Wicklow Way Itinerary

Tigerandahalf

Hey folks

Myself and my wife are interested in doing the above at some stage in late august.
We are not sure how much time we will have. I have looked at the wicklow way website and see it is in 7 stages.
Just looking for advice from people who have done it re accomodation or camping options and extra time to spend along the way, e.g. in Glendalough.

CardinalJ

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

Hey folks

Myself and my wife are interested in doing the above at some stage in late august.
We are not sure how much time we will have. I have looked at the wicklow way website and see it is in 7 stages.
Just looking for advice from people who have done it re accomodation or camping options and extra time to spend along the way, e.g. in Glendalough.

I did the full wicklow way two weeks ago with a friend over two days. We were doing it for charity so wouldn't expect anyone to want to do it in two days.

The suggestion of stages on the Wickow Way website that everyone looks at is fine, but if you want to stay at the end of some of the sections, you'd have to walk a bit extra to the places.

You need to book some places WAY in advance. Glenmalure lodge can book out months ahead of busy weekends. Camping would be a great way to do it. The Mountain Meitheal huts are brilliant but again, you can't be 100% sure you will get one until you're there. http://mountainmeitheal.ie/about-us/adirondack-shelter/

You can't camp in Glendalough valley, but you could camp somewhere near it and maybe try and get into it early morning. Sunrise there can be spectacular and you can see it before bus loads of people drive.

The section of the route from Moyne to Clonegal is mainly on roads and I didn't enjoy any of it if Im honest, presumably because I just wanted to finish, but you do spend a lot of time skirting around the area you actually want to get to.

A good idea would be to figure out how many days you would give to it and then base where you want to stay/camp off that.

spaceylou

Myself and bf are planning on doing it over five days in August...

1. Marlay Park to Knockree
2. Knockree - Glendalough
3. Glendalough - Moyne
4. Moyne - Shillelagh
5 Shillelagh - Cloyne

Of course we haven't done it yet, so probably not the best people to get advice from. We decided on this route because he is fairly even distances between places (longest day is about 35km) and there is accommodation of some kind at each stage end.

Would love to hear from other people who have done it recently or have advice for the OP.

Tigerandahalf

spaceylou wrote: »

Myself and bf are planning on doing it over five days in August...

1. Marlay Park to Knockree
2. Knockree - Glendalough
3. Glendalough - Moyne
4. Moyne - Shillelagh
5 Shillelagh - Cloyne

Of course we haven't done it yet, so probably not the best people to get advice from. We decided on this route because he is fairly even distances between places (longest day is about 35km) and there is accommodation of some kind at each stage end.

Would love to hear from other people who have done it recently or have advice for the OP.

35km is a good bit of walking to do in a day. You are talking 8 or 9 hours of walking, no? Especially if you got a wet day.

spaceylou

As I say that is the longest day and we would have done similar (and longer) in one day previously - take about 7 - 8 hours I would say but sure that is okay...walk slow and steady, enjoy the view

Tigerandahalf

spaceylou wrote: »

As I say that is the longest day and we would have done similar (and longer) in one day previously - take about 7 - 8 hours I would say but sure that is okay...walk slow and steady, enjoy the view

Are you booking accomodation ahead?
Would you be planning to walk all day or finish up and do stuff in the evening?

spaceylou

We are planning on booking accommodation ahead - just because there is not loads directly on the way and its the summer time so lots of competition. Plan is to pretty much walk all day, take breaks as needed, and then in the evenings relax, eat, have a pint if near a bar etc but nothing mad. We live in Dublin so if we want to spend time in Glendalough or similar like the guidebooks suggest, we can do that another time and pretty much have!

Tigerandahalf

spaceylou wrote: »

We are planning on booking accommodation ahead - just because there is not loads directly on the way and its the summer time so lots of competition. Plan is to pretty much walk all day, take breaks as needed, and then in the evenings relax, eat, have a pint if near a bar etc but nothing mad. We live in Dublin so if we want to spend time in Glendalough or similar like the guidebooks suggest, we can do that another time and pretty much have!

Have you any idea of accomodation prices and if there are good places to eat?

spaceylou

Prices are in and around €40 each for B&B - some places are slightly less but that is our budget. There are a few hostels along the route, especially at Knockree, Glendalough and Glenmalure (which is not a stop over for us, but could be depending on your plan) which might be cheaper. We are staying in Knockree our first night and that is working out around 25 each I think.

With regards to food, Knockree is the only place that there isn't somewhere nearby to eat in our plan, but it is our first night so we are going to bring stuff with us to cook in the hostel kitchen. I plan on bringing LOTS of snacks, a lot of places seem to do packed lunches if you order in advance and there are a few villages along the way to pick up extra snacks etc.

Poncke

I am planning to do the WW next year August. I am training up for it this year through next year. I am planning on doing 18km days, finishing it in 7 days. I have walked large parts of the route already and I cant see myself doing it faster than 7 days, without getting completely knackered. It needs to be enjoyable, not a race and not a beating.

35km a day seems way too much to me, especially when you are doing the ascents. If you walk 4km an hour you are doing really well. If you go camping you will also be carrying about 15kg of weight which slows you down as well. Without camping, packing light, 10kg, it should be doable to walk about 18km a day and enjoy it.

But I am a hiking novice. I am sure people can do it in 5 days, but you need to be in very good shape in my opinion.

CardinalJ

18km a day is relatively slow going. I appreciate you say you're a novice, but some parts, especially near the end are very flat and on road, so you'd easily enough be moving at say 5kmh.

It's a great thing to have to plan and train for, make sure you get up during the winter into the snow, you'll really enjoy seeing the contrasts between summer and winter.

Q&A

Why not check out the thread entitled "Wicklow Way Itinerary". last post was only three days ago and if I'm not mistaken it’s a mere 6 posts (at time of writing) below this new thread. The search option will uncover many more posts of a similar nature.

Pat Mustard

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