Wicklow meet-up?

Alun

I was just wondering the other day whether there might be any interest in organizing some kind of Wicklow meet up for the hill-walkers amongst us? It might be nice to be able to put a face to some of those names.

foolelle

yeap. Would be well up for this myself as I do most of my hiking alone. It would be cool to get to know some new faces too.
Keep me posted on any dates that arise. You've got your first signed up!!

BeardyGit

Count me in, but bear in mind I might need to jump ship at the last minute

Alun

Great, that's two anyway! Any more takers?

fergalr

I'd be on for a day in the hills.
Can be busy a good few weekends, but if the timing fits, I'd definitely be up for it.
Nice idea, fair play for suggesting it.

tuxy

How about a few cans of Dutch and a walk up Bray head?

IrlJidel

Alun wrote: »

Great, that's two anyway! Any more takers?

I'd be interested.

Alun

tuxy wrote: »

How about a few cans of Dutch and a walk up Bray head?

I was thinking of something a bit more strenuous than that!

Alun

Ok, I'll wait until next week to see if we get any more takers, and start making a few suggestions as to dates and possible routes.

keenan110

This sounds great, would be very interested.

Evil Phil

Me too but I'm away next weekend, free after that.

I'd be interested too.

robvam

I'd be up for it too. I want to start doing more hiking,
Rob.

bijapos

I'd be up for it too. On the scratcher for the time being :rolleyes: so any time suits.

kjt

I'd be up for this if the dates worked

foolelle

I'm free this Sunday 5th if anyone is around?

Alun

OK, so far we have me, foolelle, Gil_Dub, fergalr, tuxy (?), IrlJidel, keenan110, Moonbaby, robvam, bijapos and kjt who are up for it.

As far as dates go, I'm tied up for the next two weekends unfortunately, so how does a provisional date of the 19th July sound to everyone?

Also are there any preferences/requests as to starting points and/or where we walk? I'd suggest that we choose somewhere with plenty of parking seeing as everyone will probably be coming separately by car, so maybe somewhere over the Glenmalure side such as either the Glenmalure Lodge or Baravore .. plenty of parking there, and lots of scope for different levels of walk depending on people's preferences/abilities.

foolelle

I would be tied up that weekend, but that may be happening a good bit at weekends as I work, I'll see wot I can do.
another issue I may have is wheels, I don't drive. But if anyone is based around the south Dublin area I'd share fuel costs??

Does anyone know of a good, low cost day bag I could get. Ive been using what I think is a 65L ruc sac but its a bit too big for day walks, although I have been filling it. Mostly with ****e though.

fergalr

The Wicklow Rogaine is on 18th/19th of July. ( http://www.setantaorienteers.org/rogaine.html )

I generally do that, but I'm not sure I'm in the mood for a 24hour slog at the moment.
Unless we want to use the rogaine as our meetup hike? We'd certainly get to know each other...


If this is definitely going ahead on the 19th, I'll probably do the 6hour rogaine on the Saturday 18th, and head along to this meetup on the Sunday 19th.

I'll either need transport or to do a long cycle - be better to carpool a bit if possible anyway.

Alun

Just bumping this one seeing as ithe thread went a bit quiet, and no one except fergalr and foolelle have responded regarding the date I proposed.

fergalr

Alun wrote: »

Just bumping this one seeing as virtually noone except fergalr and foolelle have responded regarding the date I proposed.

The most effective thing to do might be if you just unilaterally nail down a date, and say "This is when we are meeting", and just assume - unless you get an outcry of negative responses - that people will come if they can.
I suspect with a lot of people they mightn't know, or want to commit, until close to the date.

I'm still up for the 19th anyway - it'd be great if this weather we're having holds til then :-)

Alun

fergalr wrote: »

The most effective thing to do might be if you just unilaterally nail down a date, and say "This is when we are meeting", and just assume - unless you get an outcry of negative responses - that people will come if they can.
I suspect with a lot of people they mightn't know, or want to commit, until close to the date.

I'm still up for the 19th anyway - it'd be great if this weather we're having holds til then :-)

Good plan fergal! OK folks, it's the 19th July then, whether you like it or not :pac::pac: (that feels good!).

I suggest we meet up in the car park of the Glenmalure Lodge at, say 10am. I'll prepare one or two walks of varying lengths / difficulties so that depending on who turns up, and the day that's in it, we can choose the most suitable.

If anyone needs transport of any sort, give a shout on this thread and we can see who can help out. If anyone can get to anywhere in Bray easily, say the DART station, I can pick people up if needed, for example.

Also if anyone needs directions, give a shout as well.

bijapos

19th suits me. (So far anyway :rolleyes:)

Good plan though, pick a date and whose there is there.

Alun

bijapos wrote: »

19th suits me. (So far anyway :rolleyes:)

Good plan though, pick a date and whose there is there.

That's great .. see you there!

kjt

I'll be heading west that weekend but I'll try make it to another meet.
Enjoy guys and gals!

elprez

would love come to come along but I am working that day have agood one

foolelle

progress I like it!!

fergalr

Given that this is only a week away now, is there anyone else interested in coming along?

keenan110

I'd love to come but i'll be out cycling!

IrlJidel

Afraid I'm oncall this weekend so can't make it. Have fun!

Alun

IrlJidel wrote: »

Afraid I'm oncall this weekend so can't make it. Have fun!

That's a shame .. enjoy your weekend nonetheless.

Alun

It looks like there's not going to be many of us coming this weekend at this rate! Can those who are (almost) definitely planning on coming either PM me or post on this thread and let me know?

bijapos

I'll be there.

Alun

bijapos wrote: »

I'll be there.

Great! Sent you a PM there with some more info.

Alun

Just a last little bump in case anyone else wants to come along. Meet up at the Glenmalure Lodge tomorrow morning at 10am.

IrlJidel

So how did it go?

How many turned up? How many came back? Are the cannibal rumours true?

Alun

IrlJidel wrote: »

So how did it go?

How many turned up? How many came back?

Well, a grand total of two (me and fergalr) turned up, and a grand total of two made it back to the car! A bit disappointing, really, after all the initial interest that was shown, but we had a great day, and despite the generic "chance of rain" forecast, had perfect walking weather, high cloud, not too hot and a cool breeze. Just one very brief shower towards the end of the walk when we were on a forest track, and that was it! So to bijapos, who cried off at the last minute due to the crap weather, don't base whether you go out in the hills on what you can see out of your bedroom window at 8am

For the record, we did Lug from the zig zags via Clohernagh, and then returned via Benleagh and Benleagh Cliffs, a total of 17.5km and about 850m of climb (most of it in the first 1.5 hrs!). We did it in 5.5 hours including a leisurely break on top of Lug, so quite a relaxed pace really.

Let's hope we can organize something like this again, but with a slightly better turn out next time!

Are the cannibal rumours true?

IrlJidel

IrlJidel wrote: »

So how did it go?

How many turned up? How many came back? Are the cannibal rumours true?

Alun wrote: »

Was a joke, 3 leave on an epic expedition, only 2 return and body never found. Suspicions of cannabilism abound.

bijapos

Yeah sorry about that, am well pissed now that i didnt go. Cant see the hills from my gaff, so the decision was based on the RTE weather forecast on the radio, never did trust them :rolleyes:. Hope we try again.

fergalr

We had a really nice walk.

It was good to meet in person as well, after posting for a while on this forum - would definitely recommend anyone else that uses the forum regularly to try and organise, or come along to, another walk, as it's really good to 'put faces to names', and it'd save us carrying food be great to meet you.

The walk itself was great.

We parked about half way down Glenmalure, walked back up to the zig zags (through some undergrowth on the slope on the south side of the river), ascended the zig zags (chatting to some other hikers on the way), up Clohernagh, and from there it was just a short walk to the summit of lug.
As Alun planned, this route meant we had got most of the climb out of the way by the time we got up Clohernagh (and I was glad of that - legs were a little tired from the Rogaine the day before, and the cycle to bray), and the rest of the walk was fairly easy from there on.
Weather was a bit overcast for this initial part of the walk, but fairly warm - when we topped Clohernagh, we got a bit of a breeze, which was very welcome.
The top of lug was shrouded in cloud as it came into view - but as we started to walk towards it, it started to clear, and by the time we had got to it, we were enjoying the sunshine; going on my past experience, sunshine on the top of lug isn't always readily available, so we were very fortunate with the weather!

From lug, we descended by initially walking along the track towards the north, then veering off to summit benleagh.
We then headed briefly south east, to the cliffs of benleagh. I hadn't been here before - Alun had - so I was surprised that there was a reasonable path along the tops of the cliffs of benleagh. We had excellent views down Fraughan Rock Glen, and stopped a few times to eat Fraughans!
The track quickly turned to muck as we followed it down hill into the forest - it was fun trying to descend the slick rock without slipping, and seeing who could keep their feet dry (I think I might have lost this competition, as I was in runners - although sealskinz socks worked pretty well, even in mud).

We picked our way through the forest, and were soon on a track back down to Glenmalure. I was impressed with Alun's knowledge of a few unmarked shortcuts through the woods. Kind of reminded me that it's good to go hiking with different groups of people - it's nice to be able to read the map, but there's a lot of little shortcuts and local knowledge that never turns up on the map, and you can only pick it up from going walking with people from different groups.

As Alun said, we got a brief, but heavy, rain shower on the way back to Glenmalure, but we were fairly dry by the time we got to the car.

All in all, we were extremely lucky with the weather - neither sunburned, nor lashed out of it, and it was clear enough to have great fews from the top of lug. (Bit hazy to see wales though - we checked :-P ) Met plenty of other friendly people out in the hills too, which is always nice to see.

It's a pity a few more people didn't make it along - any given time isn't going to suit everybody, of course, but I was glad to have made it - Alun had put a lot of thought into the route, including conducting a recee, and it'd have been good to get a bigger group out - maybe another time?

Attached are some (poor!) pics from the mobile, as proof :pac:

Alun

Thanks for the great write-up there, Fergal! We also saw what I'm pretty sure was a pair of peregrine falcons swooping around Fraughan Rock Glen which isn't something you see every day.

Here's a couple of (not very good) photo's from my phone too ...

bijapos

Aye rub it in, but reading the post again I think FFS whats the point of a day out in Ireland in July if you dont return home soaked to the skin and with sunburn at the same time??:D

Looked at the route on the map. looks good, will try it soon.

foolelle

hey guys great to hear ya had a good day!! Very annoyed I didn't make it esp now that ya got good weather for it. The route looks cool too, I did lug from the glen last month for the first time, its a great hike, was the initial assent very steep?

Guys please keep me posted on future outings, I'd need a bit of notice to organize work off but im ur third man for the next one!!
When is it by the way??

Alun

foolelle wrote: »

hey guys great to hear ya had a good day!! Very annoyed I didn't make it esp now that ya got good weather for it. The route looks cool too, I did lug from the glen last month for the first time, its a great hike, was the initial assent very steep?

The initial ascent to the top of Clohernagh (800m) is about 700m over 5km and then the remaining 100m or so to the top of Lug (925m) takes another 3km or so along the flat. After that it's pretty much downhill all the way except for a very brief ascent to the "summit" of Benleagh.

I've attached a zipped copy of the track in GPX format from my GPS in case anyone's interested (boards wouldn't let me upload the raw gpx file).

Guys please keep me posted on future outings, I'd need a bit of notice to organize work off but im ur third man for the next one!!
When is it by the way??

Well, we haven't really thought about it much to be honest, but there'll be a thread up on here when something's in the planning.

Cabaal

Sounds like everyone (the two of you) had a good day, I must try get out for an event like this in future been abit out of practice for hill walking as of late due to crazy busy life and lack of free time.

Did my first bit of hillwalking in 4 months on Sunday,

foolelle

ohh has gone very quiet in here...have we knocked this idea on the head then??

Alun

foolelle wrote: »

ohh has gone very quiet in here...have we knocked this idea on the head then??

Not really .. I'm a bit busy for the coming few weeks and then I'm off to do Wainwright's Coast to Coast walk in England in September so it'll be towards the end of September before I could do anything. Nothing stopping anyone else taking up the reins and organizing something in the meantime though.

fergalr

foolelle:

I'd say that if you want to organise another meetup, just suggest a time and place and see what sort of response you get - I'll try and head along if I can!

That's probably the best thing to do, as it makes things easier to organise than if we leave it to Alun each time

Where would you be interested in going?

I couldnt make last time, I was away on Holidays.
I like the idea, so keep me posted please.

foolelle

yes of course I do understand its kinda rude. But to be honest I don't feel expereinced enough to take anyone near a mountain. I wouldn't be able to plan it correctly and safely. That's the only reason I'm pushin for someone else to organise it. Sorry alun I don't mean to be rude, I hope you can understand my position.

I'm not sure where I'd like to go. The hike the guys did around lug sounds cool, but that box has been ticked. Maybe part of the Wicklow or something. I did the first 10k or so there Friday and it was cool.

Alun

foolelle wrote: »

yes of course I do understand its kinda rude. But to be honest I don't feel expereinced enough to take anyone near a mountain. I wouldn't be able to plan it correctly and safely. That's the only reason I'm pushin for someone else to organise it. Sorry alun I don't mean to be rude, I hope you can understand my position.

No problem, I didn't take it that way at all