. Linkback: https://new.mountainviews.ie/summit/399/comment/219/