Our adventures in the great outdoors.
Dad told us that Dublin University Orienteers had a course set up for Sunday in Trinity College Dublin so we all got the DART into town on a nice sunny morning. Continue reading “Orienteering in Trinity College Dublin”
We were in Marlay Park for some fun in the playground when Dad pointed out Three Rock mountain behind us in the clouds.
We had seen it before from our other hikes but didn’t realise it was this close to Marlay. So after a bit of lunch in Taylor’s we drove up to the carpark to have a look around.
The weather had changed and the cloud was moving away so we decided to go for a ‘little’ walk. Of course when Dad said there was a Fairy Castle we had to go and explore it!!
We left the carpark [P] where Dad looked longingly at all the mountain bikers setting off and walked up the trail (yellow with red dots) as far as Three Rock where we could look down onto Dublin City.
From the bottom of the masts we turned and walked up the rough trail (black with brown dots) to the Fairy Castle at 536m which is a rock cairn. There is a trig point which Dad explained to us pointing out the peaks around us and identifying the Wicklow Way trail leading south.
We walked onto the Wicklow Way trail and turned right to wind back down through the woods to the carpark again. There had been a fire so all the gorse was burnt off and the smell was horrible!
We forgot the GPS but it was a nice walk, maybe 5 or 6km and 1.5 hours of fresh air.
A nice crisp January morning and we were all set to go for a hike. We wanted to do the Little Sugar Loaf before doing the Big Sugar Loaf but Dad explained that the Little on is on private land belonging to an estate so we couldn’t.
Big Sugar Loaf it is!
You get to the bottom of the hill by driving up from Kilmacanogue in Co. Wicklow towards Roundwood and then turning left onto a little road to a carpark.
We changed our shoes and put our spare clothes in Dad’s backpack. Ruaidhri had a backpack with his rain jacket and Pikachu inside.
The hike is not difficult. The trail is really wide and easily seen and it winds right to the top. There is a little bit of rough scrambling as you get to the very top where the sugar is but Dad was behind us all the way so we were safe.
Dad was explaining that the mountain was not a volcano because Ruaidhri was kinda nervous in case it exploded under us. He just said it was a very tough bit of rock that the wind and rain couldn’t break down.
Once we finished at the top and started down another route we had some fun sliding down the loose stone on the West face of the hill.
We were pretty disgusted by the amount of litter that people were bringing on their walks and leaving behind them and we did our best to clean up some of the rubbish…
… but some of the ‘ornaments’ we just had to leave uncollected..
Sugar Loaf Information from Wikipedia:
| Elevation | 501 m (1,644 ft)â[1] |
|---|---|
| Prominence | 216 m (709 ft)â[1] |
| Listing | Marilyn |
| Coordinates | 53°9â˛18âłN 6°9â˛0âłW |
Saturday morning was nice so Dad suggested we go for a hike on Bray Head.
We have been looking out at Bray from our other hikes so this was going to be our next.
We parked the car on the seafront and walked along the prom to the bottom of the hill. Walking up the ramp, Ruaidhri always wants to climb up the side onto the grass, we met at the gap in the wall.
The cliff walk goes one way but we turned right and up some steps. We hiked up through some trees and had a little hot chocolate break on a tree before going through burnt gorse to the cross.
Once you get to the cross the real Bray Head is south from there at what Dad calls a trig point.
He explained that it is used to figure out how tall other mountains are and showed us where the machine screws into the top.
We then walked over the hills and set off for Greystones. Looking over the edge we could see the railway line, the cliffs and the sea a long way down!! đ˛
Eventually after some ‘bushwhacking’ through gorse we got back on the cliff walk and into Greystones.
Dad jokes about having to hike back but we got the DART to Bray and walked to the car.
This is probably our longest hike so far at almost 3 hours but we had lots of fun and laughter.
