23-Jun Walk the Line

DATE: SATURDAY JUNE 23TH, 2012

START TIME: 20:00

STARTING POINT: LARCH HILL FOR TRANSPORT TO THE START POINT

PROPOSED ROUTE: THE DUBLIN / WICKLOW COUNTY BOUNDARY LINE

Registration will be in Scouting Ireland's Camp site Larch Hill, in the foot hills of the Dublin mountains. We’ll be supplying buses to get you to the start from there. The start point for the 30 Km event will be on the military road south of Glencree and will head up to Kippure on the paved section of road to get you warmed up and to avoid the ecologically sensitive section from Seefin &Seefingan to Kippure. Whe you reach the mast at the top of  Kippure  you will head cross county towards the military road  to meet up with those on the 20Km event will be starting from before heading up to Glendoo, Prince William's Seat and Fairy Castle. Form Fairy castle you will descent towards the city and finish up for breakfast in Larch hill, which avoids that last road walk to Marley Park.

The hills in this area present stunning views over Wicklow and parts of Dublin yet are often overlooked by walkers and runners in favour of slightly more popular (and crowded!) areas near Glendalough and Glenmalure. As a result many walkers will not be familiar with the area despite having many years of walking under their belt and will be pleasantly surprised by what’s on offer closer to Dublin. We’ll be using buses to get you from the registration point to the start of the walk – you’ll start out on this section as the light is falling and we hope a dramatic sunset will encourage you to stop and look back west more than once.

Continuing through the short night – it gets bright at around 4.30am – most people will probably find an occasional boghole in the open mountain stretch between Glendoo and Prince William’s Seat whilst gazing at the starry night sky. A night spent on the hills of Wicklow far from the busy, bright and loud city is a fantastic adventure – if you haven’t heard deer calling each other at night, you’re in for quite a surprise.

Turning left after Prince Willie’s the route returns participants to Larch hill along the Wicklow Way, occasionally overlapping with the Dublin Way. This section is all along established tracks and paths (there is one short section of quiet road). It passes through some of the closest hills to Dublin which get surprisingly little traffic once you get away from the Ticknock carpark. Recent initiatives like the construction of improved sections of trail by groups like Mountain Meitheal and landowners like Coillte have done a lot to improve access to the area and highlight the attractions of the Dublin foothills. The recent establishment of the Dublin Way is a fantastic achievement and a real benefit to the city. We anticipate the majority of participants will be making their way along this section as the sun rises over the city. The views from the wonderfully named Fairy Castle stretch over the city, across Dublin Bay, south to Bray Head the Sugarloaf and across the hills of North Wicklow. On a clear day, the Mournes are visible and you can easily imagine Wales in the distance. On a summer Sunday morning, the sun rising over Dublin Bay will be truly memorable.

The route from that point will rejoin the Wicklow Way along a rocky trail popular with foraging deer and the occasional mountain biker. Returning to tarmac at Kilmashogue, it’s a short stroll to the finish line. Breakfast awaits you here and a well deserved rest.

The map below show the route.