Turlough Hill, wicklow

at1withmyself

Documentary on rte 1 now, great views and information on what's inside around the resiviir and tunnels

crosstownk

at1withmyself wrote: »

Documentary on rte 1 now, great views and information on what's inside around the resiviir and tunnels

Thanks for this. I've set it to record on RTE1 +1.

at1withmyself

crosstownk wrote: »

Thanks for this. I've set it to record on RTE1 +1.

Show is called building Ireland.

Have cycled up the gap a few times but never realised what was going on there. Whilst not really a cycling show its fascinating for anyone who cycles up it.

crosstownk

at1withmyself wrote: »

Have cycled up the gap a few times but never realised what was going on there. Whilst not really a cycling show its fascinating for anyone who cycles up it.

I've cycled up Turlough Hill a couple of times myself. I went on a summer project tour there many, many years ago and as a young teenager I found it fascinating. My next door neighbour worked for the ESB and he was instrumental in organising the trip. He also did the commentary on the bus and in the facility which was really good.

I'll be watching this later.

tampopo

crosstownk wrote: »

I've cycled up Turlough Hill a couple of times myself. I went on a summer project tour there many, many years ago and as a young teenager I found it fascinating. My next door neighbour worked for the ESB and he was instrumental in organising the trip. He also did the commentary on the bus and in the facility which was really good.

I'll be watching this later.

How cool that must've been for a Summer Project!

Hurrache

They used to do school tours to there when I was in primary school in the 80s. It's the one I remember the best, the drive there was an adventure over the mountains in the ****ty coaches of the time, a tour around Glendalough with a ranger and then into Turlough Hill itself. I can remember the smell and some of the halls there so vividly.

Was raging I missed the open days there last year or the year before.

Don't Chute!

I was in there on one of the open days a few years ago. It’s an amazing place. We walked down the tunnel into the turbine room below. It’s like a Bond villains lair! They had a couple of the valves out for maintenance and you could drive a car through them! I’m a fitter in the water treatment industry so it’s a place I’ve always been interested in, love to work there! It’s also a great little add on to the Wicklow Gap too!

magicbastarder

Don't Chute! wrote: »

It’s like a Bond villains lair!

i was in the pumped storage facility on the west coast of scotland a few years back, and would you believe it, it apparently was used for a scene in 'the world is not enough'. though that was an appalling movie, so maybe not that big a boast.

Johnny Jukebox

If you cycle up it on a MTB, follow the perimeter around to the southern tip and then head up over to Camaderry... you'll be rewarded with one of the most awesome singletrack descents in Wicklow all the way to the upper car park in Glendalough.

Introduced to me by the fearless explorer(s) in EPIC MTB many years ago :-)

magicbastarder

i recorded this last night (thanks to at1withmyself) and just watched it now over alate lunch - i had a chuckle that it was classified as 'fine arts'

that anecdote about the chief engineer naming it after his son Turlough was a nice detail.

Whatwicklow

From the Glendalough hotel to the top of turlough is probably one of our best cat 1 climbs

10.3km with 540m climb!!

Wishbone Ash

crosstownk wrote: »

I've cycled up Turlough Hill a couple of times myself.....

....and it's where we first met!

BTW - what was it called before the ESB renamed it Turlough Hill?

Tony04

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

....and it's where we first met!

BTW - what was it called before the ESB renamed it Turlough Hill?

I remember there was an open day there I went to years ago. Got to see inside the emergency tunnel and all. I think it was unnamed peak and one of the engineers named it after their son who had passed, afaik.

crosstownk

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

....and it's where we first met!

BTW - what was it called before the ESB renamed it Turlough Hill?

Ah, the romantic memories.

I’ve no idea of any previous name but the documentary suggested no previous name.

I’d like to get to do a spin around that upper man made lake. Just for the sake of it. The gates are usually closed for access to that area. A spin in through the tunnel would be nice too!

Just watching this on the player and it's a stunning part of Ireland. Never up around there as such but I recall a summer when a housemate and his pal fished deeper into Wicklow than I would cycle and I would sometimes throw the bike in the van and head up with them. Wish I still had those legs

Tony04

All this talk of turlough hill makes me want to ride up there after 20th July now. Is the road to the top of it suitable for road tyres or would you need a mtb?

magicbastarder

crosstownk wrote: »

I’ve no idea of any previous name but the documentary suggested no previous name.

they explicitly mentioned in the doc that it had no previous name, that the engineer in charge picked it.

crosstownk

Tony04 wrote: »

All this talk of turlough hill makes me want to ride up there after 20th July now. Is the road to the top of it suitable for road tyres or would you need a mtb?

Grand on road tyres.

Enduro

Tony04 wrote: »

All this talk of turlough hill makes me want to ride up there after 20th July now. Is the road to the top of it suitable for road tyres or would you need a mtb?

No worse than kippure was the last time I rode/ran either. Not smooth tarmac, but still tarmac nonetheless

Wishbone Ash

Tony04 wrote: »

.. Is the road to the top of it suitable for road tyres or would you need a mtb?

No need for an MTB - it's paved all the way to the summit (but with some slippery wet moss in places).

Cee-Jay-Cee

My uncle was an engineer with the ESB and worked there for many years. He took me and my family for a private tour there around 35 years ago. We drove around the rim of the reservoir also and then down the tunnel into the power station itself. It was absolutely fascinating as a young teenager, I’ll never forget it.

Al Wright

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

....and it's where we first met!

BTW - what was it called before the ESB renamed it Turlough Hill?

The lower lake is Lough Nahanagan, which was regarded as being a turlough. As far as I remember, the installation straddles two townlands, Brochagh and Camaderry. The hill behind the upper reservoir (W.Sw) is Turlough Hill.

jimm

Whatwicklow wrote: »

From the Glendalough hotel to the top of turlough is probably one of our best cat 1 climbs

10.3km with 540m climb!!

The national hill climb championships were held there about 7/8 years ago. I'm nearly 100% sure Ryan Sherlock won the men's event. I took part in a massed start competition (after the elite riders had set off).

Eamonnator

Al Wright wrote: »

The lower lake is Lough Nahanagan, which was regarded as being a turlough. As far as I remember, the installation straddles two townlands, Brochagh and Camaderry. The hill behind the upper reservoir (W.Sw) is Turlough Hill.

I'm originally from West Wicklow. When I was a young lad, we used to pass Lough Nahanagan on our way to Glendalough. My father used always remark as we passed it, "lough Nahanagan, the lake that the sun never shines on". I often wonder, as I pass it, whether or not that's true.

Wishbone Ash

magicbastarder wrote: »

they explicitly mentioned in the doc that it had no previous name, that the engineer in charge picked it.

From Wiki:

Whilst the original name is Tomaneena, renaming it ‘Turlough Hill’ has a certain validity. The pumped storage station draws water from the mountain top lake, which thus becomes a ‘dry lake’. There is a geological feature known as a Turlough; it is defined as “(in Ireland) a low-lying area on limestone which becomes flooded in wet weather through the welling up of groundwater from the rock. ORIGIN late 17th cent.: from Irish turloch, from tur ‘dry’ + loch ‘lake’."[25]

I didn't realise it's going since 1974. I recall learning about it in school and I thought it opened around 1980.