In following the New York Times article Europe in 9 Walks, I am promoting Dublin in 9 Walks, but as you will see, I will include areas a bit outside of the larger metropolitan area.
Today's walk: Great Sugarloaf in Wicklow or Ó Cualann also Beannach Mhór.
The Great Sugarloaf is an excellent short trip for all members of the family. The climb is just challenging enough to know that you've done something at the end of it, but not too difficult of a climb that you can't be spontaneous (particularly with the weather in mind) and decide to go at any time of the day.
Its bark is worse than its bite, as they say.
It is also perfect for adventure-hungry kids because it is a bit of a scramble to the top at the very end of the hike. I used my hands in many places to get up the steep rocky finale. Johnny got a real kick out of it.
The hill is only about a 20 minute drive from Blackrock on the N11. Specifically, the hill is located in the east of County Wicklow, south of Bray and to the north of Glen of the Downs Nature Reserve.
Once on the "dual carriageway" you can nearly see the iconic cone-shaped mountain with the white rockslides. Up close it really does look like it could be a pile of sugar.
Being Ireland with its serious (and refreshing) PR deficit, there were literally no signs pointing you toward the mountain and we were following only second or third-hand pieces of advice as to which road to take and simply taking it in faith that there was a little parking lot at its base.
I finally pulled over a farmer just to make sure we were on the right road.*
We knew we were at least close because the mountain is quite striking and seems to come up out of nowhere. There is both a "great" and a "little" sugar loaf, but to be honest, this one stands alone. I wasn't even sure until I asked someone where the little sugar loaf was (it turns out that it is the little mountain just to the south of Bray Head -- that climb we took a few weeks ago).
The mountain is 1,644 ft tall which, relative to the surrounding landscape qualifies it as a "Marilyn".**
Maggie had plans with a friend of her's from school to prepare baked goods for a little money-raising festival to be held at her school tomorrow so we took Johnny's friend Abby and headed down to the hill.
It was an absolutely gorgeous day and we were very excited to be out and about.
On a clear day here, from a perch dusted with snow and frost in colder climes (hence the name), you can see not only Dublin City and the Wicklow Mountains, but Dalkey, Howth, Ireland's Eye and Snowdonia in Wales.
Afterwards I recommend heading in to Greystones. There is a great beach there and a cute pub (packed as usual with half of the patrons watching a Premier League game and the other watching Leinster Rugby) called the Beach House Pub. Avoid the burgers and go for the chowder. Skip dessert and head up to Bray for some gelato.
*"Pulled over" is strong. It was a typical Irish road. That is to say, fit for one car at a time. So he was already pulled over just to let me through. I took the opportunity to ask for directions.
**From Wikipedia: "Some hillwalkers attempt to climb as many Marilyns as possible as a form of peak bagging. Some radio amateurs attempt to operate from the summit of every Marilyn.[4] As of the end of 2009, no one had climbed all the Marilyns in Great Britain; however, three people were only two short of completing them (because of the inaccessibility of the sea stacks on St Kilda and their protected status as part of the largest gannet nesting site in the world, maintained by the National Trust for Scotland). Two other people are only three short of completion."
Today's walk: Great Sugarloaf in Wicklow or Ó Cualann also Beannach Mhór.
The Great Sugarloaf is an excellent short trip for all members of the family. The climb is just challenging enough to know that you've done something at the end of it, but not too difficult of a climb that you can't be spontaneous (particularly with the weather in mind) and decide to go at any time of the day.
Its bark is worse than its bite, as they say.
It is also perfect for adventure-hungry kids because it is a bit of a scramble to the top at the very end of the hike. I used my hands in many places to get up the steep rocky finale. Johnny got a real kick out of it.
The hill is only about a 20 minute drive from Blackrock on the N11. Specifically, the hill is located in the east of County Wicklow, south of Bray and to the north of Glen of the Downs Nature Reserve.
Once on the "dual carriageway" you can nearly see the iconic cone-shaped mountain with the white rockslides. Up close it really does look like it could be a pile of sugar.
Being Ireland with its serious (and refreshing) PR deficit, there were literally no signs pointing you toward the mountain and we were following only second or third-hand pieces of advice as to which road to take and simply taking it in faith that there was a little parking lot at its base.
I finally pulled over a farmer just to make sure we were on the right road.*
We knew we were at least close because the mountain is quite striking and seems to come up out of nowhere. There is both a "great" and a "little" sugar loaf, but to be honest, this one stands alone. I wasn't even sure until I asked someone where the little sugar loaf was (it turns out that it is the little mountain just to the south of Bray Head -- that climb we took a few weeks ago).
The mountain is 1,644 ft tall which, relative to the surrounding landscape qualifies it as a "Marilyn".**
 |
| Location of Marilyns throughout Ireland and the UK. Note their abundance in Scotland. |
Maggie had plans with a friend of her's from school to prepare baked goods for a little money-raising festival to be held at her school tomorrow so we took Johnny's friend Abby and headed down to the hill.
It was an absolutely gorgeous day and we were very excited to be out and about.
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| Johnny and Abby at the carpark |
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| Our approach |
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| A view of the glens from our approach |
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| Abby holding up the loaf of sugar! |
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| Johnny holding up the loaf of sugar. |
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| Getting steeper |
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| And steeper yet |
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| A short apple break |
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| The sea and glen from midway |
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| Glen and sea |
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| A view of Dublin from midway on the backside |
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| The last scramble |
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| Glen of the Downs from the Great Sugar Loaf, Co. Wicklow |
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| Panoramic view from the "summit" of the Great Sugar Loaf |
On a clear day here, from a perch dusted with snow and frost in colder climes (hence the name), you can see not only Dublin City and the Wicklow Mountains, but Dalkey, Howth, Ireland's Eye and Snowdonia in Wales.
Afterwards I recommend heading in to Greystones. There is a great beach there and a cute pub (packed as usual with half of the patrons watching a Premier League game and the other watching Leinster Rugby) called the Beach House Pub. Avoid the burgers and go for the chowder. Skip dessert and head up to Bray for some gelato.
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| Skipping stones at Greystones Pier |
*"Pulled over" is strong. It was a typical Irish road. That is to say, fit for one car at a time. So he was already pulled over just to let me through. I took the opportunity to ask for directions.
**From Wikipedia: "Some hillwalkers attempt to climb as many Marilyns as possible as a form of peak bagging. Some radio amateurs attempt to operate from the summit of every Marilyn.[4] As of the end of 2009, no one had climbed all the Marilyns in Great Britain; however, three people were only two short of completing them (because of the inaccessibility of the sea stacks on St Kilda and their protected status as part of the largest gannet nesting site in the world, maintained by the National Trust for Scotland). Two other people are only three short of completion."
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