The lane up through empty Glenmalure sees very little traffic and is a pleasure to walk.
If the Peak District is the playground to Manchester then the Wicklow Mountains is the playground to Dublin. Lying just to the south of Dublin, the Wicklow Mountains are the most popular walking area in Ireland and unlike the rest of the country the area has many good paths to choose from. The way-marked Wicklow Way, Ireland’s most popular long distance trail starts on the southern edge of Dublin and passes through the Wicklow Mountains and finishes at Clonegal in County Carlow.
To reach the start of this walk I am setting out from the edge of Dublin and driving through the Wicklow Mountains to the remote Glenmalure. I have a hire car for a few days and I am particularly keen to climb Lugnaquilla which outside County Kerry is the highest mountain in Ireland. The summit is 931 metres above sea level and that’s just over 3000 feet in the old money. On a clear day even Wales can be seen and today I want to get a reasonable view as on my last ascent to the summit some years earlier it was very much a map and compass exercise in thick hill fog. The weather forecast for the few days however isn’t that good. It’s really a bit of a gamble as cloud is well down on the hills as I set out from Dublin but the forecast states that today will be the best day for the next few days.
My journey over Sally Gap is mostly in low cloud and this doesn’t look too promising and I even consider on doing a low level walk on the Wicklow Way or similar. I head on via Laragh and over to the remote Glenmalure which is Ireland’s longest glaciated valley. The place is deserted and leaving the new hire car parked in an isolated car park at Ballinafunshoge makes me feel a bit uncomfortable.
Glenmalure has had quite a chequered history and had been the scene of battles between the Irish rebels and British armies. In 1580 in one such battle, the British lost 800 soldiers making it one of their worse defeats in Ireland. During 1798 the area was one of the last strongholds for the Irish rebels who operated guerrilla warfare against the British and was one of the last areas in Ireland to hold outagainst British rule. Large stone memorials to those rebels who fought against the British have in recent years been placed along the valley at strategic locations.
One of several such memorial stones along the valley recalling the days when Irish rebels fought against English rule.
The footbridge over the Avonbeg above the end of the road in Glenmalure.
A good track lined with coconut smelling gorse bushes continues up through the upper end of Glenmalure.
By the time I set out on my walk, the cloud is lifting and even a few shafts of sunshine are making an appearance. I follow the quiet road towards the road end where a few cars are parked and here I continue via a footbridge and enjoy the increasing amounts of sunshine. It is quite pleasant walking on the good track lined with coconut smelling gorse and soon passing the isolated Glenmalure Youth Hostel which was all closed and shuttered up. I begin to ascend through woodland, much of it has been felled and for once it is beginning to feel warm. The track continues with a good surface for some distance but this begins to deteriorate higher and later becomes a path with boggy areas as I walk beside Bullock Pass Brook but thankfully there are board walks crossing the worse areas. A gradual ascent takes me to The Stony Top and the boundary with the Imaal Firing Range and thankfully no red flags are flying today. I stop briefly for a break before heading south-southeast along the ridge. Easy walking takes me up to the first rounded summit of Camenabologue, at 761 metres, and the path is good and well defined the whole way to this point. Ahead, Lugnaquilla still has its head in the clouds, but I am confident that it will lift. The summit is about three miles away along the rounded and in places boggy ridge.
A gradual descent is now followed towards the Imaal Gap which has some big peat hags and watery grooves but in good visibility it is easy to avoid the worse of it. It does however mean hauling myself up onto easier ground at one or two spots. It is now steady progress south towards the northern spur from Lugnaquilla. All the time the cloud is lifting and soon the smooth summit ridge is almost clear of cloud. Bursts of sunshine is sucking the last of the moisture off the higher slopes in wisps of moisture. Reaching the subsidiary summit of Cannow 855 metres, I decide to stop for lunch as time is getting on and here I have a view over the empty North Prison which is the name of the north corrie on Lugnaquilla. To the west is the Imaal Firing Range and generally out of bounds but there were few signs to stop you from wandering into the area. After a quarter of an hour I am feeling cool and ready to move on again. As I near Lugnaquilla summit I began to see the first of many walkers of the day and then there seems to be walkers everywhere as up to now I had seen no one. An easy grassy walk leads to the busy summit where several groups are gathered and more approaching from all directions. I count some forty walkers on the 931 metre summit, many of them scouting groups. Resting awhile I take in the hazy view but at least I have got a view and I am pleased at that.
This view is fairly typical of the uplands of the Wicklow Mountains and this picture looks north from The Stony Top towards Table Mountain.
Its three miles from the rounded summit of Camenabologue to Lugnaquilla which is still in cloud in the distance. In the fore ground it crosses the rather boggy Imaal Gap which involves a bit of bog hopping.
Setting off, my route takes me east over Clohernagh and many people are heading that way. I make a small diversion to take a closer look at South Prison, a grassy corrie on the southern flank of Lugnaquilla. It’s an easy walk to Clohernagh where a scouting check point had been set up. In conversation I find out that a nationwide scouting event is taking place which explained the high number of people out walking.
The summit of Lugnaquilla 931 metres on a busy Saturday in summer. On this occasion, a walking event was taking place.
The easy slopes leading towards Clohernagh and several walkers can be seen in this picture. 
Descending towards Glenmalure with evidence of the former lead mines.
An engineered path makes a welcome change for the last part of my descent into Glenmalure.
This is where I start to make the long descent into Glenmalure. A good but eroded path leads all the way down the hillside but in places it is quite boggy and so care is required on the boggy slopes. With the afternoon being bright and with views along Glenmalure the descent is quite pleasant but I am glad to get onto the engineered path well down the hillside. At the foot I even met a couple of walkers ascending which is quite late in the afternoon. It’s a road walk along Glenmalure to reach to the car and on the way I pass some old lead workings where during its heyday, 400 tonnes of lead were extracted annually.