Water availability along wicklow way

hama33

Hi,

Thinking of doing part of the Wicklow Way in early March (Powerscourt to Tinahely perhaps). If I was wild camping and not using any B&B's/hostels etc., are there many places to resupply on water along the way?

Cheers

seamus

There are a number of springs and streams along the way which are perfectly safe to drink from (and refreshing!)

Donny5

hama33 wrote: »

Hi,

Thinking of doing part of the Wicklow Way in early March (Powerscourt to Tinahely perhaps). If I was wild camping and not using any B&B's/hostels etc., are there many places to resupply on water along the way?

Cheers

There's tons of water sources along the route, but they all need to be purified. The problem is with farmland. I won't drink from a river or stream that's downstream of farmland, even with purification. There's too much run-off for my liking.

Along the Powerscourt to Tinahely stretch, there's a good few places that I'd be happy to drink from. The first is just the river above Powerscourt waterfall. The next would be the Avonmore which you cross just after it leaves Lough Dan. The next is a rain water tap a kind farmer has installed just before the lane turns into a track when you are going up Paddock Hill. The next would be in the Hotel at Glendalough. After that, there's a few streams along the route over Mullacor. In Glenmalure, I wouldn't drink from the Avonbeg, but just after you pass the crossroads and leave the road, there's a concrete bridge you cross that goes over a tributary which has nothing but forest upstream, which I'd consider potable. After that, you are really out of the mountains and there's a lot more farmland around, so water becomes harder to source naturally. There's still plenty of streams you cross, you just have to be careful.

Another note is that the Wicklow Way is not really suited to wild camping. There is a couple of Mountain Meitheal open sided huts that you can sleep in (only in good weather, though, I was in one during an slush storm and it was not fun) at Paddock Hill and the south side of Mullacor. The rest of route won't be great for camping. If you bivvy, you'll be sorted since there's tons of forests. As always, if you're going to rely on a particular forest, recce it to make sure Shiva, the Destroyer of Worlds Coillte hasn't cut it down.

Enjoy the hike; it's a great route.

loobylou

Donny5 wrote: »

The next is a rain water tap a kind farmer has installed just before the lane turns into a track when you are going up Paddock Hill.

That guy deserves some sort of Bord Failte award. He allows walkers caught out by bad weather to stay in his barn and often even in his kitchen.

Donny5

loobylou wrote: »

That guy deserves some sort of Bord Failte award. He allows walkers caught out by bad weather to stay in his barn and often even in his kitchen.

I'd believe it. When I was out in the snow in Dec 09, he gave me some water as his outdoor tap and barrel had frozen over. Nice guy.