Ireland day 0292. Sunday 17 July 2022- Slievecorragh
Today’s summary | Val was at work all day so I decided to join the walking club for a very enjoyable day out , exploring Slieve Corragh and its surroundings from the village of Hollywood. I would never have found the start of the walk or the route to the top of the hill if I hadn’t been with the club. | ||||
Today’s weather | Dry and bright. Plenty of hazy sun. Light southerly wind. About 24C | ||||
Today’s overview location (The blue mark shows the location of our route) |
Close-up location (The green line shows where we walked) (Click button below to download GPX of today’s walk as recorded, or see interactive map at bottom with elevations corrected): Slieve Corragh from the road |
Commentary
A day out in Hollywood sounds pretty exotic, doesn’t it? So when just that opportunity arose on the calendar of the Dublin Walking Club today, I thought it sounded too good to miss. But before anyone gets hold of the wrong end of the stick, I should clarify that although the weather felt quite Californian today, our destination was very much closer to home. Though it has to be said that Hollywood, Co Wicklow, does boast a replica of the world renowned sign, just a bit smaller and surrounded by sheep, which I don’t think its Californian namesake is.
Hollywood is a small village on the western flanks of the Wicklow Mountains, just down the road from Blessington. It’s not completely clear how it got its name – it possibly came from the abundant holly trees which grew near here in earlier times (an old Irish name for the village is Cnoic Rua which means “Red Hill” – an oblique reference to the abundant holly berries in winter). Or perhaps it was named after a holy wood – though which St Kevin passed on his way to Glendalough. Anyway, today it was to be the starting point for a couple of short walks. In the morning, an ascent of the lovely small hill Slieve Corragh, then in the afternoon a stroll along the first part of St Kevin’s Way, before it heads east and up to the Wicklow Gap.
Unfortunately, Val was enthusiastically working up at Malahide castle today, so given that I had some spare places in the car, I picked up a couple of walking club friends from just down the road and we car shared for the 50 minute drive round the M50 and down the N81 to Hollywood. I enjoy car sharing – it’s much more fun to have people to talk to as you potter along, and with petrol prices creeping ever upwards, you feel you are doing you bit both for the cost of living crisis, and for the environment.
We were quickly down in Hollywood where the group convened over – yes you guessed it – coffee and scones. I really must find out how they manage to make such nice scones in Ireland. It’s been a real revelation. Once we were all suitably fortified with carbs and caffeine, we got back in the cars and drove a short way down the R756, below the slopes of Slieve Corragh on our right (the R756 by the way is the road which goes over the Wicklow Gap and on into Glendalough).
At this point I realised that one of the great advantages of being in a walking club is that all the hard work of finding and recce-ing the route and negotiating things like parking has been done for you. I can honestly say that if I hadn’t been with the club today, there is no way in a million years that I would have found the start point for or our walk. It’s tucked away behind a couple of abandoned trailers, halfway down what looks like someone’s private drive. A completely non-obvious spot.
Anyway, once we were all safely assembled on the launch pad for our walk, we headed up a broad track which soon gave way to an almost invisible thin path which disappeared into the forest, then an even thinner and less visible trod up to the top of the hill.
The summit itself is curious. Quite unlike anything I’d come across before, in fact. For a start, there’s an elegant bronze chair fixed in the middle of the heather, commanding an expansive view out east over Kildare (you can read the sad story of the chair in the photo legend below). Then there is a huge ruined cairn of unknown origin, and to top it all off there are numerous radio transmitters – which don’t look big enough to be mobile phone or TV masts, but aren’t small enough to be amateur radio stations. Very curious.
We paused on the top to admire the view and then headed back down again, with a lunch stop en route before returning to the cars. But the day wasn’t finished yet. We drove down to Hollywood, parked the cars and set off on a short walk down the first section of St Kevin’s Way – the pilgrimage track we had done the second part of – over the Wicklow Gap – a few weeks ago. This first section of the Way passes through attractive meadowland with a statue of the omnipresent St Kevin keeping a sharp eye on proceedings from a lofty eyrie high above the valley – and St Kevin’s (not-so-) comfy chair on the valley floor below.
The short out-and-back walk made a nice end to the day – and means there’s only an 8km / 5mi section of the Way between the point where we turned back today, and the point where we started the walk earlier this year – which I haven’t done yet. I’ll definitely need to make sure I close it off soon. Anyway, by this stage after a day spent rambling in the warm sunshine, we were all feeling in needed of refreshment so headed straight over to the Hollywood Inn for a few refreshing (if not entirely authentic) glasses of non-alcoholic beer for the drivers.
We lingered to catch up on the week’s news and to learn the final score in the men’s All-Ireland hurling final at Croke Park (Limerick beat Kilkenny 1-31 to 2-26, much to most Walking Club members’ delight but to Val’s evident disappointment later that evening, given her family connections to Kilkenny). Then we packed up and went our separate ways back to Dublin. After dropping off my walking companions, I hot footed it back to Malahide where Val – despite having been out a work all day – had prepared chicken curry for dinner. What excellent service! Anyway it’s my turn tomorrow so it will probably be beans on toast. Well, you have to focus on your strengths!
Today’s photos (click to enlarge)
Interactive map
(Elevations corrected at GPS Visualizer: Assign DEM elevation data to coordinates )
Max elevation: 413 m
Min elevation: 307 m
Total climbing: 146 m
Total descent: -146 m
Total time: 02:55:07