Kesh Caves Key information

• Length- 1.2km total (600m to caves)
• Location- New car park here
• Access- Good access
• Path- Very steep in one section
• Signage- Yes, easy path to follow
• Rating- 8/10 (We loved this)
• Child friendly? – Yes but care is needed
• Map- Below

Caves of Kesh Hike

We started the hike by going through the metal gate beside the car park. We then walked through a flat meadowy field until we met a sign turning us left and across a timber sty.

Path Slope

Advice for hiking with Kids

If you plan to bring kids on this hike, be warned there is a very sharp edge to the top section of the trail. We advise bringing straps (reins) for kids between 3-5, just to be on the safe side. Try to keep younger kids in their hiking bags for this section. This section with steep edges isn’t long, it’s only about 150 meters.

Inside Caves of Kesh Sligo

When we reached the caves, we were amazed at the outstanding views and the spectacular sunset that we were greeted with. We were truly lucky with our timing when we visited. The kids loved exploring and were totally amazed at the size of them. It was great fun and one of the highlights of our Sligo holiday.

Where are the caves of Kesh located?

Caves of Keash Parking

Below is a map of the start point to walk the Kesh caves and the location of the new car park. The new car park can cater for 20+ cars. When we visited, the new car park was being constructed.

Map of Kesh Caves

How long does it take to walk the caves of Keash?

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Moanbane to Silsean hike- Key information

• Allow 2-3 hours to hike from Ballyknockan
• Parking and picnic tables at the start point
• Navigation Skills- Essential
• No signs or visible trail to follow
• Amazing views
• 8 out of 10 for difficulty-Very steep
• 11 km out and back hike

Starting point to hike Moanbane and Silsean

At the base of the mountain, there is a designated car park with 2 picnic tables and enough parking for 5-10 cars. We parked our car here.

Initially, couldn’t see a distinct hiking trail to walk the mountain. We started our hike to Moanbane by crossing the gate in front of the car park and walking in the direction of Silsean, first (RHS of the mountain).

Hiking to Silsean

We decided to hike to Silsean first, then we would cross over the ridge to Moanbane. After walking through the two flat fields at the start of the hike, we came to an open area below the base of the mountain. We walk towards a recently cut-down forest to the right as we looked at the mountain.

We follow the line of the fence ascending towards the summit until we reach the end of the fence. This section of the hike is EXTREMELY steep and very tough on the legs.

From here, we continue towards the summit. The landscape starts to turn very boggy with large peat mounds. After hiking 55 minutes from the car we see Silsean summit stone mount insight.

Hiking from Silsean to Moanbane

The summit of Silsean is distinct due to the large stone mount and the view over the Baltinglass lakes in the background. We turn left at Silsean summit, passing a small lake.  We walk in the direction of Moanbane while descending slightly and crossing the ridge between both mountains. The ground is very boggy in this location, with deep holes from water and peat.

We ascend again to climb the side of Moanbane but it is not too steep or long before we see a post in the distance marking the summit of Moanbane.

The summit of Moanbane is marked with a timber stake and a small lake.

Descending Moanbane to Ballyknockan

From Moanbane, we descend downward while trying to track back toward the base of Silsean. The descent is easy but navigation is required, as it’s easy to pick the wrong reference point to descent towards. Our descent was quick and easy. We walked into a herd of deer grazing while descending, it made for a great distraction on our descent.

Conclusion of Moanbane and Silsean hike

A very nice hike with two great summits. It took us 2 hours 10 minutes to summit both mountains and return back to the car. The hike is tough but very rewarding. Navigation is required on this mountain. We recommend the Viewranger app and a power bank for your phone.

Map of Moanbane to Silsean Wicklow hike

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Bray head cross sits at an elevation of 190m above sea level. The cross was erected in 1950 during the holy year. The walk to the summit of the cross takes between 30-40 minutes depending on which route you take.

Bray Head Walk Map

The blue route is the main route to walk to the cross on Bray head. You should be able to walk to the summit on the blue route in 30-40 minutes. In wet conditions, the blue route is very slippery and you should use the red routes steps to avoid any potential slips or falls. The red route passes the old cable car, which is definitely worth a visit. Allow another 15 minutes if you walk the red route.

Bray Head & Greystones cliff walk Free parking

The most direct route to walk to the summit of Bray head Cross is from the free car park here. Parking at the promenade is also possible but you will have to pay for parking at the promenade.

Bray Head Cross- Key information

• Follow the green arrowed signs
• Allow 40 minutes – 1 hour up and back
• 2km up and back
• Very slippy in sections (if wet)
• Hiking boots required
• Optional step section but it is longer
• Additional walk to Bray head cairn, if a longer walk is required
• 6 out of 10 for views

Bray head walk- Starting point/Parking

We started our walk in the free car park here. We walked to the Bray Cross during the week and the car park was nearly full. We expect that this is a very busy walk and an early start will be required on the weekend if you want to use the free car park. Additional parking is available at the seafront but it is not free.

We walk out of the car park and walk on the coastal trail for 10 meters until we see a path leading up the hill through a gate in the wall. The surface here is concrete, we follow this path up the hill.

Walking Bray head trail

Continue on the concrete path until it stops. The main path turns to mud after 100 meters from the entrance. From this point, the path becomes very rocky, slippery and steep. The ground conditions become very dangerous in wet weather. Bring walking poles and good boots to help with this.

The trail meets a small stream (winter only), which makes the walk uphill even harder and slipper. The trail splits but both trails end up in the same location. We followed the drier path to help prevent slipping and falling.

We eventually walk into a drier section of the path and we can see the end of the woodland and gorse bushes in the distance. This section is more exposed but we eventually start getting views of the surrounding areas.

This section of the Bray head cross walk has larger stones and is steep but it is much safer and has fewer chances of a slip or fall. The path cuts through the Gorse bushes, which are quite spikey but they do provide a lovely yellow and orange coverage to the hillside.

We reach a very small patch of trees. We take a small break here admiring the stunning Wicklow coastline.

We eventually reach the base of the stone hill where the cross is erected upon. We walk to the right slightly following the trail and walking up between the two stone mounds.

Bray Head Cross walk time

The top of the Bray Head Cross hike provides stunning views across the sea and Bray seafront. The walk is not too physically hard but it is very slippy in a couple of sections near the start (when wet). Allow 40-60 minutes up and back. A great walk with beautiful views of the summit.

Bray Head walk distance

The distance to Bray head cross is only 1 km to the summit and 1 km descent. Bray head cliff walk is a 7km walk.

Is Bray Head a hard walk?

The walk is 190m climb up a rough path. Good walking boots are definitely required in wet conditions. It is a moderate climb but very rewarding. Allow 60 minutes to hike it.

Additional Bray head walks

(Optional) An alternative walk is available to avoid the slippy sections. It also passes the old Bray cable car and the ruins of an old church. The walk is slightly longer, but definitely safer.

Additional walks- Bray Head

If you are not too exhausted after the walk to Bray head cross you can walk to Bray’s head trig point afterwards. Bray head has a trig point and is an additional 30 minutes walk. The walk continues after the Bray head cross. Follow the path towards Greystones going through the metal gate and following the wide path the whole way to the trig point.

The trail walks around stone outcrops and provides great views of the coastline. At present, the Bray to Greystones walk is closed due to a landslide. This walk provides a great alternative route to the cliff walk.

Bray Head loop walk Map

Wicklow County Council has a map (below) on their Twitter page showing the alternative route loop trails which include the cliff walk.

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The Rock of Dunamase or it can also be called Dunamase Castle is situated between Carlow and Portlaoise on the N80 road or between Dublin and Limerick on the M7 road. If you find yourself on the either of these roads and you have time to kill, the Rock of Dunmase is perfectly situated to give you an opportunity to stop and stretch the legs.

We were driving down to walk the Glenbarrow Loop and waterfall in the Slieve Bloom mountains and we drove past the Rock of Dunamase. We both looked up at the ruins of the castle as we were passing and instantaneously decided that we were also going to visit one of the ancient easts historical sites. We quickly did a U-turn and drove down the side road off the N-80 and parked the car beside the small church opposite the Castle.

Admission and parking at the Rock of Dunamase

Admission to the Rock of Dunamase is free but car parking is limited and the car park space is more of a roadside than carpark. We arrived early on a Sunday morning and we were the only car there but after exploring for 1 hour, we came back and there were only a few car parking spaces left, so come early.

Our initial view while driving up the small lane to the castle was of this dominating hilltop Castle, which dates back to the 12th century. At the start of the Dunamase Rock walk, there was an information board with a plan of the castle in its former glory and loads information about the castle’s history.

Paths and walks around Dunamase

The ruins of the castle have a gravel path leading up through the middle of the external walled entrance gate. The path leads up toward the main castle which has loads of small alcoves and windows to explore. The Castle was built on top of a hill so there are 360-degree views when you reach the top (if the weather is good that is).

The Rock of Dunamase was a welcome distraction from our road trip to our weekend hiking destination. Try to get to the Dunamase castle early, we arrived at 10 am on a Sunday morning and we were the only people visiting the castle at the time.

Rock of Dunamase how to get there

Ireland uses an Eircode system to identify houses or buildings, there is a church beside the rock of Dunamase and its Eircode is R32E170. If you put the 6 digit code into google maps it will bring you straight to the church that sits right beside Dunamase Castle.

The Rock of Dunamase walk

If your looking for a long hike this is not the place for it. There is a nice casual looped walk around the ground of Dunamase Castle which could easily be done in 15-20 minutes. The walk around the rock does provide some great opportunities for some pictures and views of the Midlands landscape.

Would we recommend The rock of Dunamase?

We would highly recommend visiting the rock of Dunamase if you are passing, as it is steeped in history and is a very nice place off the beaten track.

Fun fact of Dunamase Castle

Also, here is a fun fact about the castle: Parts of Darby O Gill and the little people and Leap Year were filmed here.

Our visit to the castle ruins gave us a great start to our day of hiking around County Laois.

Other hikes and walks in Laois

The Glenbarrow Waterfall hike

Abbeyleix Bog Walk

Monicknew Forest Walk

Arderin Slieve Blooms

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Gina found Monicknew forest hike on the Coillte website, so we set off early on Sunday morning. The hike is a little over 1 hour away from our house but we got to visit the lovely Slieve Bloom mountains in Laois/Offaly again. We hiked the Slieve Blooms last year with Ourlittlehiker when we summited Arderin.

Driving down to Monicknew carpark the first thing that you spot is the narrow bridge which is just big enough for 1 car to pass. After the narrow bridge, we can see the carpark and the start of the hike on an elevated platform.

We are only looking for a nice gentle hike as Gina is 7 months pregnant and Ourlittlehiker loves to hike sections of all our walks now, so we were on the hunt for an easy Sunday hike.

Starting Monicknew Forest hike loop walk Laois

We got to Monicknew carpark nice and early, the sun was still very low and the area was still very quiet. When we were in the middle of the 32 peak challenge we became experts at getting out of the car and loading a baby into her hiking bag in minutes but we’ve become rusty and it took us considerably longer to pack our bags plus we forgot our spare hiking bag that carries Ourlittlehikers Toys and Snacks, We have become amateur baby hikers again, but luckily we didn’t forget the snacks, so that’s the most important thing, as it keeps both mammy and toddler happy on the hikes.

After we loaded our bags, we went to the information sign which is located at the rear of the carpark. We decided to hike the green loop walk which was only 3.5km long. The walk starts beside the sign and cuts up through the wood between a passage of mature pine trees. The trail then leads its way through smaller wood trails until we reached a larger lorry road leading upward.

Ourlittlehiker wanted to walk for the first section until we reached the larger forest road. Luckily for us, she still wants to be in her hiking bag and can now even ask to be put back into it. We loaded her into her hiking bag and started walking up the hill toward the top of the forest road. Experience has taught us as hiking parents, that when your child is happy in her hiking bag we need to cover ground quickly so we both increased our pace and made hay while the sun shines.

When we reached the top of the forest road it was the top of our hike, the hike now cuts through a very scenic little walking trail that passes over streams and provides nice views down the valley. After about 200m of small forest tails, we cut back out onto a large forest road. We got slightly lost here as there were no signs for the green loop, only a sign for the Slieve Bloom Way and it was pointing up the hill. We walked up the hill towards the Slieve Bloom way to get some nice views and pictures and then we continued back down the hill as we knew we were meant to be following the river back towards the carpark.

Unfortunately, halfway back down the road we encountered a sign saying that the road was closed, now at this point, we are 3/4 of the way around the loop, are we expected to turn around here? We could see that the road was closed because they were cutting down the forest but seeing as it was a Sunday we kept on walking as all the machines were parked up and everything looked safe to pass.

In future, it would be nice to have a sign on the information board stating that the road is closed or it is unsafe to hike in the area.

We walked back down to the Bridge and walked up the road toward the carpark. We decided to do a small section of the Yellow Looped walk before we went home. The Yellow walk brought us down underneath the road bridge which had a large arch and an amazing little green area underneath all the trees. We walked down the river until we reached a lovely little footbridge. We crossed the footbridge and walked over to the other side of the river and had a small picnic before we drove home. It was a great area for a picnic as there were loads of picnic tables scattered around the area.

Monicknew Forest Hike Conclusion

Monicknew Forest Hike started off a very nice walk because it cut through a nice forest footpath for a short period but it quickly turned into walking up a forest lorry road. At the top of the hike, there is a very pretty little area that is very scenic and provides lovely views of the Slieve blooms overhead and the valley below. The deforestation really put a downer on this walk for us but the Yellow loop is an amazing little family hike and ideal for kids. Ourlittlehiker was amazed by the river noise beside her little toddler feet and the sounds made by the cars passing overhead as we walked underneath the large arched bridge.

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Mt Errigal Key information

• Time to hike Errigal- 2 hours 50 minute with breaks

• Mt Errigal hike length- 3km up and 3km back 6km total

• Mt Errigal car park- Small car park but additional parking on the side of the road

• Mount Errigal map- see below

Hiking Mount Errigal (First Attempt)

It took us 2 attempts to summit Errigal. We have to be extremely cautious with exposed peaks like this mountain because we are carrying a baby. On our first attempt, we walked through the bog section and decided to stop, just before we reached the loose gravel path. The weather became very wet, cold and slightly windy on our first attempt to hike mount Errigal but the forecast said it would pick up, so we decided to attempt the hike while hoping the weather would improve. Unfortunately, the weather did not improve and we decided for safety reasons to return another time.

On the second attempt, the weather forecast was for an overcast day with chances of showers. Thankfully, we summited the mountain and returned back to the car within 3 hours.  We got amazing views and outstanding weather conditions.

Getting to Mt Errigal

Errigal is about 2 km from the town of Dunlewy, there are no footpaths or local transport available to the mountain. We did see people walking from Dunlewy Hostel but take care as the road is very busy.

We left our home in Carlow at 6:30am and drove for 4 hours 30 minutes to reach Mount Errigal. On our first attempt, we were camping in Killybegs which was 1 hour 30 minutes away.

Mt Errigal car park

There is a small carpark at the base of Mount Errigal, which is able to accommodate about 10-15 cars.

Even though we reached the car park at 11 am, it was totally full. We parked on the side of the road with lots of other cars squeezed in beside us. The side of the road parking seemed pretty safe.

When we stopped the car, we all sat there eating and refueling before our hike to the summit. After our breakfast, we changed

into our hiking gear, we were surprised to see lots of people walking in jeans and trainers.

Hiking Mt Errigal (Attempt 2)

As we already attempted to hike this mountain once, we knew which direction we were walking. We saw lots of people walking the shortest route to the start of the scree and we did this the last time too but this time we decided to walk a slightly longer route following the river, as there is a nice clean path the whole way until we reached a pile of stones, from here we then crossed the bog toward Errigal to the start of the scree.

We are now past our previous turnaround point, and the weather was lovely, there was a slight wind but nothing to worry

Mount Errigal path

about. When we initially stepped onto the scree it felt very similar to Croagh Patrick. Every step we took, it felt like we slid back down two more steps. Thankfully this didn’t last too long and the path became easier to walk on.

From here the path cuts up the ridge of the mountain while increasing in height pretty quickly. The path is very slippy and good walking boots are essential. The walking route quickly rises and pretty quickly we are level with the neighboring mountain Mackoght, which is also called little Errigal.

We start to think that we have reached the top of the mountain, as we can see a top point now. After climbing 29 high points, we have learned this foolish lesson the hard way and checked our Viewranger app to see that we still have 100m to climb vertically and a long ridge section to the summit.

The trail walks around to Mackoght side underneath a ledge. There are steep drops to the side here and care should be taken. Thankfully we were fully sheltered from the wind and we also didn’t meet anyone while on this tight ledge.

When we reached the top of this section we could finally see the summit of Mount Errigal. From this angle, there looked to be 2 peak summits but our research before the hike said that the first peak is the highest point in County Donegal so that’s the high point, that we are after.

We continue climbing upward from here but not at such a steep angle. As the mountaintop levels off slightly, the ridge becomes thinner and there are steep drops on either side.

When we reached the summit of Mount Errigal, there was a large crowd on top of the peak. We waited for 5 minutes to try and capture a quick photo of the summit on our own, which we thankfully got before another large crowd ascended onto the high point.

We walked along the thin one-man wide ridge, to the other peak which is only 2m lower than the other peak but unfortunately, we couldn’t get any nice pictures over there due to the large crowd.

We quickly started our descent to the bottom of the mountain. Thankfully we were prepared for the poor footing and had our hiking poles ready for the descent.

Our Thoughts on Mount Errigal Hike

Mount Errigal looks like an extremely hard mountain to hike, as it is quite steep looking on all elevations. The most difficult part of this hike is the loose scree on the ground, which makes footing very tricky. The path through the bogland isn’t fully visible and can be hard to navigate if there is heavy fog.

The views from Mount Errigal, are simply breath taken and well worth the hike to the summit, we really enjoyed this hike and highly recommend it.

We recommend that you bring good hiking boots and poles as we saw many people slip throughout the hike.

Mount Errigal Walk Time

Mount Errigal can be summited very quickly, we hiked to the summit and back to the car in 2 hours 50 minutes, which is pretty good going with a toddler on our backs. We only had a few short stops for water and photographs.

The views from Mount Errigal are simply breath taken and well worth the hike to the summit, we really enjoyed this hike and highly recommend it.

Mt Errigal Map

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Seltannasaggart East Slope is the highest point in County Roscommon. Seltannasaggart sits at an elevation of 428m and is part of the Arigna mountain range.

Our Journey to Seltannasaggart

This is our second high point to hike in the one day. The first high point was Corn Hill, we then drove to Seltannasaggart to hike our second county high point. The highest point in Roscommon is a little tricky to find, but there is a road network to walk on but it is in the middle of a wind farm. The county high point is marked with a small pile of stones but it is still hard to see.

We drove an hour from Corn Hill to Seltannasaggart, until we reached the bottom of a mining/windfarm road which had a signpost for “The Miners Way” and an old map of the route. We parked our car here on the side of the road and started our walk.

Hiking to Seltannasaggart East Slope, Roscommon high point

We started walking on an old quarry road which had a good walking surface but we didn’t fancy driving our car on it. We walked up the hill towards all the wind turbines. Seltannasaggart is certainly a different type of County high point, then all the rest. It made a pleasant change, to be walking in a different type of the landscape, even though many people would consider the area ruined, which it definitely is.

We were walking on a gradual climb up a hill, toward the end of the road. The road seemed to be dug in between two banks of mud dumped on either side of the road. We eventually came out into the middle of the wind farm. We kept following the road straight until we came to a T junction.

We turn right here at the T junction, we walk alongside a small man-made lake on out LHS. We came to another Y junction and follow the signs for T6-T8, we turned right here.

The road sweeps around a bend, we continue walking around the corner, while always keeping a keen eye out for the high point, we knew we were close.

Roscommon County High Point

We could see a small pile of stone in the distance, off the road to the RHS. We walked off the road toward the pile of stones. We checked our Viewranger app to ensure that we were walking in the right direction.

Typically, Ourlittlehiker would fall asleep just as we reached the high point. We were very cautious, as we didn’t want to disturb her, as she was due a good sleep and all the hikes that we have planned are short, so she won’t be able to get a long sleep in the car while we are driving.

We quietly walked back down toward the car, trying to let her rest in her backpack. When we reached the car, we quietly took the backpack off and let it rest on the ground. Thankfully she remained asleep, so we took out all the picnic gear and had a quick a bite to eat while she slept happily in her bag.

The verdict on Seltannasaggart East Slope, Roscommon’s highest point

Seltannasaggart East Slope is not one of the County high points that you would be super proud to have summited. It more or less felt like a Sunday walk but through a quarry or wind farm. We did enjoy the walk, it was nice and easy with a big variety of different views.

Which County High Point next?

We leave Seltannasaggart East Slope and drive 45 minutes to Cuilcagh Mountain, Fermanagh and Cavan’s highest point. This will be our hardest and longest County high point of the day. When we hike Cuilcagh, we will have summited 4 highpoints in the one day.

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Our goal was to climb County Longford, Roscommon, Fermanagh and Cavan highest points. County Cavan and Fermanagh share the same high point so this one will cut down on the driving. The hardest part of hiking every high point in every county of Ireland isn’t the walking or climbing up a mountain with a baby on your back, but it’s the driving between the mountains. We figured if the mountain is within 3 hours driving distance of our house we could drive to it, climb the mountain and drive home the same day. Today’s hiking will be tough, as there is roughly a 1-hour drive from each county high point. This means that we are over 3 hours drive home after we finish climbing our last mountain, if everything goes to plan, fingers crossed.

Our first mountain to hike is Cornhill or Carn Clonhugh and is possibly the easiest mountain of all 32 peaks in Ireland.

Cornhill Longfords highest point

We drove up and parked our car outside a lane to the summit of Cornhill, which was closed off by a metal barrier. We parked our car here to start our hike.

The barrier stops cars driving up the tarmac lane which is used to access the television mast. After driving over 2 hours, it was nice for all of us to get out of the car to stretch the legs.

We could see the Television antenna straight away from the barrier, so we knew this was going to be a very easy and quick county high point.

Starting our walk to the County Highpoint

The tarmac lane leads the whole way to the top of the high point so this could be walked in trainers if the weather was good.

On the way up to the high point, Ourlittlehiker has a toy camera and started to replicate her Daddy and kept shouting “Cheeeese, Cheeeese” and pointing her little toy camera at us, we all had a good laugh at it. It also broke the slightly dull viewless walk up to the summit.

After about 200m we walked around a corner and we could see a palisade fence around the tv antenna. We walked to the right-hand side of the fence and we could see the Longford county high point up on top of a raised bank just past the fencing.

After been up on a very busy high point the day previous (Slieve Donard), we realised that it was nice to be back hiking on our own again, as we could play around at the County high point instead of just taking one picture and leaving, as there was a queue on yesterdays high point.

High Point Dance

Gina decided to do a small dance on Longford Cornhill high point to celebrate our third high point of the bank holiday weekend, Ourlittlehiker loved all the dancing.

The verdict on Cornhill, Longfords highest point

Cornhill is only 278m high and is one of the easiest and maybe, as short as Cupidstown in Kildare (another very easy high point). There was not much of a view from the top of Cornhill, as the woodland trees are much higher than our eye level.

It only took us 10 minutes to reach the summit of Cornhill after leaving the car.

Which County High Point after Longford?

The normal route most people take after hiking Cornhill, is to go and hike Westmeath and Meath highest points but we already hiked these throughout the winter months, so we are now driving over to Roscommon to hike Seltannasaggart South East Slope. This CHP is slightly over 1 hour of a drive away.

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Kippure Mountain is the highest point in County Dublin. Dublin is the capital city of Ireland and is a neighbouring county to Wicklow, the county with the highest mountain outside of County Kerry. Kippure mountain is 40 km out of the city and can only be reached by car. Kippure is the 73rd highest mountain in Ireland.

We have driven past/near Kippure numerous times and never attempted to hike it, mainly due to weather conditions. When we hiked Cupidstown (County Kildare highest point) the next natural high point to hike should be Kippure, as it’s only a 40-minute drive away. We drove straight past the crossroads that lead to Kippure car park not realising it was so close but we only ever hike up the mountains if the weather conditions and forecast are showing good conditions.

We obviously should have researched Kippure mountain a little bit better, because there is an access road to the top of the mountain, so every time we drove past this mountain we probably could have ticked it off the list much sooner. But if your attempting to hike the 32 Peaks of Ireland, one thing becomes evident very quickly, the level of driving required to complete the challenge is massive.

Getting to Kippure Mountain- Co Dublin’s highest point

Like most Sunday mornings over the last 3 months, while completing the 32 peaks challenge, we rose from our beds early to hike Kippure mountain but thankfully we could have a slight sleep in, as County Dublin’s highest point was only 1 hour and 30 minutes drive away from our house. We reached Kippure mountain at 10 am and already the car parking space was becoming limited. This amazed us as the weather conditions were not the best, it was overcast with a strong breeze, we knew when we reached the top that the “strong breeze” would feel like a hurricane on the top, so we put on all our windbreakers. We saw some families starting to hike up the mountain in shorts and tee-shirts when we were dressed in 3 layers of clothes each.

Kippure Moutain is situated on the “Old Military Road” off the Sally gap crossroads. If you put Kippure Tv Mast into Google maps it will bring you straight to the car park. The drive up to Kippure Mountain is amazing, we drove home past the Guinness Lake and down into Glendalough. Both these sights are worth exploring on their own, simply amazing.

Hiking Kippure Mountain

The route we chose to reach the summit of Kippure is less of a hike and more of a walk but I did see other people walking in between the heather. We were not in the mood for walking in more heather as every high point is filled with it at the minute. We chose to walk up the road to the top of Kippure.

The hike to Kippure starts at the yellow and black barrier at the car park and you can basically see the whole route that you are about to walk in front of you from here.

Just as we started our hike the weather started to improve slightly and we could start getting views of other mountains around us. After about 20 minutes of walking, we could see the Sugarloaf mountain in Kilmacanogue.

The hike up along the road was longer than we expected and the views only really improved when we reached the corner close to the end of the road. The road started to sweep around the side of the hill which gave us views down into the valley above the Sally Gap. We could also see the great engineering feat that’s is turlough hill, which was built in 1974. My Dad still talks about this place, as he worked in the tunnels as a young man. The ESB pump water up into the top lake during the night and release it down into the lower lake during the day when there is a large demand for electricity.

The Top of Kippure Mountain- Dublin’s Highest Point

As we reached the entrance to the TV mast, we could see 2 concrete gate posts, the concrete looks like it has taken a serious beating throughout the years from the weather, as it is crumbling away. The Tv mast is massive in size and the fence surrounding it is very ugly. We skirted around to the rear corner of the Tv mast to find the county high point.

Amazingly enough, for such an easily accessible County High Point the centre section of the Ordnance Survey marker was still in the top of the post. Only a handful of the CHP’s has these and we didn’t expect Kippure to still have one.

At this point, the wind was very strong and we took shelter to the side of the mast to give our wind-stricken faces a break from the cold air. We sat down on the rocks looking over the Dublin sea. The views on Kippure mountain in late spring are pretty amazing, the whole mountain range is filled with an array of red and green foliage.

Map of Kippure Hike

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Our Thoughts on Kippure Mountain–County Dublin’s Highest point

We used this mountain as a rest day on the 32 peak challenge, as it was nice and close and essentially just a road walk. The walk up to Kippure summit is straightforward enough, as we just followed the road to the summit. The views near the top of the walk are nice, as we could see most of the Wicklow mountains from the top of the Dublin high point.

Kippure mountain is a perfect Sunday stroll and is a great rest day if you are completing the 32 peak challenge but the hike to the summit is reasonably dull. When you reach the bottom of the mountain you will be happy to get into your car and go home.

It took us 3 hours to reach the summit and descend Kippure mountain.

Allow time to explore nearby tourist attractions, as the surrounding areas are filled with amazing sights such as Glendalough round tower and the Guinness Lake. If you have enough time you could walk the Spink loop in Glendalough but allow 2 hours to do this hike.

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We should have parked where the black car parked

After our lovely night Glamping in Carrowmena, we were feeling refreshed and ready to climb another mountain. Approaching the Sperrin mountains it was becoming evident that hiking conditions on a mountain of this size were not great. We parked our car up at the base of the mountain on the Sperrin road and assessed the situation. We always vowed to think logically and not do any hiking if there was ever any sign of danger.

When looking out at the mountain we could not see any further than 200m. We decided to put on our hiking gear and wrap Ourlittlehiker up really well in her backpack and to go for a small walk to test the conditions. The day was not cold but mainly foggy, we consulted our maps and guidebook and knew that we were going to be following a fence the whole way to the summit of Sawel. So we decided to start hiking and if the weather starts to deteriorate we would return back to the car.

Parking at Sawel Mountain

There is a parking spot about 50 meters away from the start of the Sawel mountain hike. The parking spot looks like it could accommodate, maybe 3 cars. Don’t be a fool like us and hamper the farmers that are good enough to allow us to walk on their land, use the proper carpark area.

Hiking to the top of Sawel Mountain- Tyrone and Derry highest point.

When we drove down the Sperrin mountain road we got slightly disorientated and taught we were driving the opposite direction. This meant that we started hiking the mountain on the wrong side of the road. Thankfully we were keeping a very keen eye on the map and we only walked about 25 meters before we realised that we were on the wrong side of the mountain. We quickly returned back to the right side and started on the correct mountain this time. Thankfully, that is the very first time we got lost on this challenge.

Wrong Mountain Gina!!!

The initial start of this mountain crossed a flat marshy area before we started climbing the higher sections. This area is slightly boggy but we aren’t hiking in it for too long, so it won’t have much of a bearing on us. We felt that the fog was lifting slightly, as we were increasing our elevation height pretty quickly and we could still see our car perfectly, so we decided to continue hiking to the summit of Sawel mountain.

The main fence that we started following basically runs the whole way to the summit of Sawel Mountain. We had to cross a couple of fence stiles but they were easy enough to navigate even with a baby on our back.

After climbing to the top of the first steep section, the mountainside seems to nearly level out and the ground conditions seemed to get very boggy again. We even had to try to cross a wide stream, well about 1.2 meters wide, this didn’t go to plan but it was fun watching Gina run up and down the bank trying to get encouragement to jump over to the other side.

I don’t think she is going to make it…

We must have just missed a running race, as there were still signs hanging off the side of some of the fences (at least we know were on the right mountain this time).

Just as we were climbing the final section of Sawel mountain the fog got very heavy but we were sticking close to the fence for guidance. It is safe to say we would never have attempted this hike without the fence to guide us to the summit. Just as we reached the highest point of the fence it veers left, we knew that Sawel high point was in front of us but the fog was too dense to see it. We took out our Viewranger app on our phones and we could see exactly where we were and where the county high point was, so we walked in the right direction and found the Cairn in seconds.

Unfortunately, all our pictures are pretty poor from Sawel Mountain high point because when we reached the cairn the wind had also picked up and we only wanted to spend a couple of seconds on the top, as the weather conditions were against us. We took our photos and descended quickly to get shelter from the wind. Thankfully the wind was blowing from the opposite side and the mountain and it blocked us instantly when we descended a couple of meters.

As luck would have it, the fog started to lift on our descent and we eventually got some of the views of Sawel mountains and the Sperrin mountains and the valley below, they looked amazing, we were disappointed that we missed these amazing views on the way to the top.

Gina’s final jump of the day

Our thoughts on Sawel Mountain hike — Tyrone and Derry highest point

This was our first experience of hiking in fog with our daughter and we felt perfectly safe throughout the whole hike. This was a good tester for the fog as we had the fence as our guide to the summit of Sawel mountain.

Unfortunately, due to the heavy fog, we only got a very small glimpse of the views from Sawel mountain but it did look amazing from what we could see. We hope to return back to this county high point again in the future to get a proper feel for the hike up Sawel mountain.

Sawel Mountain Hiking Time

It took us 1 hour and 20 minutes to climb to the top of Sawel mountain and back down to our car.

Sperrin Mountain Information

For Additional information look here

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