Lughnaquilla

wheres me jumpa

Guys,

Went up Mt. Leinster last week and we are thinking of walking a few more mountains. Would it be too tough for two novices to go straight for Lugnaquilla? ie is it a climb or a hike to the summit?

Any tips for two guys will to go give hillwalking a decent effort?

fergalr

ie is it a climb or a hike to the summit?

You don't need ropes and rock climbing skills to get to the summit, if I have understood your question correctly. There are multiple approaches you could walk up, without any scrambling.

It shouldn't be taken lightly though - from what I hear it can be a bit tricky in bad conditions. It can be windy and cold, as it's exposed and fairly high.
If it gets foggy, there's potential for navigational errors, and dangerous consequences if you came down the wrong way.

I imagine in good weather it would be straightforward to do, but it's always deserving of respect.
If you are novices, or in doubt of your abilities, it might be better to leave it for when you've a bit more experience.
Perhaps try get someone more experienced to go with you, or to do a mountain skills or navigation course, or work up to it from smaller hills?

Evil Phil

Djouce would be a easy enough walk for novices. Great time of year for it too.

wheres me jumpa

I wouldnt dream of doing it in bad conditions. Weather permitting I might give it a go this week. Ill have a search for the easiest route, is it named? Thanks for the replies.

Alun

Bear in mind that the summit of Lugnaquillia is at 925m. According to the weather forecast here http://www.computersupport.ie/weather/latest.html the lowest cloud level on Friday is 750m. In other words, even on the nicest of days down at 100-200m or so, the top of Lug can still be in cloud, and as others have said, there are dangers (i.e. falling off a steep cliff down one of the Prisons) when navigating down from the summit in bad visibility if you don't know what you're doing.

It's a deceptive mountain as the normal ascents are pretty easy, and the top is quite a gentle grassy plateau, but believe me in bad weather it can bite

TBH, I agree with the others that if I were you I'd stick with Djouce until you're confident about navigation and compass use.

I'll be doing the circuit of the Glen of Imaal from Fenton's on Saturday, taking in Lug and Camenabologue, so I'll let you know what it was like

hmmm

Lug like others say has its dangers but it's easily walkable. The navigation from the top is amongst the most difficult in Wicklow in bad weather (I think) as you have to dogleg off to avoid falling down a cliff.

What I'd recommend is you go into Easons and buy a book on walking in Wicklow, there's quite a few. Then sit down the night before and plan out a route on a map.

A nice short circular route which is relatively easy to navigate is up the Spink in Glendalough, around to Mullacor and back down the Derrybawn ridge. Similarly you could go up the other side of the Glendalough valley. Glenmalure car park up table track gives you a number of options. Djouce has been mentioned. Glen of Imaal offers plenty of semi circular routes. Blackstairs mountain itself could be done and along the spine of the Blackstairs - although you have to find a way back to your cars. On Djouce you can up the well tracked main path, circle to the left and down a boardwalk before branching off even more to the left (basically wrapping around Djouce) for an easy walk.

Another thing you could think of doing is sections of the Wicklow way which are quite well signposted.

wheres me jumpa

Excellent guys , thanks for the replies. Ill try pick up a book and maybe just get used to the Wicklow area first before eventually tackling the Lug. Im only over in Carlow so not too far away.

fergalr

Excellent guys , thanks for the replies. Ill try pick up a book and maybe just get used to the Wicklow area first before eventually tackling the Lug. Im only over in Carlow so not too far away.

If you havn't already, you should pick up a copy of the OS discovery series map of where you'll be walking, and a compass (I recommend a cheap silva model, costs around a tenner and sold in the great outdoors).

When go walking in the future, even on straightfoward routes that you know, you could practice navigation by map and compass.

The basics are straightfoward, and just a matter of practice and a few basic techniques to get started.
Maybe pick up a book which has some information on them. Something like "Mountaincraft and Leadership" by Eric Langmuir is a good book on general mountain safety and skills, it's readable and has got lots of common sense advice on generally being in the mountains. The BMC also have a hillwalking book which is pretty good.

Doing a little bit of navigation practice each time you go walking in good conditions, is a good start to learning navigation, and to eventually being able to remain confident and navigate yourself home if you ever get caught out by the weather, if cloud or fog comes down.

Again, I'd recommend reading a book for a list of sensible things to do - simple things you mightn't otherwise think of, like to make sure someone knows your route, and when to expect you back, carrying a light survival bag in case someone gets injured, dealing with the cold etc.

fergalr

Previous thread on lug here, there's a photo I put on it that shows what the poor visibility can be like, so you know we aren't having you on.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054859074

Alun

Echo all of the above, plus an excellent book on navigation is "Mountain Navigation" by Peter Cliff (ISBN 1-871890-55-1), also available in the Great Outdoors.

EDIT: Forgot to add ... if and when you do go up Lug, depending on your route up and down, the OSi sheet 56 is a bit awkward as Lug is tucked down in the bottom left hand corner, and some of the access routes from the west aren't fully on it. If you go to the Army Information Office just down from Fenton's pub (GR S 972 935) they'll give you a handy sized free map that just covers that area, and that clearly shows the recommended routes up from there that skirt around the Glen of Imaal Artillery range. You still can't go up that way when they're firing though

wheres me jumpa

Again thanks for the replies.

Alun wrote:

I'll be doing the circuit of the Glen of Imaal from Fenton's on Saturday, taking in Lug and Camenabologue, so I'll let you know what it was like

HOwd it go?

Alun

wheres me jumpa wrote:

Howd it go?

Grand! The weather was glorious, despite a brief shower just as we left Bray. By the time we got over to Fenton's an hour later it had cleared, and the only snag was that every man and his dog had decided to go up Lug that day, including a massive group of 30-40 that turned out to be from various youth GAA clubs in the area who were planning, would you believe it, a football match on top of Lug ... complete with portable goalposts!!! Never seen anything so funny in all my life, although it's lucky the weather held up, because most of the young boys and girls wer woefully unprepared if it had rained. It was damn windy on top too which made the whole spectacle even more funny!

The rest of the walk along the ridge towards Camenabologue and back down was much more peaceful though, and good time was had by all. About 19.5km in all, according to my GPS.

larryone

I grew up beside lug, on the Glen of Imaal side. If you go into the army info and advice centre (next building down from fentons pub, it's an old schoolhouse) then they will provide you with a OSI map of the area, with the safe walking routes marked in. The route up lug from the Glen of Imaal side goes through military land (the edge of the artiliary range) so they are required to provide maps to whoever asks. it'd not a difficult hike for a novice, but as has been said above - beware of bad weather. the Imaal Mountain Rescue Team had to rescue Charlie Bird from Lug a few years back =0) It can be dangerous in ****ty weather because of the prisons. The north prison is actually part of the artiliary range. There are a few wooden markers with arrows along the walk route from the Imaal side.

wheres me jumpa

Sorry I have got back to you guys. Waiting for the good weather to return before taking this on. Not looking good for this weekend either.

wheres me jumpa

Finally got up the Lug today.

It was fantastic. Took the Camara Hill route from Fentons pub. Just over two hours to get to top of the Lug. The views up there were amazing. Very busy up there too.

I can really see the dangers of the Lug. Its amazing how no track has been made on the flat top.

Thanks for all the help it was a great day and would have been lost without the advice.

Andy-Pandy

All hail the mighty Lug. Next time include the Glen Of Emall on your walk, highly recomended

Gillo

wheres me jumpa wrote:

I wouldnt dream of doing it in bad conditions. Weather permitting I might give it a go this week. Ill have a search for the easiest route, is it named? Thanks for the replies.

I haven't climbed it in a while. It's easier enough physically (assuming you are fit) the navigation is the trick, if you get low cloud cover it's a can be a risky excerise.

Having said that you've already learnt what I think is the most important lesson, it will still be there tomorrow.

Whyner

Hiya,

Can someone please give directions to Lug from, say Tallaght?......head on the N81 towards Blessington and then.......?

Thanks,
David...

Alun

Here's some directions I wrote up to get to Fenton's pub (a common starting point) for someone a while ago ... I've a map as well with the route marked on from the N81 which i can PM you if you like?

If you're coming from the M50 heading southbound, take the Tallaght exit (N81) towards Tallaght, and carry on along this road through Blessington.

After Blessington you'll pass a turn off (with a petrol station) to the Wicklow Gap, and after another 4 miles or so you will see a rather shabby pub on the left called the Old Toll House and a signpost off left for Donard. Turn left here and continue for about 1.5 miles until you reach Donard.

In Donard village itself, take the first left and then an *immediate* right (it's a kind of staggered crossroads) and continue for another 3 miles until you reach Ballinclea Hostel which will be on your left hand side.

Carry on past the hostel, only a few hundred yards, and take the *first* road on your right, signposted to Knockanarrigan.

After another 1.5 miles you'll get to the crossroads at Knockanarrigan where you turn left.

Fenton's pub is about a mile further on, on the right hand side. There's plenty of parking, but it can get quite busy sometimes

EDIT: Just read the directions on the IMRA website in the link provided by fergalr .. that's another way, slightly longer, but less prone to error if you don't know the area maybe.

fergalr

When I first saw this post I thought the same as EvilPhil.

On the other hand, you probably have looked at it on a map as you knew to follow the N81, I'm so assuming you were instead looking for information on where you should park, and what the different approaches are, rather than that you were unable to plot a route along the roads.

http://www.iol.ie/~walshpa/hillwalking.html has some information on the approaches used.

Location & some info:
http://mountainviews.ie/mv/index.php?mtnindex=13&ids=summit_view&sumview_option=sumview_info

Some good directions:
http://www.imra.ie/?sec1=racedetail&id=422


Very important:
Do not go up it unless you are comfortable with the use of a map and compass in fog, have the right kit (including map&compass), and experience. It can be quite tricky, and mountain rescue gets called up there a lot. You could get into a lot of trouble.
Go with someone more experienced, for example, a hiking club (many do walks up lug regularly), if you have any doubt as to your abilities.

Evil Phil

Yeah, I deleted my post because it was a bit grumpy. But it is true that if you can't find the mountain on a map you're not going to be able to find you way around the mountain - but maybe he's meeting a group or something. Benefit of the doubt and all that.

Whyner

Thanks for the replies..........

Whyner

Ok, so as I was rather lazy in my last reply so I'll tell you all a little incredible story.

I decided to do Djouce on Sunday morning so headed off through Sally Gap to show some sights to my house mate who is from Sweden. We headed for Roundwood and then swung left back to the Sugar Loaf. Once we had rounded the Loaf I asked this walker on the side of the road if he knew where the car park was to climb Djouce.

He was a old man and looked like he was set for a days hiking. He said he was heading that way and would show us if we gave him a lift. He got in the back and we spun up the road to the car park for Djouce (Hill Park I think).

He asked us to go part of the way with him as he normally does it with his friend, but he was busy that weekend. Of course it would have been mean leaving him on his own and I was thinking something unusual is about to happen here.

The next three hours just blew me away. He knew every inch of all the Wicklow mountains and could endlessly talk on anything we mentioned. He told us his age, 76. His name is Reggie and he's from Sandymount and boy, what a gent. He was well able to go at a reasonable pace. He has gone hiking every week for the past 4 years, I think that's when he was getting too old for the bike, no joke. The previous week he had done Djouce, War Hill and Maulin all in the same day. I was just taken back by all this.....

Anyway on coming back down from Doujce he wanted to head back to Enniskerry and I was in a rush home to watch the Dubs.......he knew this but he still said to me after we said our farewells, "ah you wouldn't come up Maulin with me now?"

David...

Demo2005

76. And people say Dublin is a dear place, when little treasures are about for free.

flogen

Sorry to drag up this old post but it has been extremely useful for me, so thanks!

I had been planning on bringing a group of ventures (16-18 yo scouts for those who don't know) up Lug this month but thinking logically about it - and having gone up myself again recently - I don't think it's a good idea.

We'll have an extremely experienced walker with us, along with others that have done Lug a few times but with the days getting shorter and it being Oct. I think we'd be lucky to have a clear day to do it.

Obviously we're not going to take any chances and if it looks in any way iffy we'll find something else to do for the day but what odds do peoplt think there are of a fog/mist-free lug at the end of Oct? Slim to none?

Also, does anyone have a site that will let me keep an eye on low cloud levels etc. in the area for the next week or two? The site Alun linked to above doesn't seem to be up to date (not sure if it's meant to!).

Thanks.

Krusty_Clown

Try AccuWeather here

Alun

Firstly that weather forecast link I posted is unfortunately fubar'ed .. it used to be linked to from the (old) DWMRT web site, and I believe maintained by someone from them but seems to have fallen into disrepair. I did try in vain a year or so ago to find out who within Met Eireann and/or the WMNP is responsible for it but to no avail. It's still available in paper form and is displayed in the information panel up by the Upper Lake car park at Glendalough (or it was the last time I looked anyway), so it's still being generated. Why the WMNP can't put it up on their website is beyond me.

Anyway, as far as getting good weather on Lug, it's a complete lottery. You can sometimes get beautiful conditions in the winter months, after months of dismal conditions in the summer. So just because it's October doesn't necessarily imply anything weather wise. As you rightly point out, the only definite real constraint is available daylight, and only you know the capabilities and average walking speeds of the people concerned and whether they're likely to manage the walk in the time available.

Anyway, you could possibly try ringing the WMNP and asking them for the forecast a few days in advance (and ask them why it isn't available on the web at the same time )

(EDIT: There's also the Accuweather site mentioned above by Krusty Clown. It's OK, but not as reliable as the Met Eireann one was in my experience).

flogen

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Try AccuWeather here

Many thanks - will keep an eye on this.

Alun wrote: »

Firstly that weather forecast link I posted is unfortunately fubar'ed .. it used to be linked to from the (old) DWMRT web site, and I believe maintained by someone from them but seems to have fallen into disrepair. I did try in vain a year or so ago to find out who within Met Eireann and/or the WMNP is responsible for it but to no avail. It's still available in paper form and is displayed in the information panel up by the Upper Lake car park at Glendalough (or it was the last time I looked anyway), so it's still being generated. Why the WMNP can't put it up on their website is beyond me.

Anyway, as far as getting good weather on Lug, it's a complete lottery. You can sometimes get beautiful conditions in the winter months, after months of dismal conditions in the summer. So just because it's October doesn't necessarily imply anything weather wise. As you rightly point out, the only definite real constraint is available daylight, and only you know the capabilities and average walking speeds of the people concerned and whether they're likely to manage the walk in the time available.

Thanks for that - I suppose the best bet is to hope for the best and make the call on the morning or night before.

If we do decide to head out we'll have little choice but to be en route early in the morning. I think sunset is around 5pm at that time of the year so realistically we'd want to be aiming to be on level ground by 4pm.

Any stragglers will be told in no uncertain terms to pick up the pace or find a nice spot to sleep (alone) for the night!

Anyway, you could possibly try ringing the WMNP and asking them for the forecast a few days in advance (and ask them why it isn't available on the web at the same time )

(EDIT: There's also the Accuweather site mentioned above by Krusty Clown. It's OK, but not as reliable as the Met Eireann one was in my experience).

I'll keep an eye on the site but will give them a ring too - will be sure to hassle them about the lack of online info too!

hmmm

flogen wrote: »

We'll have an extremely experienced walker with us, along with others that have done Lug a few times but with the days getting shorter and it being Oct. I think we'd be lucky to have a clear day to do it.

For a bit of excitement you could tell them all to bring torches, start at Crone Wood (park outside as the gates will close) and take them up to Djouce at dusk. You'd have to try very hard to get lost if you know the route (as long as you keep the group together).

flogen

hmmm wrote: »

For a bit of excitement you could tell them all to bring torches, start at Crone Wood (park outside as the gates will close) and take them up to Djouce at dusk. You'd have to try very hard to get lost if you know the route (as long as you keep the group together).

The group did a night hike on Djouce before and it went well, apparently. Might be something I do with them at another time but thanks for the reminder!

Just on that AccuWeather chart - it lists 'Cloud Base x 100' beside the various values... what does the x 100 mean? I can't imagine you're supposed to multiply the distance they give by 100 to get the cloud height?

Donny5

flogen wrote: »

Just on that AccuWeather chart - it lists 'Cloud Base x 100' beside the various values... what does the x 100 mean? I can't imagine you're supposed to multiply the distance they give by 100 to get the cloud height?

That's what is, alright.

Alun

flogen wrote: »

Just on that AccuWeather chart - it lists 'Cloud Base x 100' beside the various values... what does the x 100 mean? I can't imagine you're supposed to multiply the distance they give by 100 to get the cloud height?

I think that's it.

Carawaystick

flogen wrote: »

Sorry to drag up this old post but it has been extremely useful for me, so thanks!

I had been planning on bringing a group of ventures (16-18 yo scouts for those who don't know) up Lug this month but thinking logically about it - and having gone up myself again recently - I don't think it's a good idea.

We'll have an extremely experienced walker with us, along with others that have done Lug a few times but with the days getting shorter and it being Oct. I think we'd be lucky to have a clear day to do it.

Obviously we're not going to take any chances and if it looks in any way iffy we'll find something else to do for the day but what odds do peoplt think there are of a fog/mist-free lug at the end of Oct? Slim to none?

Also, does anyone have a site that will let me keep an eye on low cloud levels etc. in the area for the next week or two? The site Alun linked to above doesn't seem to be up to date (not sure if it's meant to!).

Thanks.

I brought scouts aged 12 - 14 up camping on lug back in the day one Easter. We'd no hassle, but we did have to worry more about wildfires than rain, being '95 and all.
If you climb from Glenmalure you can't go wrong if you have a compass. In fact if you've a compass, then you should be alright bar extreme winter weather.

Outdoor_Freak

wheres me jumpa wrote: »

Went up Mt. Leinster last week and we are thinking of walking a few more mountains. Would it be too tough for two novices to go straight for Lugnaquilla? ie is it a climb or a hike to the summit?

Any tips for two guys will to go give hillwalking a decent effort?

We walked Lugnaquilla about this time last year with 3 novices and they had absolutley no problem.

Hints:

• Hot choclate in a flask for the driver
• Hot choclate with a drop of bailey's for everybody else
• Be sure to leave plenty of time to complete the walk, novices can slow you down a bit so allow an extra hour or even two - don't want to be finishing off in the dark
• Bring some ear plugs, quite handy for blocking out any novice whinging

Enjoy

duckysauce

Outdoor_Freak wrote: »

We walked Lugnaquilla about this time last year with 3 novices and they had absolutley no problem.

Hints:

• Hot choclate in a flask for the driver
• Hot choclate with a drop of bailey's for everybody else
• Be sure to leave plenty of time to complete the walk, novices can slow you down a bit so allow an extra hour or even two - don't want to be finishing off in the dark
• Bring some ear plugs, quite handy for blocking out any novice whinging

Enjoy

how long did it take?

Outdoor_Freak

We were following the longest route from a book with all of the trails in the Wicklow area and it had suggested that it would take us between 3 and 4 hours. We started at 10:00 in the morning and stopped for 40 mintues to eat, rest and look around on one of the ridges and it was getting dark as we came back down the forest track onto the main road.

So, I can't be certain, but best estimate was 5 to 6 hours and some sore noive feet at the end of it. Mind you, it didn't stop them from having a few pints of the black stuff in the little pub near the start of the trail

flogen

Thanks for all the help in this - had the hike today and it was a success.

We left Dublin early and were starting the walk around 8:30 - reached the top by 11am which I was very happy with.

Visibility wasn't great but was good enough to keep going and the rain held off too.

We went a little off-track on the way back down and ended up having to back-track a little to get back onto the path for Camara Hill but as we were making good time it wasn't a big deal at all... would have been a different story if we'd left Dublin an hour or two later though.

Back at Fenton's Pub by 3:30 or so and all the (tired but alive!) kids slept soundly on the bus home. Was pleasently surprised at how well they did too, considering how new some are to hiking in general (It was one of our lad's first hike ever as he's a relatively new member - talk about a baptism of fire!)

Thanks again.

K09

flogen wrote: »

Just on that AccuWeather chart - it lists 'Cloud Base x 100' beside the various values... what does the x 100 mean? I can't imagine you're supposed to multiply the distance they give by 100 to get the cloud height?

Hi,
Just a little confused on this cloud base on accuweather. So for Apr 10 12PM in Wicklow mountains it has cloud base at 95m.
Does this mean that cloud is only above 9500metres?

Thanks.