Ireland day 1264. Saturday 15 March 2025- Glenbride DWC

Today’s summary	Got up early and left Val to put in a shift at the Museum while I drove down to Ranelagh to collect a friend en route to today’s Club loop walk from Glenbride. Much better weather than when we recce’d it a few weeks ago. Completed the circuit of Mullaghcleevaun, Moanvane and Silsean with extensive views all the way. Some small snow patches on the top. Drove back to Malahide via Ranelagh then had salad for dinner and watched a golf documentary later
Today’s weather	Dry bright and sunny but cold. Light easterly wind. Appx 8c but nearer 1 or 2c on the summits

Today’s overview location (The green mark shows the location of our route)		Close-up location (The red 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): Glenbride DWC

Commentary

A few weeks ago, a friend and I recce’d a walk from Glenbride, taking in the summits of Mullaghcleevaun, Moanvane and Silsean along the anticlockwise loop route. When we did it back in early February, the weather was poor – heavy mist with drizzle or rain most of the way. So while I enjoyed the exercise and fresh air, the conditions made it less fun than it might otherwise have been.

But today it was all change, as it was the day the “proper” Club walk was scheduled. And the morning dawned bright and clear – as it has been for most of the last couple of weeks – heralding a great walking day. Perfect conditions for a repeat of the Glenbride loop, especially as there was hardly any wind to make the going more challenging.

So I got up early and drove down to Ranelagh to pick up a friend ready for our 9:30 am rendezvous at Valleymount. Val, meanwhile, stayed behind to put in a shift at the Museum. Impressive dedication to duty! We all drove on from Valleymount and were ready to start walking from Glenbride – itself a tidy little hamlet in a Swiss-style setting – by just after 10am.

The route, like last time, was tough going. It’s not even 14km long, but it took us fully six and a half hours to complete it. The complete absence of paths, the extensive bogs and the rough footing mean it’s not a route you can rush. But anyway, with a relatively early start and ever-lightening evenings, there was no particular hurry to get back, especially with such stunning views to admire. To add further interest, there were even a few patches of snow on the highest tops. That dash of white that I’d spotted on Kippure from Ikea yesterday wasn’t an illusion! Even better, we only saw two other small groups of walkers the whole day. The rest of the time we had the whole of this wonderful mountainscape just to ourselves.

Eventually we completed the loop and were back at the cars about 4:45pm. It was a straightforward drive back from there to Malahide via Ranelagh and the Port tunnel. Val had been back from work for over an hour by the time I returned. She’d already eaten by then, so I made myself a light salad and we spent the rest of the evening finishing off a bottle of wine left over from our guests’ recent visit while watching a golf documentary on Netflix.

Anyway, it’s time to sign off now and start preparations for tomorrow’s adventures!

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Picking our way carefully across the Cleevaun Brook	Small patches of snow were lingering on the north slopes of the peat hags near the summit

Lochan near the top of Moanvane	This post is the sole modest marker of the top of Moanvane. The cardinal points of the compass are marked on its four faces

On the top of Silsean – we could actually reach the cairn today, which is quite unusual as it’s normally in the middle of a massive puddle	Diminutive horse (Connemara pony?) that has clearly decided to identify as a sheep

Go west! Surveying the scene over Blessington from the summit of Mullaghcleevaun