Unpopular walking trails within driving distance of Dublin?

Well given the mobs descending on the normal spots, any diamond in the rough you could recommend? I did the Bohernabrenna resivoir over the weekend and it was fairly quiet although the tiny car park was full.

dogmatix

Carrick hill in Glenealy is relatively unknown - but good value with it's varied forest types (broadleaf, conifers, eucaplyptus trees etc...). Sadly it has been discovered by the quad/motox bike neanderthals in the last 10 years or so but you might get lucky and have a quiet time there.

Possibly the vale of clara too - limited parking here so never too crowded.

unkel

Park at the Sally Gap and hike over the ridge to the Wicklow Gap. Very unlikely to see any humans until you get near the top of Tonelagee (about 5 hours into your hike)

SOPHIE THE DOG

unkel wrote: »

Park at the Sally Gap and hike over the ridge to the Wicklow Gap. Very unlikely to see any humans until you get near the top of Tonelagee (about 5 hours into your hike)

People breaking into cars parked at Sally Gap and Wicklow Gap is always a concern.
It would be a sad end to your day after parking at Sally Gap and walking to Tonelagee and returning back to find your car vandalised.

unkel

Even worse is if fear stops you parking somewhere and limits you living your life. And we have insurance to cover us in case something like that happens. Don't let it stop you. And FWIW, I have parked convertible sports cars like my MG and Porsche in the Wicklow mountains numerous times and nothing ever happened. I leave my doors open and nothing of value inside. Any scumbag is welcome to have a look for themselves first. They will see there is nothing there and move on.

Anyway, at Sally Gap you'd be parking on the road, which is fairly busy. You need of course get a taxi or a lift back over the road once you get to the other end.

timhenn

unkel wrote: »

Even worse is if fear stops you parking somewhere and limits you living your life. And we have insurance to cover us in case something like that happens. Don't let it stop you. And FWIW, I have parked convertible sports cars like my MG and Porsche in the Wicklow mountains numerous times and nothing ever happened. I leave my doors open and nothing of value inside. Any scumbag is welcome to have a look for themselves first. They will see there is nothing there and move on.

Anyway, at Sally Gap you'd be parking on the road, which is fairly busy. You need of course get a taxi or a lift back over the road once you get to the other end.

Alun

unkel wrote: »

Anyway, at Sally Gap you'd be parking on the road, which is fairly busy. You need of course get a taxi or a lift back over the road once you get to the other end.

There's a small parking spot only about 1km north of the Sally Gap crossroads on the Military Road that we use if doing that walk. Alternatively another small parking spot SE of Carrigvore where the track from Luggala meets the Military Road, and there's a track of sorts from there to the top of Carrigvore as well.

I've done that walk with a group before and the handiest way is to arrange to meet a taxi/minibus at the Wicklow Gap car park to take you to the start and walk back to the cars. Last thing you want to be doing at the end of a wet day is to be hanging around organizing taxis or even sitting in one in wet clothes.

SOPHIE THE DOG

unkel wrote: »

Even worse is if fear stops you parking somewhere and limits you living your life. And we have insurance to cover us in case something like that happens. Don't let it stop you. And FWIW, I have parked convertible sports cars like my MG and Porsche in the Wicklow mountains numerous times and nothing ever happened. I leave my doors open and nothing of value inside. Any scumbag is welcome to have a look for themselves first. They will see there is nothing there and move on.

Anyway, at Sally Gap you'd be parking on the road, which is fairly busy. You need of course get a taxi or a lift back over the road once you get to the other end.

I have a bicycle......

unkel

Alun wrote: »

I've done that walk with a group before and the handiest way is to arrange to meet a taxi/minibus at the Wicklow Gap car park to take you to the start and walk back to the cars. Last thing you want to be doing at the end of a wet day is to be hanging around organizing taxis or even sitting in one in wet clothes.

Tell me about it

I got a lift from Wicklow Gap to Laragh quickly enough. With my worst case scenario that I would have to get a taxi from there. After a very long wait, I did get a lift from a lovely Portuguese couple on their way back to Dublin who dropped me off at my car at the Sally Gap. I was on my own, so could not do the two car method and it was a bit of a big ask for someone to come get me (two hour round trip to Laragh / Wicklow Gap from my home)

JustAThought

unkel wrote: »

Park at the Sally Gap and hike over the ridge to the Wicklow Gap. Very unlikely to see any humans until you get near the top of Tonelagee (about 5 hours into your hike)

totally unfair suggestion when hill walking rescues are asking people not to put their volunteers at risk and some rescues are under such hige pressure already. a 5 hour hike across unknown territory. As for taxis and lifts and minibusses... boggles belief. We will be locked down forever if this continues. No wonder they are talking about locking down beaches and public parks and glendalough because people are not using gheir cop on .

Alun

JustAThought wrote: »

totally unfair suggestion when hill walking rescues are asking people not to put their volunteers at risk and some rescues are under such hige pressure already. a 5 hour hike across unknown territory. As for taxis and lifts and minibusses... boggles belief. We will be locked down forever if this continues. No wonder they are talking about locking down beaches and public parks and glendalough because people are not using gheir cop on .

The follow-on posts, well mine at least, about taxis, lifts etc. weren't intended as a suggestion for the current situation, merely describing how the walk could be done more easily, if you wanted to, under normal circumstances.

I also agree that the walk itself would not be something anybody should be considering under current circumstances, but in better times it's hardly "unknown territory", for some of us anyway.