Evening hikes - 30mins drive of Sandyford, Dublin

Tiriel

Hi all,

Just looking for suggestions of hikes - up to 3hrs in length that can be done on a weekday evening during the summer. Looking at leaving Sandyford at 5.30pm so distance really needs to be max of 30 mins drive, ruling out Howth.

Have done Sugarloaf, Marlay Park to Johnny Foxes, Lugalla route, Glendalough White route, Crone Wood/Maulin.

Looking to do Lugnaquilla in a few weeks, then Donard and eventually Carraun so want to get in more training!

Thanks for any suggestions!

dogmatix

1. There is a nice walk that goes from Rathmichael to the lead mines chimney/carrickgollogan to the scalp - plenty of great views and a far amount of ascent (to my aging legs at any rate) so you can get a good workout.
2. A circuit of the vartry lakes at roundwood.
3. Carrick hill at Glenealy and the Devils Glen are both reachable within 30 minutes drive and can offer plenty of walk options up to and over 30 minutes

Tiriel

Thanks dogmatix, do you have any links to any of those routes? I see a posting of Shankill to Scalp alright - is it possible to start it instead in Rathmichael and cut down the time a little?

Gerry Hat Trick

"Easy walks from dublin" by joss Lynam is a good book from most outdoors shops . It has some 40 walks from short family friendly walks to 2-3 hour hikes. Together with the relevant "east west" maps you can readily combine longer routes eg from ticknock, to tibradden, cruagh, prince Williams, kip pure, djouce etc and of course there are a number of combinations linking up with the Wicklow way

A number of the hill runs on imra.ie also have maps attached and would make for a good 2-3 hour hike eg Trooperstown, Sorrell hill, brockagh etc

Enjoy the long evenings while they last!

duckysauce

Tiriel wrote: »

Thanks dogmatix, do you have any links to any of those routes? I see a posting of Shankill to Scalp alright - is it possible to start it instead in Rathmichael and cut down the time a little?

http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=853161

yep have started from rathmichael church lovely walk well doable under 3 hrs

Losty Dublin

You could do worse than to look here for a few handy suggestions.

http://www.dublinmountains.ie/home/

This is a different mapping of the route that Duckysauce has posted up

http://www.dmp.ie/fileadmin/user_upload/documents/dmwmap1threerock_shankill_oct10_01.pdf

Last of all, Kippure is a handy go to if it's just plain exercise you want.

Tiriel

Thanks a million guys, will add them to the next few weeks!

dogmatix

This one is fairly close: http://www.walkingroutes.ie/1522-The-Brides-Glen-walk.html – uses the luas as a start / end and the walk can be extended to the scalp as the barnasligan woods are next door. I’ve never tried rathmichael route from shankill but the link above is fairly similar. This link describes the scalp which can be added to the brides glen walk: http://www.walkingroutes.ie/911-The-Scalp.html

Try this for the devils glen: http://www.coillteoutdoors.ie/index.php?id=173&rec_site=25&trail=30 – about 2 hours but can easily be extended if you explore the many other trails. There is a nice surfaced car park about a mile or so inside the forest (but the road to it is a very rough and potholed) and good parking at the forest park entrance.

I’ve no maps for carrick hill, but the lower slopes are beautiful and worth a visit. There is good parking opposite the kings arms pub, followed by a ¾ mile walk up the quiet and leafy ballymanus lane to get to the forest entrance.

I don’t know if you have done Bray head yet but the following links to a walk that can be done in about 3 hours (if you cut out the Greystones part). It’s a good workout for the legs on the way up. It’s a loop, you go up and over the head and return via the normal cliff path (or vice versa). http://www.walkingroutes.ie/994-Bray-to-Greystones.html

Tiriel

Quick update.. thanks for all of the suggestions above!

Did Carrauntoohil 2 weeks ago.. and again last weekend.

Did it via Brother O'Shea's gully and down the zig-zags the first time out and it was a challenge but really enjoyed it. Last Saturday headed down again and did the horseshoe - up by the Beenkeeragh ridge from the Hydro road carpark, onto Carraun and back by Caher. Amazing

Really sorry to see the evenings closing in slowly but surely. Would love to keep it up over the winter.. any safe routes that are well marked for evening walks - using headlamps etc? Weekends are fine for longer outings, but it's great to get out during the week if possible.

CardinalJ

Tiriel wrote: »

Really sorry to see the evenings closing in slowly but surely. Would love to keep it up over the winter.. any safe routes that are well marked for evening walks - using headlamps etc? Weekends are fine for longer outings, but it's great to get out during the week if possible.

There's plenty of people up around Ticknock area mid week running, mountain biking and hiking.

Well, by "plenty" I mean that you'd rarely not see anyone.

knucklehead6

Tiriel wrote: »

Quick update.. thanks for all of the suggestions above!

Did Carrauntoohil 2 weeks ago.. and again last weekend.

Did it via Brother O'Shea's gully and down the zig-zags the first time out and it was a challenge but really enjoyed it. Last Saturday headed down again and did the horseshoe - up by the Beenkeeragh ridge from the Hydro road carpark, onto Carraun and back by Caher. Amazing

Really sorry to see the evenings closing in slowly but surely. Would love to keep it up over the winter.. any safe routes that are well marked for evening walks - using headlamps etc? Weekends are fine for longer outings, but it's great to get out during the week if possible.

i know of two different meetup groups that do evening hikes during the winter, either wednesdays or thursdays

Losty Dublin

CardinalJ wrote: »

There's plenty of people up around Ticknock area mid week running, mountain biking and hiking.

Well, by "plenty" I mean that you'd rarely not see anyone.

The Hellfire Club is busy enough in the evenings as well. Footpath wise both are a safe walk on a good road surface once you don't stray into the wooded areas. They also provide great evening views of the city and are worth doing at least once in your lifetime.

One thing to keep an eye on for either location the car parks have curfews; miss them and it's a long walk home. The adjoining roads are no parking zones so be careful where you dump your motor in the interests of safety and consideration to the locals.