Turlough Hill is a man-made lake that sits at an elevation of 681 meters. Turlough Hill is a pumped-storage hydroelectricity plant. This means that when there is a peak power requirement on the ESB electrical grid, the ESB can generate power by releasing water from the top lake down the tunnels and past the turbines to meet the power demand. More information on this amazing power generation plant can be found here. The top lake shape is a very recognisable structure and it seems to be visible from the majority of Wicklow other mountains.

Walk key information

• Start point- The walk starts here
• Length- 6 km out and back
• Duration- 2hours 15 minutes
• Buggy Friendly- Yes, an access road to the end.
• Summit- No real summit but there is an option for hiking at the end
• Is there access to the top lake?- No the lake is fenced off and cannot be viewed
• Elevation gain- 450m to 650m at the summit

Buggy friendly mountain walks

The walk starts at the top car park here. There is a small boardwalk over to a nice timber decking viewing point, which provides a nice view down the Wicklow valley.

We planned to walk the access road up to the top lake and walk to the top of the high point of 681 meters. We had never walked this route before but love exploring new hiking trails in Wicklow.

At the start of the walk, the roadway is blocked off by a traffic barrier but there is a small footpath to both sides of the barrier. Unfortunately, the footpath isn’t big enough for a buggy, but they do fit with a small bit of manoeuvring.

As we now have a 4.5 small adult, and 2.5-year-old toddler and a 7-week old baby, we need to be walking buggy-friendly walks, until the weather improves at least.  We are waiting until our 7-week old baby becomes more comfortable in her baby hiking carrier before leaving the buggies behind. We will also aim to walk Kippure and Mount Leinster in the coming weeks, weather permitting.

The road tarmac surface is really smooth and perfect buggy walking conditions for a sleeping 7-week old baby.

Starting the walk up the Wicklow mountains

The walk starts by walking up a gradual slope until we reach a sharp corner and viewing point over the lower lake. The children loved looking over the lower lake.

The walk got steeper from here but the kids were loving the views of the Wicklow mountains. The higher we got, so did the wind. Make sure that you have enough clothes or windbreakers to keep the kids warm.

We follow the road the whole way until we reach a crossroads. We continue straight here. The road then turns to the rear of the lake and we get amazing views of Lugnaquilla and the south of County Wicklow.

We abandoned the buggies at this point and walked to the right up towards the highest point. This takes us 10 minutes with the children but it provided us with a nice little walk at the end of the Buggy friendly walk.

Turlough Hill buggy-friendly walk Map

Turlough hill walk summary

A nice buggy-friendly walk that gives great views of Tonelagee, Lugnaquilla and the Great Sugarloaf. There is no real summit at the top but we did get amazing views and had some great family time together.

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